@DownUnder
pictures behind the grill for your radar cruise.

 

Thanks a lot man! I really appreciate it

 

sinister2C-
Thanks for posting all of the detail on your 3is conversion! I see couple sites on ebay selling these out of California with the fog lights included- not sure which to go with. Did you have any fitment issues like the gap between the bumper cover and hood that others have mentioned?

Jim
2012 IS350c
Fort Lauderdale, FL

 

innovation on eBay has in stock now. Not sure if ikon is restocked yet.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-06-13-Lexus-IS-250-350-Front-Bumper-Conversion-Grille-2IS-to-3IS-Front-Lip/274036100285

the gap is due to different hood lines on 3IS and 2IS. The top bumper rubber hides some of it except the corner.

Some sellers have the new mold that has top cross bumper piece that may help with line match.

that photo you have is a CL member who did a real cut and paste conversion.

 

Sinister2c-
Thanks again for the previous reply. Did you have to trim back your brake ducts and lower radiator dam for your conversion to fit? I see another one on ebay but I'm not sure if it is the newer mold version you mentioned with the top brace. I really want to do this conversion but I am weary about cutting everything up to make it fit.

 

There’s two sellers that appear to have the old mold with in stock bumpers.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-06-13-Lexus-IS250-350-C-to-F-Sport-Front-Bumper-Conversion-2IS-to-3IS-Lip-/264446307411

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-2006-2013-Lexus-IS250-350-C-2ic-to-3ic-Front-Bumper-Conversion-Kit-Grilles/254509895249

you have to trim ducts and the lower radiator panel for all of the bumpers. See my photos in this thread.

 

Thanks- I found you thread after sending you the last message. Great steps and detail by the way! Is the new mold much better and if so do you know who is selling them? I'm not sure what to look for in the description

 

@jj68jam The new mold has the brace across the top and the vertical between the middle and top brace (most likely to be trimmed once grill is installed).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/F-Sport-Style-Front-Bumper-2IS-to-3IS-Conversion-for-06-13-Lexus-IS250-350-AERO/293206079532

That is the main difference, in addition to the foglights. The new mold uses the 3IS style fogs with the trim cover instead of the Toyota Koito Fogs like the old mold. The tow hook plug is also like the OEM square vs. the old mold with a round tow hook cover.

Also don't trust those photos that these sellers use. These are other CL member's photos of their actual cut and paste custom bumpers. These eBay ones are similar but no where near the same.

OLD:


New Mold:

 

Thanks again for the info and link. It's a great look and I'm hoping to make the conversion...I'm worried that it is much more custom work than I anticipated to make it fit and line up...
Jim

 

Got to put in work if you want to play this game.
Either that or you pay a body shop.

 

Got my bumper on Thursday. Was expected to take up to 3-months on sea freight but arrived in just one month. Very lucky timing having it shipped before Chinese New Year and before the Corona virus hit and everything got halted. The process with customs and the freight forwarded was fairly nerve wracking but we got there in the end. A friend and I combined shipping and got two of them sent in the crate at the same time, but sadly the seller in China accidentally sent us the headlight washer type bumpers which leave a rectangular hole by the headlight so we'll have to get them filled before painting. They apologized for their workers mistake however and have offered to compensate once it's fixed so hopefully they follow through.

Anyway, test fitted them today and everything lines up well after doing the minor mods mentioned in this thread. Interestingly, the Japanese import front bumper beams are skinnier than the US ones, so I only had to cut a small amount off the ends. It was so close to clearing as it was that I could have just cut the tip of the corner off, but ended up cutting off a bit more than needed.

Just finished fitting the carbon effect lower lip that I had done from the seller at the same time as the bumper order. Next step is to get it painted, so hopefully that can be done in the coming weeks if the body shop isn't too busy. I opted for the metallic grey center spindle grilles from Rock Auto, like sinister2c did, and bought the US spec license plate mount + had a smaller set of my personalized plates made to compliment the look (running front plates is a legal requirement here in New Zealand).

For anyone wondering that may have this feature/option, the radar cruise control sensor behind the grille badge fit perfectly with the 3IS conversion. Not a lot of clearance but more than enough to not touch against it. Thanks again to sinister2c for going to the trouble of taking photos of his set-up prior to me buying the conversion. The 3IS center sensors I bought to replace my OEM 2IS corner sensors sadly did not work. They plug in exactly the same but don't detect any obstacles. I have plugged the center holes with the OEM caps for now, so may end up tucking the sensors behind the bumper as I don't really have much use for the front ones anyway (not keen on drilling holes into the corners of the new bumper for them and they would look silly in the centre grille).

Here's some pics. Excited to get it fitted!

 

Is there a grill available for the 2IS to 3IS conversion that looks like the new spindle grill design for the new ES and the new LS?

 

nope...unless you make it custom.

 

added a much needed MOD to my F-Sport Grill for less than $10/each.

 

Here's a comparison of the OEM emblem vs the aftermarket/replica emblem if anyone is interested. Since my IS350 has the optional radar cruise control feature I had to reuse my original emblem (pictured on the RH top in the photo). I discovered that both of the mounting lugs were in a different spot to the 3IS one, which is no biggie as you can just drill new holes (strangely,there are even outlines on the back of the spindle grille for it), but after some more research I found that the 2006-2011 Lexus GS and 2009-2012 Lexus LS460 had the mounting lugs in the correct location and had a slightly larger 'L' section compared to the 2IS.

All 3 are physically the same size, except the 2IS has a slightly smaller emblem with more of a black border around the edges. The OEM ones also have more of a beveled edge which give the appearance of the L being "deeper", and the chrome isn't as bright as the aftermarket version. All of them look good of course, and the OEM ones are about $700 new so likely not an option for most doing the 3IS swap, but not a bad option if you can find a cheap secondhand one. Just be careful as most on eBay and Yahoo Auctions Japan etc have broken lugs from people removing the snap-type washer incorrectly.

OEM GS/LS emblem on the left, OEM 2IS emblem on the right and the aftermarket emblem on the bottom: