After debadging the front, the car took on a more pronounced "smile" effect. I've balanced that by making the vertical elements of the grille subtlely more visible. Looks more aggressive a roadster I think with the change. Just the thing to continue the fun of watching drivers squint and frown in their rear view mirrors as they try to figure out what just pulled up behind them.

Took about half an hour using square shaped, uniform pieces of aluminum tape. Take care to center each piece and smooth down the leading spine first!

Pict in the gallery. (Added pict of unmodified grille so you can compare the two looks)

 

I like it-- looks pretty cool.

 

Here's the pictures...makin' is easy for people...

UNMODIFIED


MODIFIED

 

Thanks for posting the images into the thread.

A couple of friends who have seen the new look have asked me where I took it in to have it done. When I tell them I did it in my garage, they were quite surprised.

 

only a 1/2 hour of time? I'm impressed!

 

Today's debadged fun came from pulling up behind a guy and watching the usual puzzlement...... only a little more than usual this time. The guy was so distracted by the mystery in his rearview mirror that he momentarily missed the traffic light. The next two minutes he frantically stared between his rear view and side mirrors. I mean really stare with putting his face physically towards the mirrors. It was a wonder he stayed on the road. Finally at a stop light he mutters something to his dog and then throws up his arms in surrender. Just plain priceless

 

Very nice !! Can you give us a step by step as to how you did that ?

 

for some reason, that car looked like a really old corvette from the front, or the infinity G35!

nice though

 

Not a lot to the procedure.

Obtain a roll of aluminum duct tape from the local hardware store. Get one which is nice, shiney and without printed lettering on the metal.

Clean and dry the grille.

Cut strips of aluminum tape which are slightly narrower than the spacing between the horizontal grille elements.

Peal off the tape backing from a strip. Cut off a square of the tape.

Keep each piece oriented the same way as you apply them to the vertical plastic struts of the grill.

I have fairly small hands so I just used my two forefingers to position each piece centered and square to the struts. Don't position the pieces too low or else you'll get an unsightly bulge at the bottom of the piece when you stick it down.

Stick the front edge down lightly and recheck positioning of the piece. Once verified smooth and burnish down the front edge first and then each side. Get it nice and well applied.

Repeat for each strut.

The result is an slightly different look which I prefer over the plain horizontal grill. If you don't like it, you can peal off the aluminum tape, albeit with some effort.

 

I like what you did to your grill, but I don't understand what that goofy looking black "bumper protector" is doing mounted on the front center of your bumper?

 

It's a license plate holder. They are required for the front in Washington. I'm sure "Seattle SCone" removed the tag for the picture.

 

Scone ...

You measured, cut, aligned, and applied 24 pieces of tape in a half hour?

Are you a surgeon?

 

i like it... i don't have the lexus, so pardon my ignorance on the L badge... how did you remove it? is it just on top of the grille or did you have to make a custom grille?

 

Very rich looking black shine!

I did a little Photoshop magic so you can see the "toothed" look as well.

 

Not truly knowing but is this an entirely new grill you guys are using or is this simply the existing grill with the "L" taken away?

I would have thought the "L" would leave a mark or at least have a housing around it.