Well, I joined the fray of the new grille. I ordered on impulse even though it was expensive. I won't go into the details on how to install it. I'll just go over the issues that I had installing it. Essentially, more lipstick for my pig.
First, my Lexus OEM grille had most of its plastic brackets already broken. In fact, my Lexus OEM grille was being held by one or two bolts. No wonder the grille used to move when I closed the hood! Since this 2003 GX470 has been in SoCal all its life, the nuts and bolts were not rusted and I was able re-use all of them.
Second, I painted flat black the LEXUS logo. I didn't like how it stood out so much. I wish I could custom make a GX.PRO or a GX470 logo for the front, but that will have to wait.
Third, I didn't use the strip of foam included with the grille. My grille fit pretty good without the foam, so I left it alone.
Finally, I did break a plastic bracket at the bottom of the wire rod that attaches to the hood latch. I ended up bending the tip to hold the wire rod in place, but I need to look for a replacement plastic bracket like the red one at the top of the wire rod. I don't want to go offroading and have the wire rod come undone because it will make opening the hood a challenge.
Also, I started a separate thread on how to connect the raptor lights to the engine fuse box, but I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver the MINI tap-a-fuse connector and 5 Amp MINI fuses. Once those arrive, then I'll finish my post on that. There's a few videos and write ups on how to wire it, so my post focuses on the details of the tap-a-fuse method.
Found the part number for the broken plastic clip for the hood rod...for documentation purposes.
