Another victim of the little accident when driving into a wall was the front grille. As with the front bumper it was a great opportunity to make some changes and end up with something better than before.
Design is always a matter of opinion but ever since seeing the Outclass Japan front grille on Sunset Studio’s YouTube channel near a few years back I always wanted to switch to it.
Their grille is the Outclass Vintage Grille but it’s big money in my opinion so I decided against it.
Research
After the crash I went about researching other options that look similar or whether I could get my Suzuki Classic Grille modified during the repair work.
I found the vintage emblem sold by Outclass Japan on Rakuten. However, it will stand you way more than it’s worth to get it sent to the UK. I had to use the new international shipping service Rakuten offer where you end up paying more for items that companies would normal not ship to you. They give you an address in Japan to allow you to buy the item from the store then you pay again for shipping from that Japanese address to your home.
With double shipping plus VAT and customs fees I ended up paying £80 for a tiny piece plastic. Ouch, but had to be done.
Next up was deciding whether or not to buy a new grille or fix the broken one. For a moment I thought about buying the APIO Iron Grille but after sleeping on it for a few days I wasn’t keen to spend that much, may as well buy the Outclass Japan one.
So the only option to keep costs down was to either get mine repaired or buy the Retro Grille and get the emblem glued to that.
In the end I chose to get my grille repaired and modified to attach the Vintage Emblem. Reason being I wanted it spraying to match the car anyway and I like the shape of the grille I had.
Modifying the Suzuki Classic Grille
First up was a quote from a local body shop. Near my home the best one is G Baxter Autobodies and the guys there a great. Fixing the damage, spraying the grille to match the colour of the Jimny and attaching the emblem came in at only £90. An absolute deal 🙂
The Suzuki logo on the grille pops out but that still leaves a lip that needed filing down flat ready for a backing plate to be glued on. The logo will stick directly onto that. I’ve seen some where they stick the emblem directly onto the honeycomb mesh part of the grille but that wasn’t possible when modifying the classic grille.
Result
The final look turned out great. As I said at the start design is a personal and subjective thing but we absolutely love it. The grille compliments the new front bumper design great and works well with the overall look we’re going for.
hi love that vintage suzuki emblem, just curious if that comes with the black plate you have above in the picture. If not, where did you get it?
Also, is it easy to put on the new black plate after you removed the original logo plate?
Hi, the Suzuki classic grille had to be modified for the emblem to fit, removing the lip then attaching a new long bit of plastic backing on top. The old badge popped out ok though.
If I’d not bought the apio iron grille I’d have been better buying the vintage grille from Jimny Style as the emblem will stick straight on, no mods required and it looks better 🙂
Thank you Geordie! Follow up question: “attaching a new long bit of plastic backing on top”, did you have to custom make this backplate on your own? (the black thing below vintage suzuki emblem in your picture above)
Yeah just cut the piece myself and gave it to the body shop.