Front Grill choices for the IS-F thread! Options we have?
07-28-09, 10:03 PM
#46
07-28-09, 10:17 PM
#47
I sent a PM to the guy with the white F with the similar grille and he said it's just the lighting. He said mine looks the same as his. Regarding mine, in person from a head on view it does look a bit too empty for me. If I could find a thicker mesh, perhaps I would try that.
07-28-09, 10:39 PM
#48
I sent a PM to the guy with the white F with the similar grille and he said it's just the lighting. He said mine looks the same as his. Regarding mine, in person from a head on view it does look a bit too empty for me. If I could find a thicker mesh, perhaps I would try that.
hmmm your mesh already looks pretty "fine" from the pictures - not sure what else you can do. Certainly you can't block the area behind the grill as you need airflow.
After seeing your pictures I may just use my oem grill painted gloss black like JoeZ
07-29-09, 08:31 AM
#49
Anyway, if you do stay with the OEM grille, I think color matching the bezel and just doing your inner grille in black would look best. Just my opinion!
07-29-09, 08:52 AM
#50
Yea, I dunno. It's tough to say. In person, the opening isn't really THAT eye grabbing, so I'm kinda torn. When I see it in person, it looks pretty good (but could be a bit better if the mesh was thicker perhaps), but those pictures I took magnify the opening a bit. I looked at it this morning before I went to work and was like, "Hmm, it doesn't look bad." If you were local, I'd say come on by and check it out.
Anyway, if you do stay with the OEM grille, I think color matching the bezel and just doing your inner grille in black would look best. Just my opinion!
Anyway, if you do stay with the OEM grille, I think color matching the bezel and just doing your inner grille in black would look best. Just my opinion!
Where did you get your plastic mesh from? I'm toying with the idea of using the plastic mesh that comes on the e46 m3 lower grill.
After studying the oem grill, the problem with mesh is NOT the how close the mesh is but rather the Thickness (front to back) of the mesh. The OEM grill has rather large holes but because it's thick, at most viewing angles it shows up as more beefy and hides the view better.
So what we need is a plastic mesh that has more thickness to it front to back....I would say 1/2" - 3/4" in thickness is best.
The IDEAL mesh grill would be the OEM grill mesh "without" the Lexus logo but no way to remove it from what I can see....
Has anyone used an "F" sport logo on the OEM grill?
rick
Last edited by s4play; 07-29-09 at 08:56 AM.
07-29-09, 09:27 AM
#51
I got the mesh from eBay (as did Darshana with the white F on page one). If you do a search for "mesh grille" on eBay, you'll find the stuff I got. It's not plastic though. It's aluminum.
I agree, the ideal grille would be the OEM grille without the "L" and I looked into seeing if that could come off, but there's no way. The plastic is different behind the "L". There's no weave. Best I could think of is to maybe buy another OEM lower grille, then cut it and make an upper grille out of it. I think the weave is the same, but it might be spread out more on the lower grille. I haven't looked.
If you find a thicker mesh somewhere, lemme know!
I agree, the ideal grille would be the OEM grille without the "L" and I looked into seeing if that could come off, but there's no way. The plastic is different behind the "L". There's no weave. Best I could think of is to maybe buy another OEM lower grille, then cut it and make an upper grille out of it. I think the weave is the same, but it might be spread out more on the lower grille. I haven't looked.
If you find a thicker mesh somewhere, lemme know!
07-29-09, 09:32 AM
#52
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^^ The lower plastic grill holes are way larger and would actually create more open space to see through...
Maybe double up the aluminum mesh, but a bit offset from behind..??
Joe Z
Maybe double up the aluminum mesh, but a bit offset from behind..??
Joe Z
07-29-09, 11:05 AM
#53
I thought about doubling up the mesh when I made my grill but it looked tacky so I just went with one layer. It really doesn't look bad in normal lighting and the F logo I used help draw your eye away from the crap visible behind the grill. I love how my grill came out and get a lot of compliments about how it turned out...Darshana
07-29-09, 01:11 PM
#54
I thought about doubling up the mesh when I made my grill but it looked tacky so I just went with one layer. It really doesn't look bad in normal lighting and the F logo I used help draw your eye away from the crap visible behind the grill. I love how my grill came out and get a lot of compliments about how it turned out...Darshana
I've got an idea I'm going to try. I'll post results. It may be a week or something. I'm going to take some sort of material (the idea is plastic), cut it to size, and paint it gloss black. Then I'm going to stick it to the horns so that it's still providing coverage, but does not cover the grille nor restricts air from coming in. We'll see how it looks...
07-29-09, 06:59 PM
#56
I have my IS-F grill off the car and can see into the big gaping space. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to block that area with a piece of ABS since I'm sure Lexus wanted airflow into the radiator through the grill.
Relocating the horns is easy if necessary but I'm going to do some more experimenting here.
Relocating the horns is easy if necessary but I'm going to do some more experimenting here.
07-29-09, 07:43 PM
#57
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I have my IS-F grill off the car and can see into the big gaping space. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to block that area with a piece of ABS since I'm sure Lexus wanted airflow into the radiator through the grill.
Relocating the horns is easy if necessary but I'm going to do some more experimenting here.
Relocating the horns is easy if necessary but I'm going to do some more experimenting here.
Horns can be relocated easily.. just have to extend the wires and ground them with a conductive self tapping screw or nut & bolt
Joe Z
07-31-09, 09:51 PM
#60
