The billett, OEM upgrade and all black grilles look great folks. I approached it a little differently. I did not get the upgrade grille upon purchase and now my wife will not let me buy any new accessories to save money. So, I decided to paint the silver part of the OEM grille flat black. I purchased a second OEM grille on Ebay for $25.00 so I could revert if I didn't like it or for when I sell the truck.
You definitely have to have a blanket laid out and ready to place the front bumper. If you have foglights like me, you may want to elevate the blanket 6-10 inches so the bumper is not hanging by the foglight wiring. I did not unhook this wiring. Removal and re-installation of the bumper went smoothly on my truck. Be careful not to drop the clips into the engine compartment or in the grass. If you are taking apart the actual OEM grille to paint like I did, take your time and be careful not to break the plastic tabs that hold it together.
I separated the three pieces of the second (new) grille; black, silver and chrome-like Honda badge. I sanded the exterior of the silver piece with 400-600 grit sandpaper, and sprayed two coats of primer, sanding in between and afterwards. I then applied two thin coats of flat black spray as not to create runs and sags. I purchased flat clear coat as well however, I did not use it because I thought it would have given it a slight sheen. When it dries thoroughly, put it all back together, remove bumper and swapped the grilles. Below are the before, during and after pics.
Yes I am going to ask a FNG question. When wiring the fog lights did you make your own on/off switch or did you wire it to a pre existing switch from the truck?
Yes I am going to ask a FNG question. When wiring the fog lights did you make your own on/off switch or did you wire it to a pre existing switch from the truck?
I decided to paint the silver part of the OEM grille flat black. I purchased a second OEM grille on Ebay for $25.00 so I could revert if I didn't like it or for when I sell the truck.
Rich
Rich I just did the same thing to mine a few weeks ago,the only thing I did different was painted it gloss black then hit it with some matte clear when done... Half a dozen one way six the other
Wow Danny, you're grill is really close to my heart! I love it when members of this community tackle a "do-it -yourself" project like this and the results turn out to be better than the one's being sold retail!! ROC-On!
I have taken the front bumper off five times by myself. Have something to lay it on under it so that when it pops loose you down't drop it on the ground and scratch it. Take all of the screws out of the bottom first and then the clips at the top and don't worry if the styrofoam bumper coems loose, it goes back easy. A pic of my grill is in this post. I also installed mesh in the other grills. I am now taking the bumper off again to cut the drivers side fake vent for my cold air inlet. By the way 5sdude, thanks for the comments.
cool thanks --that will be my weekend project then--i have a grill with instructions to install without taking the bumper off but its to tight for me. I'm going to take the bumper off to make the install easier.
Thanks for the help on the install, I ordered the grill through honda as a part instead of an accessory and it cost around $230 instead of $316 and the H logo off the old one fits just fine
So like others I tried and to install leds in the drl and only one would work so bought the ijdmtoy converter harness and that didn't work so great, still had the drl light on the dash and didn't like the idea of wasting all the electricity into the resistor and create a bunch of heat. So this...
I had unscrewed the shifter knob to clean and this broke the wires to the D3 switch at the end.
After inspection it seems the wires to the switch are not "pre-wound" so as to withstand unscrewing.
The whole assembly is not really designed to be disassembled.
I just fixed mine. Here is what I...
Hi there! I just got my 2012 RTL and am wanting brighter headlights. I have been reading a lot here about LEDs and HiDS and wanted to see if anyone has a current favorite product in this area. I am not wanting to spend a lot of money to achieve this. I have been looking at the beam techs on...
I have an RTS, but I really feel that a plastic wheel in a $30k vehicle is ridiculous. The leather wraps (IE: Wheelskins) work great as long as the spokes are skinny - which they're not on the RL. So I ordered up an OEM RTL wheel and installed it. I think it was $120, but looks far better than...
Hi today I finish my ridgeline, so I want to share it with you guys!
I install a led bar 42" from Amazon Nilight with some light bar mounts ( for can-am) and they not required any modification, bolt them to the factory roof rack. Then added a lift kit with 2 inches. Finally went and bought a...
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