Ares 2019 TRD pro Custom Bracket Review (Updated Again Please Read Even If You Plan On Buying One)

I Have been having issues with it a no longer recommend buying this product. See my post below about the issues

I have a 2018 Limited that i bought in October. It was one of the first off the line and have never had any issues with my TSS. The only time i have had the dreaded error some people are getting was when i was wheeling on the beach and i went down into a rut and then back up. Im not sure if it was when my nose was pointing at the sun or the sun bouncing off the sand but i got that error that one time only. I guess the early sensors had better quality control then the later ones.

I received my grille from @Roman a couple weeks ago so i have been waiting un-patiently for the bracket to come in so i can finally update my grille. It is on of the last things i have had planed for the truck since i bought it so when i got the notice that it would be delivered today I pulled my limited grille off last night so i could swap out the surround. The Pro does not come in the fastest color (MGM) so i had to buy the grill in super white and do a surround swap.

The bracket is nice. Much better looking then the Toyota one with the fake honeycomb on it. Looking at the Ares one they could have just made the black cover and not added the fake honeycomb to it and i think it would look fine. I know it will be a back square when the rest is honeycomb but it would not look that bad.

The honeycomb that comes with the bracket is a rubber like material that is painted. The paint is close to the rest of the grille but since its not the same material it does not exact. From a distance everything blends so it does a much better job then the Toyota one. With it being rubber(ish) we will see how it holds up over time to things like the car wash. If it rips I will just use the plate without the fake honeycomb because like i said i think that will look fine too.

Install was fairly straight forward. The only issue i had was not all the countersunk screws where sunk the same amount so i had one screw that was not sunk enough to be able to reach the other side to put the nut on. I took a drill and carefully worked my way up until i could get the nut on the screw. As you can see in the photo they all still are not the same distance but once i paint them it will not be noticeable. The screws being silver stand out so I'm going to take a little bit of black paint or sharpie and black them out. some of the honeycomb has some davits in it that you can see in the close up photo but they are only noticeable close up so not that big of a deal.

I took the truck for a drive and when i started it up I had no error codes. I thought this is great since that is what i was most worried about. I drove around for a while using cruse control in traffic to test out the sensor. It was a butt clenching experience but it seems to work good. On the high way it will speed up and slow down depending on the traffic speed. The only thing I have to do more testing on is it could be taking longer to really hit the breaks if someone has to come to an abrupt stop. I'm not talking about the collision avoidance but if someone hits the breaks and slows down fast, the truck also slows down quickly to match the speed. It seems to get closer before it activates that but it could all be in my head so I will update this later on with what i find and would like other people that install it to reply with what they have found also. As i said this could be in my head watching the rear end of a car coming up quick hoping my sensor worked like it did before.

All in all I am super happy with the product and the price compared to the OEM one.

 

Looks awesome brother! Yes the resin compound I found that worked best is not a hardened mass and is transparent inside. Every other resin would crack or hinder the function. Thank you for taking the time to do a review on this whether good or bad its the truth. I think I had I ran out of black stainless bolts.

Once I get production up and fine tuned if anyone has issues or if the bracket piece fails I will be offering a replacement piece because this was about helping the community.

 

@smooosh are you still running stock height suspension or are you lifted/ leveled?

 

TRD pro suspension

 

It seems that there was a bad batch and Ares is going to have to send out a couple new ones because they are cracking. The good thing is Ares is quick to rectify the issue.

 

Here for the community.

 

Yours is the only one that cracked. The others were a cosmetic issue with bubble wrap and imprinting

 

I went to the mailbox today and found version 2.0 of the Ares 2019 TRD Pro custom Bracket so I quickly took apart my grille and installed the new one. I have taken pictures of both so you can see the differences.

The first thing that brought a smile to my face was that this version uses black not stainless bolts. This is great so you dont have to deal with shiny bolts or having to paint them black. The other differences noticed where
1. The honeycomb is shorter. Version one had raised honeycomb which when it was all done stuck out farther then the honeycomb on the grille but the new shorter honeycomb keeps it on the same level as the grille when installed.
2. The honeycomb is a different color. Version 1 had a paint to try and make it closer to the color of the grille. Version 2 does not have that paint so its a different color. More on the color change later.
3. The shield is flat where version 1 had a texture to it. Maybe @ARES can explain the change in shield and why version 1 had a texture but version 2 did not.
4. The shield is a a different color, more see through and more reflective (maybe) then version 1.

The 2 versions. Left Version 2, Right Version 1



honeycomb has some tool marks on it. At first i thought not to bad because its on the side but installed that side is the top. Going over it with a wet rag got rid of some of them but not all.

Version 2 uses spacers to push the shield out away from the grille a little but farther then version 1. If version 1 had this then the honeycomb would probably be way to far out.

Version 1 installed

Version 2 installed


Version 2 has more reflect seems to be more noticeable. The sun could be at different angles, the photo is defiantly in different locations and the photos are not taken at the same distance so all of that could come into play with the photos.

Here is a close up side by side. Version one left and version 2 right. It is trying to show the color difference but its not doing a good job. Version 2 is more noticeable then version 1


Another side by side



I turned my truck on and did not get any warnings but I have not had a chance to drive around yet. I will let you know if I have any issues with the sensor in the future.

There are things that I like better about version 2 and things that could have been brought over from version 1.

Likes
Version 1
The Shield was better. Version 2 might work better which will make the look comments about 1 not matter but just just looks alone I prefer 1. It is less reflective so it is less noticeable then version2.
The color of the honeycomb was better. It was not perfect by any means but it was closer then version 2.

Version 2
The low profile honeycomb. This looks better and will stand up longer then the raised version of version 1.
Black screws. I know version 1 could have had it too but my version came with stainless so the black is a big ascetic upgrade.


Overall
Version 2 honeycomb is a step in the right direction. The issues i have with the shield could have a reason so we will wait for @ARES to let us know about those but all in all i like it. The only issue that i have with mine is the tool marks that are visible on the top of the honeycomb which leaves white scrapes on the black.

 

I tell you what bud you did a really good job on this. I apologize for the tool marks I thought I had them smoothed out. The height difference in the honeycomb is because of the different type of resin I had to use it could not be any thicker without messing with the radar. So having an adequate spacing from the radar alleviated the issue. The color matching im working on as it is not really easy. The best bet is to have a shop spray it a piano black with a nice clear coat. My painting results without a paint booth and all the rain and humidity did not turn out well. Im glad you like the newer version.

The shield is totally different material. The 1.0 was a clear lexan with a tinted coating. The 2.0 shield is makrolon a form of polycarbonate that absorbs less frequency. It is already tinted so no need to apply tint coating. To alleviate the reflection tint can be applied to the back of the shield facing the radar.

Shield 1.0 I used stainless bolts but had to powdercoat the heads of the bolts black to match. So I switched companies that offered black stainless bolts at a higher price tag that has to be purchased in quantities of a x1000.

The spacers used also aleviate metal interference with the radar.

Thank you for the review its much appreciated.

 

What are you charging for this piece.

 

$120 shipped

 

That makes sense on the shield. Better to have it not block the radar as much. Thanks for letting us know

 

I tell you what. While version 2 is reflective it looks a hell of a lot better then this.

 

Version 2 looks more like what Toyota should have put out from the factory...

 

This post has been a long time coming but I was strung along for months which is why it has taken me so long to post it.

The main reason I no longer recommend this is because I have been having random "Apply Breaks Now" Warnings pop up. It has not happened a lot but compared to the year before when i never had that happen, one time is to many. (Its happened more then ones though). You will be driving along and then it starts beeping at your and says apply breaks now on the screen. It has never applied the breaks for me which would be the next step but if that happened in the wrong situation it could be catastrophic. If you are driving down the road with cars behind you and nothing in front of you and your truck decided to slam on the breaks for no reason there is a very good chance you will be part of an accident.

While using adaptive cruse control it also seems to break more often when going around a corner and someone else is in the other lane but no one is in front of you. Again this is not something that happened with my old set up.

Those are the main reasons why I no longer recommend this product. On top of those reasons about the product itself there are major issues with the company and how it is run. When you buy something you want to be sure that the company that you are spending your hard earned money with is going to stand behind the product which is not the case here. I see that ARES is no longer a member here but is still selling these on EBAY and i saw other members asking about his product. In the 3 months that he was selling them here they went on and off sale about 4 times and the price changed just as many times. One week they would be $120 then the next week they would be over $200 and then back to $180. Currently they are $140 so if you bought it for anything over $140 you got screwed. I paid $108 (info on where the $8 came from later in the story) so that's not a problem for me.

Ares Did send me version 2 for no charge when my version one broke apart so that was good but the rest of the transaction was one lie after another. I was one of the first to buy the product on August 17th and was told it would go out early next week. On the following Tuesday i asked if he had sent it out so i could install it that weekend (and since it was early next week). He said it is going out in the morning and i would have it by Friday. On Thursday i get a message asking me what grille was installing. I told him again (it was all in my paypal payment.) and he said it would be there by Saturday. Later that night i got a message that even though i sent him the info again he sent me the wrong one could i send it to another customer of his and he would send me the correct one Wednesday. It came in the mail Monday and i turned it around to his customer on Tuesday and sent him a receipt with my PayPal address figuring he would pay for his mistake. I was wrong. On Saturday i messaged him and asked if it had gone out yet because i had not received it and he said it had not. It finally shipped the following Tuesday (September 1st).

I received it on the 4th and on the 6th i messaged him with photos of it cracking. He was accommodating and said he was going to send a new one. He sent it out on the 17th and i installed and reviewed it on the 19th. I at the time was happy with it (because the break now errors had not happened yet) but had listed some cosmetic issues or things i would change in my review. That day (September 19th) he messaged me and said thanks and he was going to be implementing my changes and send me a new one. He said he would send it out tomorrow or Saturday. We talked via PM multiple times with me taking photos for him of the 2 versions on my truck and what i thought of versions he was making. After that i messaged him a couple times to check in and on October 14th he finally responded and asked me which version i liked better even though i already told him back in September. He said he would get me the new shield out tomorrow. October 31st i asked if it was sent yet and he said he was waiting on the new design so i could review it. I have never received the new version and i emailed him via ebay and asked about it and he said he was not going to send me one even though it was his idea.

I dont care about the new version since i most likely will go to OEM. I waited to post anything about the sensor issues to give him the benefit of the doubt that it would be fixed/work in version 3. Version 3 might work great but just know for your (insert today's price of the product here) you are going to get something that may or may not work that will be shipped to you when he gets around to it, maybe.

 

Where can I get one of The latest version please.

 

ebay. good luck

 

So @smooosh you're going to get the OEM garnish instead?

 

I think so. I have not fully committed to changing yet and bought it but most likely.

 

You can email him also.

aresfabrications@gmail.com

 

That’s great, the reason he left is the people that run this place preferred he not sell it here. It’s fine you think that the oem piece is just overpriced plastic, it is not... Maybe you should reconsider assisting to sell his products here.