2019 Sport Grille

seems aftermarket is a little slim. Did best I could with a home paint job.

 

Good work, anyone paint matching the trim instead of black ?

 

Anything is an improvement over Chrome.

 

I think I drove my 16 OR for one year, then that Chrome grill HAD TO GO. Buddy of mine at the Toyota parts dept cut me a deal on a PRO grill.

 

It does look better with the chrome blackened out, but to me, ever since someone pointed out that the OEM grill looks like chicken wire, I just couldn't get over it, as I totally agreed with them! It is a really easy mod to get an aftermarket TRD Pro grill and switch it out. After I watched several videos from others on Youtube, but mainly from "Robmotive", I knew I had to swap mine out as soon as I got it. Here is a pic of mine, just taken yesterday after I switched the grills.

 

Honestly I have no idea what theyre doing with these grilles. The SR5 one is the best after the Pro grille. Chunky horizontal lines, that's what a truck should have.

 

Looks so much better without the chrome! I did same thing to mine, broke a couple clips when putting stuff back haha.

 

Tehkoema; I actually agree that there is one grill that comes on certain select SR5s that is all black, with no chrome trim. It does actually look good, and I did consider getting one of those since it has the same sensor location, but ultimately the fact that since I have a TRD Sport, I didn't want anyone who just looked at the grill, to think I only had an SR5 model. But I do agree, that that all black SR5 grill does look good.

 

I’ve seen a few SR5’s around lately and aggree with you. I do think these black 18+ TRD grills are a huge improvement over the previous chrome ones

 

Where did you get the grill? I tried to buy one through my dealer and was informed that Toyota would not sell it to me because I did not own a PRO.

 

I wish my 2019 SR had "the chicken wire grille" on it. At least if you were to meet a bird flying across the highway chances are it would not go through the grille like it can on my SR grille. I'm one of the few that like the looks of the chicken wire grille.

 

I think my '19 SR has the grill you like.

 

Dryfly24; there are many available on Ebay and even Amazon. HOWEVER, look closely, because there ARE differences that in my case, I thought were worth paying slightly more than the cheapest I could find, which was $99 for a TRD Pro grill. That price however, did NOT include the sensor cover, but if you have a 2016-2017, that doesn't matter anyway. Also, most of the cheap knockoff versions, because of copyright laws, come with "stick on" letters. I just did not like that, although if I hadn't done my homework, i would probably have gotten. I found one that has SCREW ON LETTERS, which gave me a WHOLE lot more peace of mind! The letter section of the grill comes as one whole separate piece, which screws on the back of the grill, so the screws do not show. The one I ordered also came with the sensor cover. Now, for the bad news. As others noted who also bought from the same vendor, they ship it with screws that are a little too short. No big deal, although tacky of them to do. Then, the sensor cover did NOT just snap on as they said it would. I had to actually "shave" it down on the mounting tabs, as they instructed me to do after emailing them about it, but after some shaving, it did finally snap in as it was supposed to have done when I first got it! So their quality control sucks, but the actual product looks great. here is the direct link to where I got it, which was from Mad Hornets:
TRD Pro grill kit with sensor cover
http://www.madhornets.com/trd-pro-grille-with-acc-drcc-garnish-sensor-cover-for-tacoma-2017-2019/

 

ChaseFan; ok, so guess who now has a "chicken wire" grill they no longer need and would normally just be sitting around in the box that I took my new TRD Pro grill out of? I am not 100% sure, but I think it would actually just screw into the frame just like the one you have in there now. If you are interested in buying it, heck, make me an offer! How crazy is this?

 

Thanks for that. I’ve been hesitant to buy one of these aftermarket ones because of the spotty QC reports. That’s why I ordered the OEM grill. I’ll have to think about it and decide if it’s worth the risk. I have a 2019 with a sensor. I may just leave it alone. I already blacked out the chrome bezel so it doesn’t bother me as bad anymore...

 

Dryfly24; since you already ordered the OEM grill, unless you can cancel it, I guess there is nothing more to talk about. I tend to read between the lines on these things, and I have read nothing bad about the quality of the actual aftermarket grills themselves. The only things I did read, were about some screws being too short. I was actually surprised when my screws turned out to also be too short, but since I only live a couple of blocks from a hardware store, and the screws were less than one dollar, it wasn't a big deal to me since I had saved about $300 over the price of an OEM grill! And it really was an easy swap. I did in in one hour, and I was honestly taking my time, because I did not want to break any of the tabs when I was removing the OEM grill. I did not break a single tab! I was proud of that! And the new aftermarket grill snapped right in. taking the sensor off of the original was certainly no problem, as it only bolts on with two bolts, and has a small screw on the top of it. The hardest part for me, was in disconnecting the plug! I actually went back into the house, and looked at two different swapping videos, to see if anyone actually showed themselves unplugging the sensor connecting plug. One guy came as close as possible to showing it, and that was enough for me to at least know how to unplug it. The key was a small tab on the bottom of the connecting plugs, that one has to squeeze down, while trying to pull apart the two connecting plugs. Once that is squeezed down, they unplug easily. Since most dealers will take back the item without a restocking fee if returned promptly, I would go ahead and order an aftermarket grill, and you compare them yourself. I am quite confident that you will keep the aftermarket grill and send back the OEM Toyota one, considering you will be saving about $300 by buying the aftermarket grill! Good luck!

 

I just had the recall done on the radar sensor. They glued a piece of foam rubber over it. I don't know how that would affect changing it to another grille.

 

Chasefan; are you kidding me with this pic? Did a Toyota dealer REALLY fix or do a recall that way? that is about as tacky as it gets! I heard that there is a new recall involving trucks that water can get behind the grill and onto a certain area of the sensor, making it useless, temporarily. I mean, it seems to me that any idiot could have figured out the possibility of water getting on the sensor, since there are holes in the grill! And they fix it that way? That reminds me of certain people down south where I originally came from, when, the brackets holding the muffler on, would rust, rather than replacing the brackets, they would simply tie on a coat hanger, to hold it in place! But in looking at the picture you furnished, I can clearly see that they just put the foam wrapping over the top of the sensor, which I can see, would work, but for how long, is certainly in doubt. What a crazy fix! But as for changing it to a new grill, I see no problem at all.

 

I would have liked the new Grille, but having to rig the sensor bumped me away for a little while, especially after buying the truck and then the inevitable tool box. $20 bucks and 2.5 hours. I’ll get the kick butt on down the road.

 

Nope no kidding. Toyota engineering at it's finest. Scroll through that thread towards the end and see that is the fix. LOL!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...8-19-k0b-millimeter-wave-radar-sensor.602113/