Faux TRD Pro Grill(Cali Raised) TSS/Garnish Issue

So I bought a TRD Pro Faux Grill from CaliRaised, installed it, looks awesome. Being that I have the 18' Tacoma the TSS Sensor went off and left it's mark on my dash. I talked to CR and they told me to use the Toyota garnish(PN

$350 53141-35060 Genuine OEM

53141-35060), so i ordered it thinking it would pop right in place of the Faux center garnish that is removable. When I got the recommended garnish(PN 53141-35060), I came to find that it doesn't even work with the CR Faux Grill. I know some of you have probably had this issue. My question is what's the best fix spending the least amount of $? The image with 2 Garnish's, the one on top is the original Faux Garnish. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

 

why not dremel a slit on the bottom?

 

Same thing happened to me. I used a combination of drill and dremel to create the slots and used the Garnish. No issues as of today with the sensor or adaptive cruise control. Be careful with the 2 tabs as you are modifying it and test fitting.

 

Crazy they are selling a grille for the 18 model that doesn't even fit the correct 18 model year garnish.

 

The @CaliRaisedLed faux grille is more expensive than an 18 oem grille also. OP have you contacted CR regarding the issue with the oem garnish not fitting?

 

But you aren't spending "$400-600 for an OEM grill"!!

 

Aren't the OEM ones like $500, and the the nock offs from Caliraised are like $280?

 

Interesting they didn’t copy the oem grille there. My Chinese knock off accomodates the garnish perfectly. It sounds like it’s not too tough a diy to make it work though.

 

I spent 140.00 for my knockoff on ebay and the garnish fit like it's supposed to.

 

A little research goes a long way.

 

You need to return the grille and get one that works with the garnish. Unless you got it for $50, why should you have to hack into it to make it work? If it’s advertised to work with an ‘18, that’s clearly not right. If it wasn’t, then that may be on you. I got a knock off Chinese one from eBay for $101 and it had slots to accommodate the garnish perfectly (got that on eBay too—$50).

 

I have an 18, the garnish a actually requires crush nuts, instead I used 3m double sided tape with the red backing, just cut some small squares of it, make a small hole in the center of the squares, push through and be be Donesk, I have no rattle also my pro grille was factory

 

i paid 390 for the OEM one on Amazon. Garnish from a local dealer. installed with no issues

 

OEM ‘18 grilles can be had for $180, and require the garnish. ‘17 grilles are the expensive ones at 400-500.

 

Tons of stories of people being denied at dealerships do to not having a Pro VIN.

 

This is true. If you can find a Toyota dealer that is willing to sell you one (right now, many orders have been cancelled) you should be able to get an OEM one for about $180. I had one ordered for $177 ($190 shipped) but when my china one showed up and looked fine, I cancelled my order of OEM.

My china grille had the SLOTS at the bottom of the radar sensor opening and fit the OEM garnish piece perfectly. The garnish piece has little clips on it similar to the entire grille itself and should click/clip in place at the bottom, through the slots. I then followed the advice of a member on here and went to ACE hardware to get the "star washers" or "star locker nuts" or whatever you want to call them. They were like $0.24 ea. versus $1 ea. from Toyota and waiting 2 days for them to arrive.

I would say that if the grille was advertised as working with an '18, that's misleading since it doesn't. I read that some of those grilles did NOT have slots at the bottom to accept the OEM garnish. The one I ordered on ebay specifically showed them, but I was still skeptical since a lot of those sellers just take other people's pics and reuse them for their items. Turns out, the one I got DID have the slots and that's why I cancelled my OEM grille order. I later read that others had ordered from the same dealership in FL and had their orders cancelled for them due to the 'stop sale' that Toyota has on the grilles.

At this point, you have a couple of options: 1. Modify it to work with the garnish piece (or modify the garnish by removing the bottom clips that go through the slot) and rig a way to keep it in place. or 2. Return the grille if it was advertised as working with an '18 but doesn't.

 

Not me. Probably because too many people calling/visiting the dealer at once. There was a temporary back order a while ago that was a result of that.

 

For whatever reason... Again, a little research goes a long way.

 

I've gotta agree. It wasn't research that I WANTED to do, but I HAD to do it because of an eBay coupon that was set to expire the next day. I hurried and browsed the 240 page thread about them to determine what was needed and where to get it. There's another kind of "how-to" thread that someone posted on replacing the grille -- though they used an OEM grille. I found that thread very helpful.

Unfortunately, it's hard to know exactly what version you're going to get unless you order from someone that has been verified to have the slotted grille.

I think I got somewhat lucky getting both the correct version of the knockoff grille AND garnish with an eBay coupon for ~$150.

 

+1. If it's not working as advertised, I'd return it and get one that does.