A few months ago I rather painstakingly hand-formed aluminum mesh to replace the fake black ABS in my front spoiler, and redid the center as well to match it. I loved the bare aluminum 'Jag/Aston Martin' look initially but forum outrage kept bringing me back to the idea of changing it. Black was the most popular suggestion but I thought it'd look stock and essentially 'disappear'.

My chosen solution was graphite metallic over black base coat:





Here's the original for comparison:



Well . . . what do you think? An improvement???

 

It's nice work, not exactly my cup of tea but the darker is MUCH better than the lighter.

 

definitely an improvement, good work!

 

I like it! personally I would have probably just gone with the black , but this is something different.

 

Great! I admit I was skeptical about changing it, but what did it for me was the realization that from a distance the unpainted mesh blended with the bodywork - it looked like it had no grill at all!

 

I think its a definite improvement. It looks may better darker. Good job!

 

cute dog.

 

OP I think it looks good dark blends in better!!! good work

 

Alot better. nice

 

Dude, lose all that front Mash! the wheels with the front profile makes your car look like an old man.

The G37 is a sport coupe keep it looking sexy and sporty!

You have way to much going on.. Keep the frontend clean!

 

Forum Outrage? It's your car, its great to have input, but ultimately do what you want.

Though the dog has a "What's with the Bently" expression on his face.

 

Yes, that looks better.

 

Ha! Yeah, that dog was actually a local stray that happened to wander into the photo. Tried to catch her but she was too skittish. She didn't mind having her picture taken, though.

I, too, think people should let their own tastes rule their mod choices - not forum 'outrage'. But in the case of the grill I ultimately saw what folks were driving at. Custom grills like this in bare aluminum used to be hot, then the Honda tuners got hold of the idea and made them 'cheap' - at least that's my opinion. Everyone loved the mesh grills on my M3 back in '02 - '06, and on my Mercedes coupe.

Regarding opposition to my red stripe, however: I love it! It's staying! I'm aiming for a colorful but casual Jhane Barnes/Robert Graham look here - not a boring gray three-piece Armani suit.

 

Hey - our cars already have mesh! It's just fake ABS plastic mesh that, in the case of the side vents, is molded in relief on a fake black-out intake. Even the Auto Week guys thought the effect "beneath" Infiniti.

All I did was make the mesh real, throw those dreadful ABS pieces in the trash, and turn the otherwise functionless side 'intakes' into places for fully-functional driving lights - which Infiniti has added to their newer 'G' models themselves.

Tomorrow I turn 43, and am happy that my age-appropriate love for classic styling (hot rods, MGs, old Jaguars, etc.) is reflected in my modern sports coupe.

But to each his own, right? We are what we drive!

 

Way better man. Nice.