So I ordered this badgeless grill off fleabay for $44(first mistake), and I get it in the mail today and I'm super excited at how nice it looks and I quickly start to think its the best $44 I spent lol! Its all black instead of the grey metallic that comes stock, no badge, and I'm thinking its going to be awesome on my black IS-F. So I tell my wife that I'm going in the garage to work on the car. I'm working on the car in my underwear in my warm garage in the middle of winter ..... LOL life in Arizona is good...

I get the grille apart after looking at some DIY write-ups, it was relatively easy after figuring out where the clips are and how it comes off.

My wife comes in the garage and looks at the new grille and she's like, that new grille looks smaller, are you sure you got the right one. I briefly hold it up to the old grille and it looks legit, so I carry on and separate the grille surround from the mesh, and try to install the new one...and its TOO FREAKING SMALL, its an IS250/350 grille!!!!! I was so annoyed lol. When I put it back together, I lose this rubber screw cover in the engine bay and can't find it ANYWHERE lol. I also realize I'm missing some other plastic clips for the engine plastics. I took pics so I can update my build thread during the process and it all turned out to be a big fail lol. Anyone know where I can buy another one of these rubber things online, and also those little black popup clips? Its going to drive me crazy knowing these are missing lol

 

Damn , man I'm sorry to hear this. I remember you saying you were waiting on a grille at C&C. I lost some clips under the hood and just drove into the service drive and the SA had a tech put them on in less then 10 min. No charge. Drop by Arrowhead

 

Fiddly little blighters aren't they!

I'd be tempted to drive the car back and forth a couple of times on your driveway? Might find they work their way through to the ground??

Other option is to remove the undertray? Doubt they went far!

Nothing worse than ill-fitting/wrongly advertised parts!

Hope you get it sorted fella.

Cheers.


Peter

 

I did the same thing with a carbon mesh grille for my old F... its been sitting in my garage for the last 2 years

 

Hey buddy! Sorry about the mishap...i completely agree with you in knowing something insignificant as the plastic clips driving you crazy! The same happens to me. It just demonstrates the pride in owning one of these bad boys. The good thing is you can take it in to your nearest dealership and they will gladly install the missing ones free of charge. I actually introduce myself to every technician working on my vehicle to set expectations on what I need done on the car. You can ask a service advisor to let you in the bay where your car is gonna be worked at. Out of curiousity, would you be interested in selling me your OEM grille?

 

Thanks bro! Do you know if you have to get the car serviced there for them to do it? Or maybe during my recall repair I can ask?

I did consider the drivway thing, but I just had my undertray secured with more bolts because it was hanging a little low, so its not going to come out of there unless I take that tray off (which is a pain now that its so secured lol)

Man its so annoying! I messaged the company for a refund lol, their stupid title said ISF grille on it



Thanks for the advice! I may pop in and see if they can do it for me, if not, for sure during my recall repair I will If I can get a nice grille that fits my ISF I may sell this OEM one. I just don't know for sure if I will find out that fits that I like, it seems like this OEM style badgless one is only made for IS250 and IS350's so I'm not sure if I will find another one that fits the ISF.

 

You're very welcome. Keep me informed if anything changes. I'm in no rush absolutely.

 

I just took the old grille surround, covered it with black vinyl, inserted a piece of mesh and logo'd it.







Digger08

 

That sucks to hear. I was thinking of doing something like digger did.