dextterity

Ok guys, let me know what you think, I'm considering a couple cosmetic mods since I just ordered an ABS Dynamics front lip. A friends father who's qualified is going to do the painting, he's repainting my front bumper as well so i can get rid of that front plate, not only does it have the two holes to fill which isn't the problem but the screws from the plate to the plastic peiece made some rust spots, so that'll be taken care of.

Now for the real issue, my front grill. What you'll see in this thread is pretty much a copy from the 3rd page of my cardomain I just made up, so if you have trouble seeing pics just check out my cardomain and hopefully it'll work out there.

Grill Options:

Old pic of the car before lowered so it looks a bit weird, anyway this is what my grill looks like now:

Stock


This pic is from blazin2kmax's car...kinda borrowed it off his cardomain since he has the same color max with a body painted grill here it is:

Pic1


This is the first of two photoshoped pics a friend of mine made for me. You should be able to tell the difference, it's the center piece behind the embelem. It was taken out because I think it's a bit too noticable when painted body color makes the grill look cleaner. As far as getting this done for real, I guess I could either keep this part of the grill stock color or paint it black to make it less noticable.

Pic2


This photoshop of the grill I think is the cleanest. It keeps the main lines of the grill visable and takes out the smaller ones, to me it resembels the painted grills of the 02-03 max's in some senses. As for making this one happen, I'd do the same thing to the thin lines of the grill as I said about the center peice, either keep them stock color or paint them black, I donno about dremeling them out, don't think that'll work. And of course...can't forget this is a photoshop the lines of the grill that would be black may be a little noticable but I'm not sure for black grill mesh from a distance can look as if nothing is covering the grill so painting these peices black may do the job.

Pic3


-Joe

Stalldaworld

iTrader: (8)

no pics of stock with the lower grill insert? if not go with #3

dextterity

The last three pics are someone elses car i don't have the lower insert, i used his pics because his grille was already painted and made it easier to photohop, my car will have a front lip in the spring and no lower valence just a repainted bumper with no more front plate and deciding on which way to go with a painted grille.

Lontar1

iTrader: (5)

not voting... but just paint it to match your car.. you will love it.. I klnow I do love the way mine looks

southeast_first

iTrader: (3)

pic 3, by far.

02theMax

iTrader: (2)

Yep #3 looks the best imo.

dextterity

Cool guys, thx for the info/votes, keep them coming, I'm for #3 as well glad to see others agree, does anyone have any ideas on how I should go about getting this done, should I only paint those specific parts body color and keep the small grille lines as they are, or paint them black to make them less visable?

ope2k4

iTrader: (4)

that looks good so far. I like the last picture a lot but I dont think you can achieve that look by painting the small line pieces black. Is it possible to just cut and trim them off? Ive been thinking about that.

rbrown81

iTrader: (3)

I like 3 for sure

dextterity

Yeah you know I'm really not sure, I need to take a closer look at my grille and maybe ask my friends father what he thinks if we can "cut" them off and smooth out the spot by the center, don't want the cut to be noticalbe, and maybe it won't be after it's painted, but i donno if the grille needs them for some kind of support, tho i doubt it. Was kind of hoping someone would comment on that idea, whether or not they think it's possible to cut the peices out.

OutMaxxed

iTrader: (7)

#3 looks real nice does anyone have their car in sterling mist with a painted grille and AE 'modded' headlights? I was thinking of painting it but wasnt sure if i should because the lights and the dark stock grille matched pretty well. if any one has this, could they post a pic up? i wanna photo shop the same way dexxterity did. Thanks

SEmy2K2go

iTrader: (10)

#2 or #3 are both good IMO

X-Vert

I personally think you should cut the areas you dont wnt, it would look MUCH cleaner. Just dremel them out, its a piece of cake and wont take you longer than 1/2hr, just sand it well after you cut it up.

OutMaxxed

iTrader: (7)

here ya go Dexterrity, i did u a little xtra somethin...


now that one looks SaWeeT..

dextterity

haha, though it looks good, that would be a PITA considering everything connects to that center part ;pp

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

Why not get creative and do something that nobody else has done? Hell, I checked before I painted to make sure noone else had it done first, not to see how it would look. Now everyone's doing it.

frankd121

iTrader: (1)

#3


10char....

dextterity

Well I'm not exactly looking to do what nobody else has done, simply what I think will make my car look it's best. Even thought plenty of people have painted their grille I don't think anyone has done it in the way of Pic3, so in some ways I am doing something different I guess.

fall97

# 3 definately. Could you photoshop a 5.5 gen grille w/o the nissan hamburger?

dextterity

I would if I could but I had a friend do the photoshoping for me, suprised nobody has ever done that. But when you say take out the embelem you'd still have the outline of it on the grill right? Or do you want more done, I'm sure it can be done neatly with photoshop but as for doing it for real, I'd be more concerned about how that would work.

neville610135

iTrader: (2)

pic 3 seems to be a unrivaled choice. great idea on the simple ways to make the maxima shine

fall97

I would like to get that done for real, but I just wanted to take a look at it on photoshop to see what it would look like. I guess I would have to go to some plastic molding place to get a quote; they would probably have to make, say 100 if they were to do the job.

dextterity

Thx, I think I really need to make this work now that everyone seems to be voting for pic #3. It won't be for a while though, when I get this going because the guy that's painting my front lip, bumper and grille said he wants to wait till the temperature is at a steady 60°F which isn't that much of a problem I guess, didn't plan on putting the lip on till I'm gauranteed no snow and clean roads (no salt/sand) just about the same time I'll put my rims back on, though rims maybe sooner

Well maybe sometime I'll look for a good pic for my friend to work on if he doesn't mind. But in the mean time if you can find a pic you want me to get photoshoped let me know.

Maxima570

iTrader: (1)

definately 3...

ZIPPIN

iTrader: (32)

yawwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

AceofSpds

iTrader: (4)

Im thinking about trying this also, i have my old bumper from my accident and i might try cutting on it before i cut on my new bumper.

BTW: are those stock fogs?? what kind are they?

dextterity

oh in the pic on my cardomain? if that's what you're talking about those are the piaa ion crystals, they were nice when i had them, but i did the "lexus yellow" look with the 9006 yellow capsules, so much better, love them, no pics of them on my car now tho

dextterity

Thx nice of you to comment, I'll just take it as a bump

AceofSpds

iTrader: (4)

Ok so I decided to go outside and start cutting on the grille, keep in mind this is off of an old bumper from when i had a wreck & i just cut it off the bumper.

ok so heres my pictures of what ive got goin on
Here is the front before i cut:

Here is what ive done so far already, ive completely cut out the middle piece and i havent messed with the left side of the grille yet, on the upper and lower i cut out the vertical bars.

Ive done all of this with a dremel and a hacksaw, pretty easy, just takes some time, ill probably do this to the bumper on my car next week because i will be off school for mardi gras

dextterity

haha sick, looks pretty nice from the pics, so you actually cut out some of that "rectangle" in the back there too, perfect. Make sure to take some pics once you finish all your cutting. nice

-Joe

Gapp

iTrader: (3)

looking good bro. I've got a 2K as well, and wanted to do some grill mods too. Which screws do I take out to get the grill out of there? Are they the ones that are phillips and hard as hell to get to?

AceofSpds

iTrader: (4)

you cant take the grill off a 2k, its attached to the whole front bumper, that grill im practicing on was cut off an old bumper i had.

2k0to2k3

iTrader: (1)

or just body color match paint on larger front grille pieces and instead of cutting smaller pieces out tape them up and leave them black. total grille color matched looks funny to me. i like the stock 2k3 grille with big hamburger and lower inserts only. lighter colored lowers on light cars and dark ones on dark cars.

dextterity

yeah taping them off was the original idea, and I'm sure it would work fine, but the photoshop pretty much takes them out completely and doesn't make them noticable (equal to cutting them out) so if I tape them off the final product just might not look the best. Cutting them out I think will probably end up giving it the cleanest look, and closer to the look of the 2k2/3 grille painted body color since those 2 large bars on the grille are the main things that stand out, mainly what gave me the idea to begin with.

But yeah on the 00-01 painting the entire grille body color makes the grille pieces (small lines and behind center) too noticable, so we'll just have to see, I'm curious to see what chopstix spare grille looks like when all the pieces are cut out, if he plans to finish that one, will give me a good heads up, I still have time before anything happens, the painter wants steady 60°F weather.

2k0to2k3

iTrader: (1)

i have the 2k but before i got the whole 2k3 bump i put the 2k3 emblem, hamburgar bun on my 2k grille and it really made a HUGE difference for the better. i payed 30 something for it at the dealership. of course i like my 2k with the 2k3 bump,hids, and fogs much better but for 30 bucks plus what ever you are going to do to the grille it's a much cheaper route to go. i now have the 2k3 with stock grille and re painted grille tech lower inserts. painted very light silver/grey to match my pearl color and calipers.

also if i cut those inserts out i'd put the grille behind it just in case any debris should fly in there you'd have something there to stop it. although if something that big came through you'd have some serious problems all around.....

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

It comes off the bumper with 4 screws. You have to take the bumper off first to easily get to it. It takes maybe an hour tops to do.

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

Can't do it. The grill follows the burger. Behind the burger, the grill is hollow. The only way to do it would be with filler.

Italiano

iTrader: (1)

hey i've been looking for this mod around, and know i need the obvious front bumper and grill but wanted to ask you what other parts are needed for the installation (if any), seeing how you've already been through this. any other parts you needed to purchase, like 03 bumper clips, etc..? you and iceland max are the only two i know of to date, that have done the swap.

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

you need to buy a VQ35DE...



Seriously, the hamburger from what I could tell when I had my grill out was held in with two screws and some adhesive.

Italiano

iTrader: (1)

unfortunately im locked into my payments with this car. already tryed selling it and the highest i was offered was 7,500 which isnt even close (or at that point) to my loan amount. so im just sucking it up and stickin it out with this car.