Rx400h Bumper Guard?

[NeoN]

Hey, recently picked up my RX400h, I was wondering where to purchase a bumper guard/grill guard for the rx400h, I found a couple ones made by Waag that all come in black but none in stainless steel, anyone know where I can find one in stainless steel or have any pics of it in stainless steel?

There is also another manufacturer, rampage, who makes a bumper grill guard in stainless steel for the rx400h, has anyone purchased this or has an experience with it whatsoever? All feedback is greatly appreciated,

-Brett

[NeoN]

anyone??

[Gryphon]

NeonN

I'd guess that there isn't much of a market for bumper guards for an RX400h. Afterall it is clearly not an offroad vehicle so perhaps few want to dress it up as one. You might try the RX350 forum.

Tom

[NeoN]

just to let everyone know, I received my RX330 style bumper guard from ebay (seller: pepbeauty)a few days ago, i'm nowhere near home right now but i'll install it as soon as I get back, It should fit though from the preliminary research I did wit hthe RX350 guys and the fact that the RX330 is exactly the same car as the 400h minus the engine/drivetrain. Pics to come.

[RXREY]

No, actually the 330 and 350 are NOT the same as the 400h! The guard only fits the 330 and 350 because those models have an open slot at the grill/bumper area and that is where the support bars go through and onto the base of the radiator area. The support metal bars go through that slot and onto the two bolts by each or the front lights and on the left side by the horn. Also, the bumper on the 400h has the open air vent but this has nothing to do as to why the grill guard won't fit but just to add to the fact that the 400h is different...oh and the round fog lights and different rims. As far as I know, no one makes the grill guard for the 400h. If I am right, it'll be easy for you to resell it as a mistake or return it. I hope somehow I am wrong and there is a 400h grill guard that I don't know of....anyway, I'm just passing on what I found out on my own looking for the same thing when I first bought my 400h. But now, I am actually glad that my grill guard didn't fit because it is a "Princess" not a "Xena Warrior" type of vehicle, (yes, no matter what, I see my car as a "SHE"). I sold my grill guard from eBay for about half of what I paid for it to a man that has a 330 and he was really happy with it....why not, I paid for half of it! Let us know what happens in your case, Rey

[RXREY]

Brett, I just saw the Rampage grill guard that you mentioned...very interesting. Is this the one that you got? If it is, then IT IS designed for the 400h and I'm sure many of us would LOVE to see pictures of your ride with it on! Thanks, Rey

[NeoN]

Brett, I just saw the Rampage grill guard that you mentioned...very interesting. Is this the one that you got? If it is, then IT IS designed for the 400h and I'm sure many of us would LOVE to see pictures of your ride with it on! Thanks, Rey

rampage? I'm not sure what your talking about, but the bar I bought from pepbeauty can be found on ebay or ebay express(where I got mine). If it doesnt fit im going to have my auto guy custom make brackets up for it, I must have the stainless steel bumper guard on my RX!!! I will attempt to install it in a week or so but i'll give you guys updates as soon as I can, and where did you find this rampage bumper guard at?

[jkatsoudas]

Have you guys seen the WAAG bars? Look pretty nice to me. NeoN, I know you mentioned that you preferred SS, but these are pretty cool

http://waag.com/showroom/200.php

[RXREY]

NeoN, you mentioned Rampage ...or someone did, on the first post, above, look at the first entry.......so I looked it up and found the grills there...anyway, I guess they do have grills for the 400h now as seen in jkatsoudas' post,just above this one. The ones that Rampage makes are SS though, just like you wanted. Rey

[Jim Clark]

Have you guys seen the WAAG bars? Look pretty nice to me. NeoN, I know you mentioned that you preferred SS, but these are pretty cool

http://waag.com/showroom/200.php

Those WAAG bars look pretty cool but why bother? We can't go off-road with the 400h.

[jkatsoudas]

Those WAAG bars look pretty cool but why bother? We can't go off-road with the 400h.

Why, to protect from stray shopping carts, of course! It's a jungle out there!

[NeoN]

No, actually the 330 and 350 are NOT the same as the 400h! The guard only fits the 330 and 350 because those models have an open slot at the grill/bumper area and that is where the support bars go through and onto the base of the radiator area. The support metal bars go through that slot and onto the two bolts by each or the front lights and on the left side by the horn. Also, the bumper on the 400h has the open air vent but this has nothing to do as to why the grill guard won't fit but just to add to the fact that the 400h is different...oh and the round fog lights and different rims. As far as I know, no one makes the grill guard for the 400h. If I am right, it'll be easy for you to resell it as a mistake or return it. I hope somehow I am wrong and there is a 400h grill guard that I don't know of....anyway, I'm just passing on what I found out on my own looking for the same thing when I first bought my 400h. But now, I am actually glad that my grill guard didn't fit because it is a "Princess" not a "Xena Warrior" type of vehicle, (yes, no matter what, I see my car as a "SHE"). I sold my grill guard from eBay for about half of what I paid for it to a man that has a 330 and he was really happy with it....why not, I paid for half of it! Let us know what happens in your case, Rey

Have you guys seen the WAAG bars? Look pretty nice to me. NeoN, I know you mentioned that you preferred SS, but these are pretty cool

http://waag.com/showroom/200.php

I just checked out the WAAG Showroom, and it looks like the piece I bought is the WAAG only in stainless steel, I love ebay, I got it for under $500 shipped! WAAG Wants $600 for the black one w/o shipping! :(

Anyways, I was taking into account the "open slot at the grill/bumper area, your saying I need a RX330 Grill in order to make this work? Its only $99 for a RX330 Grill, take a look at this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS-RX330...sspagenameZWD1V

any thoughts as to if this grill will work? Thanks for all the help

[Gryphon]

Why, to protect from stray shopping carts, of course! It's a jungle out there!

Funny stuff, jkat...

Tom

[RXREY]

Actually, the slot is not from the grill but from the indented center section of the bumper! So changing the grill to a 330/350 won't do any good. But it doesn't matter because now I know and we know that there are at least three manufacturers making grill guards for the 400h: WAAG, Rampage and ...what did NeoN mention?...Pep club, Meat grill....pepboys...Oh...he said PEPBEAUTY! there, that's my little input for the day....toodle-loo cariblu, Rey

[RXREY]

I actually don't like the guards that have the area around the headlights. There are grills that are really nice, chrome and that don't go over the lights, just the center. For my 400h, I like it without anything up front. I saw one at one time, for the rear, and it was really nice, maybe someone else has seen it. It only went around the tow area, maybe about a foot or so wide and it was turned upward...almost as if it was more of a step. It was chrome and looked very nice...that I wouldn't mind, for all of those that use others' cars as parking aids! It's kind of sad that modern bumpers need bumpers! Lol..... Rey Bustos in L.A.

[RXREY]

Brett, I just saw the Rampage grill guard that you mentioned...very interesting. Is this the one that you got? If it is, then IT IS designed for the 400h and I'm sure many of us would LOVE to see pictures of your ride with it on! Thanks, Rey

rampage? I'm not sure what your talking about, but the bar I bought from pepbeauty can be found on ebay or ebay express(where I got mine). If it doesnt fit im going to have my auto guy custom make brackets up for it, I must have the stainless steel bumper guard on my RX!!! I will attempt to install it in a week or so but i'll give you guys updates as soon as I can, and where did you find this rampage bumper guard at?

I simply Googled "Rampage" after seeing it in the aforementioned post and "voila" there it was.... Rey

[NeoN]

Actually, the slot is not from the grill but from the indented center section of the bumper! So changing the grill to a 330/350 won't do any good. But it doesn't matter because now I know and we know that there are at least three manufacturers making grill guards for the 400h: WAAG, Rampage and ...what did NeoN mention?...Pep club, Meat grill....pepboys...Oh...he said PEPBEAUTY! there, that's my little input for the day....toodle-loo cariblu, Rey

so your saying its below the grill but somewhere on the bumper, meaning we'll have to drill holes in our front bumper or switch to a rx350 front bumper? Can you point this out on a picture by any chance since the the WAAG website doesn't do a good job showing where it mounts

[NeoN]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/04-07-LEXUS...sspagenameZWD1V

here is a picture of the factory RX330 Bumper, the Fogs look to be different but everything else looks the same.

[RXREY]

No, it's very different, look again closely and compare it to the my profile picture at the top left here, just under my "RXREY" banner.........Yes, the picture that you posted is the 330/350 bumper and you can see that the indented area is only one thing that is different. When the hood closes and the grill comes down to meet the bumper, it creates the "slot" that I'm talking about on the 330/350 models. The other difference is that the 400h bumper has an added air vent or "second" grill to allow for more ventilation needed for the hybrid system so you CAN'T switch to the 330/350 bumper without cutting off the air flow needed... so as I said, look at the picture of my 400h, look carefully and you'll see that not only are the fog lights different but on our 400hs we also have that second grill on the bumper and the lack of the indention that creates the "slot" or opening on the 330/350 designs. But as we now know, the manufacturers of the grills know that and have now designed their grill to fit our 400hs. There, I'm out of breath with this post! Rey Bustos, happy Lexus guy in L.A.

[NeoN]

No, it's very different, look again closely and compare it to the my profile picture at the top left here, just under my "RXREY" banner.........Yes, the picture that you posted is the 330/350 bumper and you can see that the indented area is only one thing that is different. When the hood closes and the grill comes down to meet the bumper, it creates the "slot" that I'm talking about on the 330/350 models. The other difference is that the 400h bumper has an added air vent or "second" grill to allow for more ventilation needed for the hybrid system so you CAN'T switch to the 330/350 bumper without cutting off the air flow needed... so as I said, look at the picture of my 400h, look carefully and you'll see that not only are the fog lights different but on our 400hs we also have that second grill on the bumper and the lack of the indention that creates the "slot" or opening on the 330/350 designs. But as we now know, the manufacturers of the grills know that and have now designed their grill to fit our 400hs. There, I'm out of breath with this post! Rey Bustos, happy Lexus guy in L.A.

thanks for the quick reply rey, I see the second air slot, so shouldn't there be ample room to mount a bumper guard then if there are two openings on the RX400h's bumper, not just 1 like the RX330/350?

[RXREY]

You would think so but you need a very secure mounting surface and I don't believe there is one through the lower grill vent. The one that fits on the 330/350 mounts on the two bolts under the hood and are on the frame of the car. Very secure. I believe that the new ones made for the 400h are bolted underneath at the chassis. The ones that I mistakenly bought mounted through the bumper opening and to the chassis. As I said, I had to nix the idea of having a grill guard but that was over a year ago when there were no grills made for the 400h as there are now. Good luck and keep us posted. Rey

[Gryphon]

After watching several blind fools come inches from backing into the rear of my RX in parking lots, I must admit that I am tempted to buy the rear bumper guard, although I don't really think that it adds anything to the appearance of the vehicle.

Tom

[NeoN]

After watching several blind fools come inches from backing into the rear of my RX in parking lots, I must admit that I am tempted to buy the rear bumper guard, although I don't really think that it adds anything to the appearance of the vehicle.

Tom

yea I agree, I want to watch out for my RX!! there are alot of *BLEEP* drivers on the road who will hit your car in a parking lot and take off. Rear /front bumper guards are your best protection, although the rear doesn't add anything aesthetically. Its only $200 for a stainless steel one on ebay.

[RXREY]

I haven't seen the rear one that I mentioned in a while. The one I'm talking about was small, chrome, only about 14" wide and basically went around the tow area and it did look good. It came up from under the car and swooped up to about the half way point of the bumper. Very cool. The long one that I've seen with WAAG is terrible...might as well put tires all along the back like a tug boat! I'll keep looking for the one that I meant and post a picture. I believe it was with a site that also had my nerf bars, the side step bars that are on my car...anywho...

[Gryphon]

I'll keep looking for the one that I meant and post a picture. I believe it was with a site that also had my nerf bars, the side step bars that are on my car...anywho...

That would be excellent, Rey. The WAG ones are just not very attractive.

Tom