How in the hell...remove top grill from TRD front bumper....

[DopeCelicaGT]

How in the hell do you remove the top little grille from the TRD bumper? Mine is rusted as hell and I was going to have it painted or paint it myself and after taking the bumper off for a closer look it looks like it is made onto the bumper itself. There are these little black plastic things that look like plastic rivets of some sort but they will not come off. So, does anyone know a way I can repaint this without taking it off or is there a way to take it off. Thanks.

Justin

[Dasher17]

I've taken the top grill off on the regular 00 bumper and it was a pain. On yours is there a little screw you have to undo just on the inside?

[DopeCelicaGT]

^^^I removed every little screw there was on here and the mesh grille will not come off. It seems to be held on with some kind of plastic rivets which I could break them off but I would never get it back on there again if I do that. I think I am just going to do an overhaul on the entire car and this can be a temporary fix as I have masked off the bumper and repainted it still attached. I hope it comes out looking decent.

[darkshadowceli]

Let me know your procedure because i have ran into the same problem. It seems as if the grille is melted on to the bumper. At least thats what it looks like on the bottom, idk what it looks like on the top.

I masked my bumper, put one coat of primer, and one coat of dupli-color paint. After about 2-3 weeks, the paint began to fade and you can see the primer showing through. Looks bad now so let me know what you did.

[DopeCelicaGT]

^^^Great LOL, that is basically what I did except I took off the entire bumper and repainted the upper grille (still on the bumper, masked everything off), the lower grille, both pieces above the radiator, and my windshield washer cowl. I have fixed and replaced my lower grille about 10 times since I have had the car. Personally, I think it is a really crappy design. So, I am not too worried about it because I am just going to replace the bumper with something else, maybe even another kit, and have the entire car repainted most likely. I am tired of fooling with that crappy lower grille that Toyota gave us. By the way the paint job wound up coming out looking like crap IMO as there was no way I could get inside the grille and scrub/clean it well enough for the new paint so it has bunched up areas all over it.

[darkshadowceli]

Yeah it really sucks as far as the design of the grille. But i do like the trd front so i wont be changing it anytime soon. Why did you have to replace the lower grille so many times?

[DopeCelicaGT]

It kept breaking at the joints. You know the little tabs that connect the grille to the bumper, well the mesh that connected to the tabs keeps breaking off and that is just what it does by itself. All of the other times road debris and whatnot contributed to it breaking, either way the force of the wind will pop the mesh away from the tabs eventually. I have literally rebuilt these things like a billion times. I have bought several used and quite frankly this one has been repaired so many times there is just nothing there to repair to anymore. As far as looks I like the TRD bumper as well, always have, but I am also tired of messing with crap n this car and don't even get me started on all of those plastic clips, geez.

[darkshadowceli]

Haha yeah I know. I may see if i can contact someone on here(trdcelica something) to see his method because he's into showing his car i think

[DopeCelicaGT]

^^^Yeah, I used to be as well, but it has never been this bad. You see I have more or less been gone, out of the country for the last year and I haven't washed or seen my car at all during that time. When I was back the car was not the first thing on my mind if you know what I mean :naughty:! I used to labor over this car about 2 days a week when I showed it, but as you get older you will find that there are finer things in life than slaving over a car. You will also find that cars in general and most of your hobbies will take the backseat over other things if you know what I mean.

[darkshadowceli]

Yeah I can understand where your coming from. Except I'm 17 and have the burning itch to impress people with the looks of my car. The modding itch isn't helping either :gap: Girls play a big part in it too. If i know i'm going to ride a girl around in my car it has to be vacuumed, cleaned, and washed/waxed if it needs it. Heck, I mean just yesterday I spent 2 hours in 95 degree weather cleaning my interior/dash and vacuuming! I probably would have washed it too if the weather was more promising (it's been raining a lot in the past week over here).

[DopeCelicaGT]

I hear you man. I was the same way at your age. Your young, do what you want and have fun.