Painted and test fitted the lip.

 

Geez dude. I wanna be you when I grow up for sure.

//I kid, we've got similar ideas on aesthetics it seems. Although I'm not in love with the mesh top grille, I do like the lower grille like that.

 

My new grille arrived yesterday

 

I don't remember if I put the hydrodipped pieces on here or not.

 

You know what, you and I may be more alike than you think. I'm still on the fence about the upper grille. I like seeing the intakes and all, but I dunno, something is off. I do have that black emblemless grille I made last year. May switch to it as it's raining more and more and with no rain shields, it's sketchy. I didn't like the emblemless one before as it stuck out with the headlights being chrome. Now, that everything is darker, it may actually look pretty sexy.

Old pic for reminder.


P.s. comparing the paint now, with the mirror polish vs this old photo.... What a difference paint correction makes.

 

Well, if you're going to go there... I genuinely like what you've done here, overall. But there are some details that seem off. The application of the Fuji to the mesh seems a little weak, structurally, and not something a manufacturer would do. And while the mess is pretty cool, and I do like seeing your intakes (and horns, LOL), there's something structurally weak about the mesh itself. Just a little flimsy looking, with something not quite right. And I flat out don't care for the mesh in the lower grille area, although I blame your ACC for that.

But like I said, "overall" meaning, you eventually have to decide where you are on the project. There almost no mod, aesthetic or otherwise, that doesn't have some kind of compromise. Personally, I think it's a keeper. Leave it alone for a while and go think about something else. If you come back to it, you do, and if you don't, you don't. Meh.

 

I have 3 different grilles ready to go, so I may just try them all on and decide what I like most.

The lower grille bothers me as well for the same reason. I made a plan to fix that. Going to make a bracket to extend where the sensor sits and make it more flush with the mesh, requiring less of a hole.

If I decide to run with this grille, I'm going to build rain shields out of 3/8" lexan inside the bumper, covering just the filters, that will have angled holes drilled in them pointing downwards. Won't slow down airflow, won't visually obstruct anything, water wont be able to go in.

As for the construction of the mesh and the mesh itself, it's a solid piece with no give. The mesh isn't that thin metal stuff, it's 3/8" plastic. The photos don't give it's justice.

 

I think my dislike of the mesh comes from the fact that the Cadillac CTS-V cars are like that, and it looks chintzy on them. Racecar economy on a luxury car, kinda.

I've got the all-black but otherwise stock upper grille with the fuji badge in chrome. Looks decent, and when I've painted the headlights it will be the only chrome on the front of the car.

Fog rings are painted black, but still chrome in this pic

 

I put LED lights on the interior and license plate, it looks SO MUCH better.

Today I also replaced the engine air filters and cabin air filter. I don't think I've ever experienced such a swing of how easy/hard the filters on this car are. The engine filters are the easiest of any car I've owned, truly a great design. But the cabin filter is so much harder than any other car (still easy, only took about10 minutes). It's just funny to me how much easier the engine is than any car, and the opposite for the cabin

 

Had my headlights restored, and also got a leather wrap installed on my steering wheel. Went to professionals for both because I knew I'd do a poor job on the former, and would totally screw up the latter. Pretty happy with the results. Also, new floor mats.


I'd replaced one of the headlights a few years ago, so there was a bad mismatch in the weathering on the lights. The stock light was considerably worse than the new one. This bothered me for a long time.


Steering wheel feels like brand new now.

 

Looks great Hex! Two questions:

1. Did your lip come pre-painted? Or just needed to touch up - I am planning on purchasing my KAD lip soon but at $300+ was wondering if I could get it cheaper unpainted then spray it when I spray my sport bumper (still have yet to do this)
2. You wouldn't happen to have the old OEM lower grille mesh available? Been looking to find one but the last few I've found cheap have had damage. Looking to avoid spending $150 for a brand new one..

 

I got the lip used, but the previous owner never painted it so it was just primer. I used plastic filler on some of the problem spots, sanded it down, primed, and did 2 coats of black and 5 coats of epoxy laquer clear. I didn't go with 2k as the flex in this part could crack it eventually. I did 5 wet coats so I can always polish it and so it can stand up to front debris. My old grille was painted this way and it still looks great after 4 years.


I don't have the lower grille because I didn't feel like paying that much either. I just made my own because I'm cheap. Same with the foglight bezels.

 

Looks great!

Do the cone filters get soaking wet when driving in rainy conditions?

 

Hasn't been an issue so far, but I'm working on a set of shields.

 

How much did you pay a pro to do the steering wheel/how did you find one? I'm considering the exact same thing, but don't really know where to start