Yeah, sorry about that. It was something that I just found out last year, and confirmed it looking at a friend's G37x.

You know, now that I've said this out loud about the fog trim, I'm solid on the mod. It's going on my list for this Spring. Take the fogs and fog trim out... have the trim professionally blasted and prepped, primed, painted in gloss metallic black, and clear-coated. It should end up looking fantastic. And it will be a detail that I can appreciate, because most people wouldn't even notice. Awesome.

This thread made me think of something seriously that I hadn't before.



I wonder how much they cost from Infiniti? Might be easier to buy a pair and work on it separate from the removal.

[edit]

Oh hey! $15.42 each, plus shipping at OrderInfinitiParts.com. Um... Um... Done! (haha, wow)

And the lower grille is a separate piece on both bumpers, Sport and non-Sport each. But at $95.80, that's best removed and painted.

[edit]

No, not done. The website is in error, and I ended up buying two trim rings. WTF?

 

I too considered buying replacements and working on them slowly myself...I've seen some lower grilles on eBay with broken tabs for $40 OBO. I could take mine out, put the bad one in, and then take my time painting my original one.

Time to research swapping to a Sport bumper...

 

I have no idea, man. I'm going to be taking brand new fog bezels to a body shop, and let the pros take care of it. If I were to do the same to the lower grille, I'd just drive around for a week with it off. That's what I did two years ago with the upper grille.

 

I've painted a grille and it will not work. It will chip and will look like crap and you'll have to sand and resand it...major pain in the @SS.

Dip it dude! I dipped mine, plasti dip if you don't know. I mix my own colors and dip it. you can do lots of stuff go to dip your car . com and see for yourself. I highly recommend it.

 

This is pretty much what the paint guy I spoke to yesterday said. However, many people here have had their upper grille painted, and so far, I don't see many complaints.

Which grille did you paint? One with all the intricacies like our lower grille, or something smoother like the upper grille?

I've dipped my rear badges and really like the look. I have some black left, and could possibly try this to see if it's dark enough. I think I'll add the glossifier too.

In fact, I may even re-do the badges with glossifier.

EDIT:

The more I think about this, I wonder...is the plastic dark enough...but just dull? Maybe just the glossifier will give it the sheen needed to match with the grille better. One thought was just to clean it well, and put some Armorall type substance on it...but I don't know...plastidip is sounding better already. I normally would have gone that route, but I wanted something permanent. however, if chipping is an issue with paint, maybe plastidip is a better solution.

 

I dipped a 2004 Saab grill, it will chip as soon rocks or salt or sand hit it. I painted it with 6 coats of paint and 4 coats of clear coat. I didn't use Krylon fusion, I used Rustoleum. No matter what you do it will chip unless you do powder coat or try that water dip stuff that looks cool.

As for dip I use a HVLP gun but you can base coat with cans and then get a preval sprayer and mix gloss, pearls, and colors to get the look you want. That is what I do. I don't like gloss over black, it's an improvement, but I prefer Satin and mixing the gloss in with pearls.

 

Just to clarify, is that a typo in your first sentence? Did you mean to say dipped, or painted?

I'm not ready to invest in any spray guns for plastidip at this time. I'll be using it out of the can. My selection options are much better online, so I'll see if there's anything special I can get before going with a flat black. It's supposed to be dry on Sunday (raining today and tomorrow) so this could happen as soon as Sunday if I find what I need locally.

I can't say I've ever seen the glossifier locally, but Pep Boys could surprise me. They have the best color selection for plastidip near my office.

 

Certainly more do-able than retrofitting a 2007-2009 with the 2010+ sport bumper.

I think someone just damaged your non-sport bumper in a parking lot. Really bad, too. Ripped right into the material, poor guy. And since it has to get replaced, might as well use the other part number.

 

I BRIEFLY looked into swapping for the coupe bumper until I learned that I'd have to replace everything in it.
No thanks...

The sport sedan bumper is on the long list of mods...I need to find one off a car that's been in a rear end accident and is already my color. It's not worth it to me to buy one and pay to have it painted.

 

I was just out running some errands, and eyeballing the fog light bezels with this in mind. I think this is going to be interesting, painting them to match the gloss-black metallic in the upper grille slats.

Here's an old pic of the piece in question:

 

Are you going to paint the chrome black as well, or leave it shiny? I think your amber overlays would "pop" off an all black surround.

I picked up the plastidip and glossifier at Pep Boys. Weather permitting, and ample time...I could start on this Sunday.

 

Nope, I'm leaving the fog trim chrome for now. I rather like it, what with the chrome Fuji in the grille. That opinion might change someday, but not today.

G'luck with your rattlecan plan. Looking forward to the pics.

 

Sorry I painted it first and then had to dipped it. The paint chipped soon after painting.

You don't have to buy any guns, do you know what a preval sprayer is?
Preval 9 oz. Complete Spray Gun-267 - The Home Depot
It's sold at HD or Lowes for $5. It allows you to mix paint and spray it. It amazing and I dip all my accent pieces using this.

 

No, not done at all.

The diagram on their website shows these panels as Item #16 left/right, sport/non-sport. So I ordered #16, left and right. But the actual item is #17, not #16. The panels actually cost $35.76 each. The diagram is in error.

Damn it. Now I have two chrome trim rings for my fogs that I don't need.

 

Ok Mr. Half Empty Glass. What you really have now is an opportunity to have your original chrome rings painted black to match the surrounds, and a clean, perfectly new set of chrome rings to use if you don't like the black.