bfrd

For project #2 today I wrapped the grill trim in black vinyl. I used a single piece of 3M Satin Black vinyl about 4' x 1'. It turned out well for the first time I tried wrapping something that complex. No seams and I think it looks nice.

To do this I completely removed the front bumper and then took out the grill. Once the grill trim was out I used a hair dryer, a silicon spatula and a lot of cursing to get the vinyl applied.

Removing the bumper was easy, putting back on took a little effort.

All in all it took me about 2.5 hours and about $10 in vinyl. This would have been much easier with a buddy helping. So if anyone else wants to give this a whirl enlist a friend. If you don't have a friend pick an enemy. Have them stretch the vinyl while you hold the hair dryer inches away from their fingers. It will be loads of fun (for you).



I have a couple more things I want to do before I take better pictures.

f111f444

iTrader: (3)

U need black chrome lexus logo.

azmojo

So did you put the vinyl on just the chrome or did you do the black plastic also?

Looks great. Would love to do this on my silver IS, but I don't want to remove the bumper.

amoney805

iTrader: (1)

Looks good. Any visible creases when looked up close?

IntegresS

iTrader: (2)

Looks great! I give you props for doing that yourself; I took mine to a shop to have that done

Kudos!!

bfrd

I just put vinyl on the chrome part.

There are a couple of small creases and one bubble. I can fix the bubble without removing anything, but there isn't much I can do about the creases. Luckily you have to be looking for them to see them.

WhiteISWay

When you say took off the grille, can you take the chrome grille surrounding piece off of the spindle grill? Sorry if it sounds confusing, just wondering if the chrome piece separates from the rest of the grill.

bfrd

It does come off, it just takes a lot to get there. First to remove the bumper you will need to remove the front-most engine cover. Just press in the snap-plugs and it comes right off. Once that is off you will have 4 more snap-plugs to remove from the front. Once those are out remove the 3 #10 bolts. On the top of the bumper there are still two posts held in with a phillps head bolt. I would leave those on for now.

Next, move on to the wheel well. There are several more plastic clips along the edge of the well, remove all of those. Once the well cover is loose pull it back and remove a #10 bolt from the top corner of the bumper. There is also another #10 bolt on the bottom of the bumper that will need to come out. Do the same on the other side. Now unbolt the bottom of the bumper from the floor covering. There are six (maybe 8) bolts, take them all out. Once this is done I would remove those last two posts from the top. At this point the bumper should be free. It will take a little force to pull it out. Just don't pull too hard as there are three electrical connections that will need to be unplugged. Once those are out the bumper is completely free. I laid down a soft blanket to work on as to not damage the finish.

Once the bumper is off and flipped over you can see all of the 8 screws that hold everything together. Once the screws are out you will have to manage a plethora of clips and interlocking grill pieces. The black portion is actually a couple of different pieces well blended together to appear as one. Eventually the trim piece does completely separate. As with any hard plastic items you will need to take care not to break any of the tabs. Once you are ready to reassemble it is pretty easy to snap everything back together. I was pleasantly surprised by that part.

Getting the bumper back onto the car is the part where I thought I might have made a really big mistake. The bumper is pretty flexible and took quite a bit of maneuvering to get everything lined up correctly. Once if finally gets into the right place it will be clear that it is right. Once I did get it all lined up correctly I put in those top two posts followed by the #10 bolts in the corner of the bumper. From there on I don't think it really matters.