07 Avalon Touring - blackout grille mod

[Isresistancefutile?]

I've had my 07 Touring long enough to burn two tanks of gas and finish this mod. I think the Touring needs more than just the spoiler and wheels to set it apart from the Avalon pack so I'm working on minor blackout trim mods all around, starting with the grille.

The grille is manufactured in body-matched colors, so no painting was required. It took me less than 15 minutes and very basic tools. The part was $160. I recommend this for any silver car, but it might look good on other colors too. I plan to black out the lower air intake and foglamp surrounds at some point, but that will require paint work. The before picture is a stock photo and the other is my car. I have install photos and parts source for the grille. If there is interest I'll post it all here.

I've already installed my Nuvi 650 nav, Solo radar detector, Cobra CB and K40 antenna (don't laugh, I cover lots of highway miles). Future mods include OEM autodim rearview mirror with homelink and the XM radio kit. Window tint is a possibility. I will replace the cassette player with the OEM storage cubby, so if anyone wants the cassette player it will be up for grabs. I've looked into blackout coatings for the taillamps, but that may be too far to go.

[smuook]

I appreciate your enthusiasm for your new ride. I too am into making things a little more unique. Let my see if I got this straight... you bought a black grill and mounted it on the silver car to black it out? I modified my lower air dam. I put a chrome strip on the larger horizontal bar and blacked out the vertical ones. This mod cost me $15. It matches the upper grill very nice and is securely mounted.



I would do a little more research before I removed the tape player. There is an AVC-LAN connection (part of multiplex communication system) to the radio that is likely to produce unintended problems with the head unit by removing the tape player. I initially wanted to put a DVD player down there but changed my mind. Here's what I did instead:

Free Download

Good luck with your ride.

[Isresistancefutile?]

Thanks for the photo. I saw this in another post and wondered if you had done anything to the vertical posts in the lower intake. How did you black them out?

And what kind of chrome strip did you use for the horizontal? It looks like a rigid piece, but imagine it could be a film or flexi piece like a door edge guard.

I like the look on your white car, but think a wide black smile would look good on my silver. Something about black trim just completes the look. I have a Sienna and someone on siennaclub did this with their van and it made a difference. Very unique. Here's my poor attempt at photoshop that I used to prove the concept. Now if I could just figure out how to black out the headlamp surrounds.

The cassette player news bothers me a bit. It is an optional piece that I can't imagine would be so interdependent with the other components as to interfere if I removed it. Maybe some jumpers would solve any passthrough connections? I have the service book on console removal and will make the attempt. If it fails I'll reassemble and pull out the old cassette collection. The car has tons of storage, but all the driver-accessible spaces are deep and dark. I just think the dash space could be more useful with a cubby.

By the way, how do you get the full-size image in your posts here? I'm using "manage attachments" and it only inserts thumbnails. Thanks for any guidance.

[smuook]

I blacked out the vertical supports by putting electrical tape on it. I know it sounds cheesy... but the entire application is 100% reversible to factory. The chrome strip and electrical tape can be easily removed... back to stock condition in minutes... plus cleanup. A good thing for resell. I've had it installed for about 3 months now and it's still working great. Unless you get on the ground and put your face up to it... you can't even see it.

I bought the "Custom Chrome Flexible Interior/Exterior Molding" made by Cowles Products Company. You can get it at PepBoys. Make sure to get the 3/4" size. It costs about $15. The stuff is surprisingly good quality. It is flexible... the chrome it just as good as the stock stuff on the grill... it uses 3M adhesive... and it even is UV protected.

Here's how I did it... Clean the horizontal bar on your car. You'll notice that the bar is beveled. You want to mount it on the angled part of the bar... not straight up and down. It will almost perfectly match (at least to my eye) the same angle as the chrome on the grill. I ran my finger along the bottom and aligned the bottom of the chrome strip with the bottom of the bar.

Don't peal off the entire backing of the adhesive strip in the beginning. Just peal back about 6 inches at a time and work it over to the other side slowly. The chrome strip cuts easily with a razor blade You'll have to be a little creative with the edges to get them to fit snug against the foglight enclosure... not hard to do however. The great thing is you have plenty of left over if you mess it up, but you probably won't because it's easy.

Now the 3/4 chrome strip with hang a little above and below the bar because of the bevel is not 3/4" wide... that's ok. In order to seal the back and prevent water and dirt build up... I used silicone and sealed the gaps in the back.



To post an image like this, use the "insert image" icon in the message toolbar. You have to host the image on some webspace somewhere. I have my own webspace. Otherwise, there are tons of free ones out there. PhotoJerk and ImageVenue to name a few. Once you upload the file to a host... put the link location in the insert image dialog box.