Before-After (Chrome removal)

First of all, just want to say very nice, looks excellent. I had the very same thing done yesterday on my 18 SR5 TRD Offroad installed by my local dealer. Today I was inspecting it because it was dark last night when they finished, and I felt the fog lights and noticed what I consider an excessive amount of play, then I did a search because I wanted to be sure that wasnt normal before I complain to my dealer and found this thread. If you dont mind can you please elaborate on what you did to fix this, and will I have to remove the bumper to fix it? Thank you in advance. Here are some before and after.

 

Looks fantastic. Trying to slowly get rid of my chrome as well!

 

Thanks for the compliment, I really like how it turned out. I wish I had taken pictures but (from memory) I noticed a latching tab that was not very aggressive in securing the plastic housing. I used a thread forming screw to wedge this tab out and provide more force. Not a great solution but there weren't many options without re-engineering the whole thing.

It is a really lame design IMO (I am a Mechanical Engineer by profession and design stuff like this for a living), very weak and not very secure. I doubt that you will be able to do anything externally to fix this, you will probably have to remove the bumper and inspect from the inside. I also noticed that even though I reinforced the plastic housing to the bumper, the actual light itself is somewhat loose in the housing and this is apparent when driving on bumpy roads, the light beam wiggles a bit. I may try to squeeze some clear silicone seal between the lens and the housing to see if this will minimize this somewhat.

I drive with my fog lights on all the time (I live and drive in deer country) and I believe they help with general visibility whenever my headlights are on.

Good luck on fixing this and if you come up with a better idea, I'm all ears.

Dan

 

Thank you for the reply, and my local dealership service advisor appreciates you sparing him a talking to as well, he just doesnt know it haha. If I come up with a solution, I will be sure to share it, although I find it doubtful I can come up with a solution better than a man with credentials such as yours. May you and your family have an excellent Thanksgiving.

 

Ideas can spring from a variety of sources. I have had my wife (zero mechanical inclination) look over my shoulder when I was fussing with something and say "why don't you do this instead?". I didn't because I never thought of it and it took someone thinking "outside the box" to see something obvious that I never considered. I do this at work, encouraging anyone to stop by and look at my designs and comment freely. Sometimes it works wonders (others, not so much). A very collaborative environment that collectively moves the project down the road (and away from the ditches).

A wonderful Thanksgiving to you and yours as well!

Dan

 

Much much better. Chrome doesn't look good on blue or white for that matter. I dechromed my black and I think it probably looks the best on black, but still screams too much on our vehicles.

 

Crap.... I don't have a before shot like I thought, but here is the AFTER. The bumper ends were sanded down a bit, added some adhesion promoter, then rolled on two coats of Monstaliner.
Initially I did the end caps and the surround, but then I bit the bullet and got the Pro surround instead. VERY happy with how the end caps turned out though.

 

Very clean looking.