to begin this DIY, just to clarify,
there was a DIY already done previously by midnightmach
but he got rid of his camry and gave me his grille from the previous DIY and I worked on it a lil more.
I have a stock grille from my own camry so i made two grilles one with the toyota sombrero and one without.
this is a very easy DIY, so other people couldave done this in different ways.
I got a lot of PMs asking how to do a proper mesh grille, so i'll make this thread as detailed as i can.
after i finish them completely, I'll see how they turn out, if they turn out really well, i'll start selling my custom made grilles.
so here's the progress.
#1.
first you need a multifunction rotary tool aka dremel ( can be had from $30 dollars)
#2
get the cutting blade and cut off everything extra u don't need from the original grille. u can take off the sombrero if you dont want it. I have two so I did one without the sombrero, one with it.
you wil leave gaping holes on the grille so you need to fix it afterwards
#3
then, get a bottle of bondo. be very careful when using this stuff, you will need some mesh to fill in the gaping holes. after getting the mess, mix the bondo compoind with the hardening cream.
DO NOT MIX TOO MUCH AT A TIME OR IT WILL HARDEN BEFORE YOU CAN USE THEM UP.
#4 leave it to dry overnight or even 2 days. bondo will emit heat so usually one day is good enough
#5 get your dremel out again and start grinding and sanding out the extra bondo that's sticking out, make sure not to grind off too much.
#6 use a coarse grit sandpaper to sand out the uneven bondo and surface things. be patient
#7 use a finer sandpaper to sand the entire grille to prepare for the primer. be very patient
#8 get a bottle of wet sandable primer paint that you can use to wet sand the grille further. paint it with the primer and leave to dry
#8.5 while your waiting for the paint to dry, start building your mesh. just get any rain basin guard mesh or anything that looks like what's in the picture and shape it so it'll fit behind the grille. paint it black or colour of your choice with a very sticky paint like enamel so it wont chip off by small rocks on highway.
#9 get some semi fine sand paper and ultra fine (1200+ grit/sq inch ) sand paper and wet sand the primed grille. be extra patient
#10 now you are ready to go with the paint of your choice. try something shiny yet sticky. something between a plastic paint and enamel. enamel isnt as shiny as plastic but stickier, so consult your local paint seller
#11 Assemble everything your pretty much done.
i'll have more pictures to follow, but here's step 1~8
you need one of those, i got a mastercraft one for $40 on sale with original price of 120. but a cheapy 30 dollar one will work, but make sure it can cut through plastic like knife through butter.
make sure when you see it at this angle, it's very very smooth
oh yea, ALWAYS USE PROTECTION
more pictures to come soon!
UPDATE!!!!!!************************************** ********************
i'll have pictures of them on the car next time
Great job!
!
Hit me up if your really interested. We'll talk. 
Linear Mode
