Matt.

Window tinting has just become even more of a priority... I installed white LED lights this afternoon. I just went out to see what it looks like at night - my car glows! So fricken bright!

Right... when my old car sells (hopefully soon!!) I'm going to spend a bit of money on the Aurion. I'm trying to do decide what to do first. As I've complained about before, I'm now a uni student with limited funds, so I need to choose wisely. Window tinting is a definite. I am thinking of going down the path of Strut & Sway bars but am not sure if this should be the next highest thing on my list. A speaker replacement is another choice (a bit cheaper than the strut/sway bars), but I'm not sure how much of an improvement I'll notice without an Amp & Sub. I'm not particularly interested in getting a sub as I use my boot too much to lose the space!

Ideas? Opinions?

was its first drive with the new grill! =[ everyone was okayyyyy

That sucks!

Were they stock facelift tail lights?? They seem... different.

Unless you are selling it to get something much much better.

Like a silver TRD??

Best decision u've ever made in ur teenage time I should say. B) . Do your mod slow...But sure.. ;)

Teenage time????? that was awhile ago...

UPDATE: i have come to my senses... no longer planning on selling this car :)

I dont have a auspack headunit but when i was programming my steering wheel controls i had to use a 660 ohm resistor due the values of 2 buttons been so close together (mode & track down) so mode worked fine but when i went track down it would change the mode on head unit.

Where did you place in 660 ohm resistor? Why 660 ohm?

I tried to fix something that wasn't really broken and now i've caused myself a bit of a problem...

I had read on these forums that a nice little work around to be able to quickly change songs while navigating using GPS mode is to change the function of the MODE button on the steering wheel to flick to and from gps mode. I did this by entering the configuration menu via the AUX mode. While i was here, I thought I might try and change the next/previous buttons to be the other way around (like the default head unit). This is my problem! No matter what i seem to do, both buttons are always programmed to do the same thing - both buttons skip to the next track, or if i try to fix it both skip to the previous track.

Is there some trick to using this configuration menu? Has anyone had the same problem?

As for the strength of the Thai grills... nah, they can even handle some good flex :(

On that topic of things, that front bumper sure can take a flexing.

WHOA! I did not expect the grill to stand up to that! I'm not trying to make this thread about talking down the quality of a $50-$60 plastic grill... but my time working with these grills has made be assume that if you even hit a small bird they would break. I'm impressed!

spotted new member Matt along gympie rd near stafford rd tonight about 630

nice ride dude

haha... just got on this section to post that i had spotted you! you beat me to it...

i was in my own little world and didn't really notice you were there until you were a bit past me. traffic was pretty ordinary so i didn't get a chance to catch up and check out the car!

Unlucky, do you happen to have a pic of the VIP2 fitted to your car other then the half shots you posted above?

Matt's Aurion (sorry... no creative alias)

I have updated the dodgy photos of the VIP2 grill on that thread. The originals were taken with my mobile phone... the new ones are a bit better. Hope it helps you make up your mind.

Just thought I'd pass this on as a word of caution so others do not repeat my mistake. I'm happy to admit that it is largely my laziness that caused this to happen, but nonetheless, it seemed worth a mention.

THE STORY:

I have both a VIP1 and VIP2 style grill and have been experimenting with both for awhile now. I recently made up a section of double layered mesh to fit these grills, but couldn't decide which of the two I liked best. As a temporary measure, i fixed my mesh to the VIP2 by zip tying it to the grill using only a few of the attaching points, as i figured i would probably be taking the mesh off and putting it back on my VIP1 grill in a day or two.

This weekend I was driving over the Gateway bridge checking out the Ferrari driving next to me, when all of a sudden i noticed one of the 'arms' of the VIP2 grill had broken off the grill and was flapping in the wind, smacking into and scratching across the bonnet of my car!!!!!! The head wind was enough to cause a piece to actually snap off the grill.

Again, I admit that this may not have happened if i had bothered to zip tie the mesh and grill together using ALL the attachment points, but at the time I was almost in tears thinking of the scratches it would be putting in the bonnet of my car!

Check out the photos to show what I'm talking about:

Fortunately, the plastic bit didn't actually make enough contact with the bonnet to scratch it - but at the time, I was expecting the worst and pretty ****** off. I thought I would mention it here so nobody repeated my mistake! Once you see the mesh that this grill comes with, you will be wanting to remesh it straight away.

Broke, unemployed uni student. Repayments aren't that much... but still, every cent counts at the moment. I have another very fuel efficient piece of **** '98 nissan pulsar that i was going to sell, but it seems that it might be cheaper to keep it and sell the glorious Aurion.

Haven't made my mind up for sure yet, but it will be a sad day if it does happen.

Good to hear all is well mate. My car is about due for its 45K service... sounds like you'd recommend the North Lakes crew?

Ingres, looks sweet as mate! Suits the rest of your car too... I bet it would look great next to your leather seats. Will have to see it in person one Thursday...

Sad thing is... i'm actually thinking of selling it.

TradingPost used cars, Silver Aurion TRD 3500 SL, burgundy trim (looks great). Located Oberon NSW, 17.500K's, Go silver, always looks great even when dirty, easy to maintain finish, and TRD has enough contrasting pieces to make them look A1.

I love the burgundy trim on that car!! Might even add that to the list of mods to do to my SX6 at some point... hopefully the guy Ingres go to do his can do something similar! :)

would it be simpler to just hook it up so the lights came on when you unlocked the car with the remote?

or maybe a "clap" activated system! :P

Looks good mate!

another reason for doing the vip2 is cause hardly anyone (if anyone at all) has it on this forum... so you'll be even more unique... :D

(other unique thing being the fact that your colour is the best one out there..

are you flirting with me?

Not after the Group buy.. In brissy, u'll see quite a few..

well... i'll be unique for a week or so. maybe for one more meet? after that, there will just be about 10 of us being unique together :)

VIP2 looks better in the flesh than the photos... but i'll still probably end up putting the VIP1 back on and selling the VIP2. We'll see. I'll drive around for a week or so with it on and see how i go. Adding the second layer of mesh makes either grill look WAY better! :)

IMO VIP1 looks nicer than VIP2, wonder how the VIP2 will look if it is colour coded (hmm i might try it when i got mine.. hahaha). Also Matt when will u be doing your tinting? I might go and ask whether they do headlights or taillights tinting..

Colour coding and tinting both require cash, so will probably not be happening for awhile. This whole unemployed uni student thing is killing me at the moment...

Ok... i started remeshing my grill today and got distracted with my spare VIP2 grill. So i put two layers of a finer mesh on it and am now considering keeping it on. What do you all think?

Sorry about the dodgy photos... took them on my phone.

haha... no, not scared off. It was good to finally meet a few of you. I was pretty keen to see the TRD as i haven't had much to do with them. Maybe next time.

Yeh it was my brother Tom with me. He's keen to bring his Supra out at some stage.

After looking on eBay, it seems there are HID kits there for as low as $69. Does anyone have any experience with these? Are they any good? Anyone feel like helping fit them????? After seeing Ingres' Aurion last night, I think I might remesh my grill today. I might even throw on the VIP2 grill just for a change.

I'm going to come along tonight. I think i've figured out what you mean by "the loop". I might try talk my brother into coming with his supra.

see you at 8... ish.