Vertical Supports in Front Bumper

by **cklinh** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:43 pm

More goodies for you guys!

Please refer to this thread by KansasSolara about the modified install...

http://www.solaraguy.org/viewtopic.php?t=23076

OK, so we noticed that KansasSolara's grill opening looked slightly different than most of ours... where we had the black vertical supports, KansasSolara had factory painted ones...

While I was out today, removing my billet grill, I noticed that the black supports had a little give in them... then I realized that they were simply covers!

I went ahead and removed them to see what it looked like underneath... There are four small tabs behind the each of the black covers, spread them apart (left and right when you're looking at the bumper) and they'll come off... took a lot of force to get them off, I manage to break one of the tabs on one of the covers.

Lo and behold!

Looks MUCH better, don't it? I put the covers back until I get Michael's grills (no use getting them all dirty'd up already... THEN, I'm gonna install the grill behind these vertical supports (hope KansasSolara doesn't mind).

Incidentally, anyone know what they're for? It looks so much better NOT black that I wonder why they slapped those covers on in the first place...

by **PXLpainter** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:55 pm

Dang - and I thought that I just had lousy plastic vertical supports on mine instead of painted!

Thanks for this info - very useful and I'm going to do the same thing with mine when I get my new grilles in!

...although I think I might try something different to attach it with than zip-ties.

JF

by **KansasSolara** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 7:22 pm

Great find cklinh. I wonder what those covers are for; my car did not have them when I took delivery. It looks much better without them specially in a light color car.

I'm gonna install the grill behind these vertical supports (hope KansasSolara doesn't mind)

Dude of course I don't mind; I'm flattered that you liked it well enough to try it in your car. Good luck and keep us posted.

by **kingkakyle** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 12:54 am

hahha wow im gonna go out and take them off ^ ^
im happy now even though its almsot nothing
i have the same car color as cklinh and it looks better
(they're probably there so they wont break during delivery?....just a thought)

by **MikeATL** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 6:59 am

WoW! Great find.

by **cklinh** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:15 am

The best upgrades are the free ones!

by **theprodigy79** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:28 pm

lol my car's black, so it doesn't work (or it doesn't make a difference) :-P

Great discovery for the other colors though (esp Arctic Frost Pearl and the other light ones)!!!

by **silversurfer220** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:57 pm

I guess I'll be taking them off of my lunar mist 04 tomorrow. I'm not adding grilles or anything, but it will look a lot better without them. Thanks for the great find!

by **cklinh** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:03 pm

theprodigy79 wrote:lol my car's black, so it doesn't work (or it doesn't make a difference) Great discovery for the other colors though (esp Arctic Frost Pearl and the other light ones)!!!

Actually, it'll make a slight difference... the covers are a matte black, whereas if you removed them, you'd get a shiny black

Probably not too noticeable though, unless you decide to put some neons in there

by **TW85** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:34 pm

The reason Toyota probably puts the matte black covers on is so they blend in with the engine bay components. Removing them makes the supports look like teeth.

by **Astro** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:35 am

Wow, that's interesting. It sure looks much better with them off. I'm gonna take at look at June's ride and see how it looks.

Vertical Supports in Front Bumper

Vertical Supports in Front Bumper

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