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2003-2009 Nissan 350Z

Lookin' for a new grill

Old Feb 6, 2005 | 08:41 AM
  #21  
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Originally posted by Armitage
For those of you w/ the Chrome door strips stuff, what exactly does it cover? Just the front of the grill?
It just slides over the 3 plastic rows on your bumper. Probebly the best appearance mod for your money IMO
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 09:04 AM
  #22  
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More importantly, how did you make it so that water wouldnt get in the sides? Maybe its the brand Im getting at Autozone but Ive put strips on at least 5 times because over a little time they get ugly and need replacing...
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 09:16 AM
  #23  
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Originally posted by silverstoneTT
More importantly, how did you make it so that water wouldnt get in the sides? Maybe its the brand Im getting at Autozone but Ive put strips on at least 5 times because over a little time they get ugly and need replacing...
how are they getting 'ugly'?
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 02:07 PM
  #24  
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These are great!



Oh wait... Never mind.
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 02:32 PM
  #25  
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lmao, good one
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 07:36 PM
  #26  
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Originally posted by Armitage
For those of you w/ the Chrome door strips stuff, what exactly does it cover? Just the front of the grill?
It covers 3 strips in the front. The key is to take your time and do it right!! Here's what I did....I bought the chrome truck door & wheel strips, it comes in a 20ft. coil for about $9.00.
Measure out end to end and cut 3 pieces. On each piece I ran a screwdriver along the in-side to open it up better. You also need 6 plastic zip ties, one for each end. Starting with the first strip in the bend of the corner at the very end you tie on a zip tie to hold in place and then lay the rest of the chrome strip across by pressing with your fingers to the other end and tie another zip tie to make sure it is well secured. You now have the zip tie hidden in your grill and then cut off the excess plastic. Where the tow hook area was..I had to add a little extra super glue because it just wouldn't hold in that section for me. No problem with the other two strips. It came out beautiful end to end especially with the wrap-around look if you know what I mean. If you ever needed to get towed...so what! Just replace the top strip. No problem! Here's a pic...

Last edited by sluggoZ; Feb 6, 2005 at 07:40 PM.
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 07:54 PM
  #27  
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Here's another pic. The pic shows wavy-ness but its not!

Last edited by sluggoZ; Feb 6, 2005 at 07:56 PM.
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 07:59 PM
  #28  
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Originally posted by sluggoZ
It covers 3 strips in the front. The key is to take your time and do it right!! Here's what I did....I bought the chrome truck door & wheel strips, it comes in a 20ft. coil for about $9.00.
Measure out end to end and cut 3 pieces. On each piece I ran a screwdriver along the in-side to open it up better. You also need 6 plastic zip ties, one for each end. Starting with the first strip in the bend of the corner at the very end you tie on a zip tie to hold in place and then lay the rest of the chrome strip across by pressing with your fingers to the other end and tie another zip tie to make sure it is well secured. You now have the zip tie hidden in your grill and then cut off the excess plastic. Where the tow hook area was..I had to add a little extra super glue because it just wouldn't hold in that section for me. No problem with the other two strips. It came out beautiful end to end especially with the wrap-around look if you know what I mean. If you ever needed to get towed...so what! Just replace the top strip. No problem! Here's a pic...
or you could've got a blow dryer and heated the strips up by section so the material gets soft and press it on inch by inch
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 08:08 PM
  #29  
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After some research and a few posts with a thread I started like this, I liked the T-Rex Billet Grille at $242.00 from Performance Nissan. 4 bolt install takes about 15 minutes, looks good and very sturdy. No pics yet but you can find some if you look at previous threads.
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Old Feb 6, 2005 | 08:08 PM
  #30  
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Originally posted by Mantis3024
or you could've got a blow dryer and heated the strips up by section so the material gets soft and press it on inch by inch
Yes....I knew that going in....But I was afraid that with too much heat... it would screw-up the chrome finish! I did not want to chance it. I pride myself as a perfectionist.
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Old Feb 7, 2005 | 01:59 PM
  #31  
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Thanks for the replies. I absolutely love the look of the stock-grille chromed.
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Old Feb 8, 2005 | 08:12 PM
  #32  
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I just did the chrome door molding mod today. It cost me $10. I noticed that it said to do it in 65 degree or higher temps, but I couldn't wait. So I grabbed my roommate's hairdryer, my roommate, a measuring tape, zip ties, shears and went at it.

I decided I wanted to go from end to end, to make it look uniform rather than stopping at the curves. So I measured out the grille from end to end. I recorded a size of about 36 inches, but I cut 3 strips at 37 inches (to be safe). I cut the tips at an angle so that as they wrapped around the corners, the angles would meet with the end of the grille. I secured the ends with black, thin zipties. I heard others said to use rubber cement or adhesive to keep them on the grille. However, I didn't want to go that route because its about 40 degrees right now. It would take forever for those adhesives to dry. The zipties are really cheap & stealthy and there's no way these strips will come off now.

As I started at one end, I secured it with the zip tie. As I went down the grille, I heated it up with the hair dryer so that the adhesive/strip would get a little more soft/pliable so I could press it firmly against the grille. When I got to the other end, I checked how much slack I had and cut it off to fit. I would post better pictures, but all I have at the moment is my camera phone. I even took pictures of the packaging for those of you interested.













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Old Feb 9, 2005 | 06:10 AM
  #33  
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I tried the Autozone molding and it did not last more than a couple of days. Perhaps it is becuase I live in Houston with the hot weather and non-stop humidity.

Now I have the Nismo front bumper, which has the middle bar and metal grill already built in. Looks great. If I am paying $300 for a grill, I would rather spend the money on a totally new front bumper.

Last edited by Silver_Racer; Feb 9, 2005 at 06:12 AM.
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Old Feb 9, 2005 | 06:12 AM
  #34  
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Originally posted by Silver_Racer
I tried the Autozone molding and it did not last more than a couple of days. Perhaps it is becuase I live in Houston with the hot weather and non-stop humidity.
What I've heard some people do is add extra adhesive to the molding (like the 3M, superglue, or rubber compound).
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Old Feb 9, 2005 | 06:28 AM
  #35  
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Originally posted by Faluzure
What I've heard some people do is add extra adhesive to the molding (like the 3M, superglue, or rubber compound).
The key is...to take your time and the trick is... the plastic cable ties to secure each end so you can wrap it around to the other end and the ties are hidden in the grill. Like I said in my earlier post, I had a problem with the tow hook area so I used some super glue on the tow hook piece. The grill looks great and absolutely no problems with it holding on. The cost...WOW!lol
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Old Feb 9, 2005 | 06:43 AM
  #36  
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Agreed. The Cable ties are essential for keeping it in place initially. It really is undetectable unless you get right up on it. Then you'll just see 1 black line at the ends. I'm leaving mine on. For those of you that don't want them on your grille permanently, you could add adhesive to the ends and tie them with the zip ties overnight. After the adhesive cures, you can remove the zip ties if you really don't want them on there.
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Old Feb 9, 2005 | 07:12 AM
  #37  
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Faluzure...IMHO...I left mine on. I feel it's more security...just cut off the excess. Like you said... "it's hard to detect". Just be careful when washing the car. lol
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Old Feb 9, 2005 | 07:14 AM
  #38  
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Originally posted by sluggoZ
Faluzure...IMHO...I left mine on. I feel it's more security...just cut off the excess. Like you said... it's hard to detect. Just be careful when washing the car. lol
I left mine on too, but I read some people don't like them on, so that's why I offered that route. I cut the excess zip next to the zip head and then I rotated the tie so that the zip head was actually in the back. You can't see the zip head, even up close. You can feel for it behind the grill.
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Old Feb 9, 2005 | 07:56 AM
  #39  
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wow thats a really cool idea...just wondering if any of you can post a little better pics (no hard feelings Faluzure) and a zoom of the zip ties. Thanks!
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