draco

I have been wanting to get a front lip for my Lexus RX for quite sometime now and after finally having paid off the credit card, I can now start to save and start looking more into this idea. The problem is I am stumped on which of the following 2 lips to go for, but wanted other people's opinions.

I understand that there will be some people who will say just leave it stock and have the original plastics painted, but because it's my car I want a lip to address the "uppercut and wind changed" look.

The idea for the car is as follows:

1. I would like to slightly lower it (standard ~1 inch drop), but for this discussion let's say that it won't be.
2. The OEM sides will be left as is. I am not intending to replace or purchase any additional side skirts so they will be left stock and left in there lovely factory colour of black.
3. The front lip itself will be painted black to match in with the factory colour (probably just plasti-dip it all to keep that uniformity)
4. The rear may or may not also have a lip installed and painted black. My thinking is that I will aim for a lip further down the track.

VIS Racing Kit

Painted (colour coded)



Painted Black --> What I intend on doing



OEM Style

Painted (colour coded)



Painted Black --> What I intend on doing (note this picture shows the 17's but I have the 5 star 18's on my car)

ecrane

I'm firmly in the "some people" camp so I won't vote. But please tell me that the RX in the OEM pic doesn't have what appears to be a big goofy wing affixed to it! Surely that must be something in the background.

ho0n

That looks more like a scaffold, ecrane.

As for the lip, I'm a bit confused: is your car black?

draco

No my car is silver, but I intend to have the front lip painted black. When I mentioned the factory black, I was referring to these areas

Gordonrx

How much is that body kit?

draco

VIS is roughly around the $300 mark locally.
OEM is roughly around $150 + shipping from Japan & taxes etc. etc. so would cost me roughly $300 anyway.

Note this price is only for the front lip.

Gordonrx

Can you order the lip painted color coded to our cars?

draco

I believe with most kits that they come black or white and you would need to take them to a body shop to have them colour coded / painted to match up.

chuckbass

I installed my lip kit for my 400h and I'm pleased with the results, as it significantly reduced that sharp "uppercut" look.

The 400h lip is shaped differently than the 330/350.

I still have some adjustments to make, as the new lip isn't a perfect fit (of course). It went right over the stock "lip". It came black, but I plan on using either plasti dip, or matte black paint so that it matches the side skirts and overhang.

draco

Looks nice and would have done something similar if I had bought a 400h. Love the black headlights too. Did you do those yourself or did you have someone do it? As you can see in my initial thread, the idea is to move to a black headlight where possible. Some many on the market but (i) they're mostly for left-hand drive vehicles (ii) they remove some of the AFS functionality depending on which one you get. So the only way to do it is to bake them or heat gun them open, but if you stuff up big $$$ to get a replacement set.

chuckbass

Thanks for the compliments!

I did the headlights myself, baked and disassembled. It wasn't too bad, just very time consuming (entire weekend) as I had to figure out the right temperature. For my gas oven, 225-250 degrees for 10 minutes at a time.

Other than not waiting for adhesive to soften enough and risking cracking the lens covers as you pry them, there wasn't much to mess up.

Currently, my tail lights are wrapped with smoked vinyl, but I might bake/paint reflectors in the same manner.

The aftermarket lights are pricey, even the unknown brands from China. Plus, if you lose the AFS function, you'll have to deal with the annoying "AFS OFF" light!

chuckbass

Not that I can afford a 2014, but it's good to see that they are offering the F Sport front bumper on the regular 350 and 450. I've seen it in person and it looks so much better! I think it should be standard

draco

Agreed they do look good on the newer F Sports.

CRD

chuckbass, nice lip! Can you post a link for it?

Thanks!

chuckbass

I found it on the most popular bidding site.

Imported from Hong Kong, about $200 with shipping. I just looked and didn't see anymore listings for it.

It was under "Lexus rx400h canard" when I bought it.

Seller was "racing_raven"