Ron_Texas

Installed a Thundercloud grill on my 2008 RX-350 today. First, I would like to say that I ordered the grill late Monday night (July 9) from Sewell Lexus and it was delivered this morning (July 11), to say the least I was impressed.
I think I will like it okay, the biggest surprise is that the grill is designed for 2007 and earlier, while it fits fine the corners are different and overall size is smaller than the 2008 grill. It was very easy to install, it took about 10 minutes, the instruction are in Japanese, luckily it is so easy you do not need to read them.

mandyfig

Nice, real nice! Gives you the elite look!

pump142

looks cool, as I never liked the verticals.
We liked the Look of the Thundercloud custom touches and lusted over it for a while before buying.

The Thundercloud only came in 2 colors - Mica and Thundercloud metallic.
(we chose that latter). So to see it on a white RX is a bit odd to me.
congrats on a nice upgrade

lok888

Looks nice! How much did you pay there? My dealer would charge $550+ plus labor. But I've quoted $250+ online from some wholesale parts dealers.

JasDmw

This looks very good!

However, I'm concerned about your comments on fit; is there a gap of some sort at the corners, which you say are different? With this grill being smaller, are there any gaps around the grill at all? Does the gasket that came factory still fit around this grill or does a new one come with the new grill?

I have dealer installed paint protective film on my hood, which fits close to the stock grill. In your opinion, will the smaller size of this grill expose more of the hood surface beyond the protective film?

Ron_Texas

No, there are no gaps, if you look at the upper corner of the 2008 grill it comes to more of a point where the Thundercloud has a large radius, when I get home today I will post the before and after photos, that might help.

The grill is smaller, not by much, I would guess about 1/8" but not more than a 1/4" top and bottom, I noticed it after I installed it that I could see where the original grill seal had been, I just removed the grill, cleaned the hood area (probably should have done that first) and re-installed the grill, visually you cannot tell the difference of the smaller grill. It does come with a gasket, you only have to transfer the logo from one grill to the other, that is quite simple as it only has one phillips screw. Installation is very easy, I used a racket and socket but it could be done with a wrench just as easy, only 5 nuts. I found that the gasket needed to be re-stretched over the upper corners, it probably moved from packaging.

I paid 308 plus state sales tax (I am in Texas and so is Sewell) and shipping, the total came to 342, shipping was only about 7. I saw the thread about trying to get a group buy, that thread was closed for some reason so I don't know if that ever happened, I saw the pictures posted by another forum member and liked it, I did not think 308 was to much for a 45,000 vehicle. Like I said in the original post I was impressed on how fast Sewell shipped it. I have never dealt with them before, I bought my Lexus in Houston, I did go to the part counter at the dealership that I purchased from this past weekend and they had never heard of the Thundercloud grill, so I just contacted Sewell and got it over with.

One of the members mentioned that the Thundercloud grill was only offered on certain colors and was surprised to see it on a white RX, I apologize if it offends anyone, I bought it because I liked it better than the grill that came on the vehicle, not doing it to shock the Lexus community.

sportsfan8

I like how they look... so it wasn't hard at all to pop the old grill out? I have Flint Mica 07 RX350 and I'm itching to do something different on it since I see my same car all the time.

Ron_Texas

The old grill was out in about 4 minutes, once you remove the 5 nuts the old grill is ready to be removed. The new grill has the 5 studs already installed as well as the gasket. Like I mentioned before check the gasket, it needed to be reseated around the corners at the top, I did not notice this until after I installed the new grill . Since the grill is a bit smaller than the 2008 I also noticed that I could see where the original grill was (dirt), so I removed it, cleaned the hood, reseated the gasket and re-installed. There are 3 studs on the top of the grill and two on the bottom, the studs on top fit into holes while the bottom studs fit into slots in the hood. I found that if I put the three on top first and started the nuts and left them loose, then installed the two on the bottom and held the grill so that the studs bottomed out against the slots and tightened them first it was much easier. I then tightened the top. Again the whole process is 10 to 15 minutes from start to finish using hand tools .

NXOwner

Here's one for $309 on eBay.


.

mandyfig

Go post the before and after, we like to see them and drool over it.

Ron_Texas

Here is the before picture.

Ron_Texas

Here is the after picture. The grill on ebay looks like it is for the 2008 as the upper corners do not look as rounded as this grill. I apologize that I had to post two times to get the photos up, too large I guess.

tgdaman

Your car looks good, same color as my '08. I thought about the TC grill, but personally decided against it. I believe the '08 grill is the best yet of the verticals produced. I like the extra chrome around the edges, too.
Could change my mind later, but not now.

JasDmw

Seems like the deal on Ebay isn't really that great!. Ron Texas got his for less!

Thanks for the photos. Looks great!

mandyfig

Great PICS!! The 08's have a bolder vertical grille look and the chromies extend...not bad.....but TC is better.