Why has nobody tried to replicate the OEM Aero Lip?
 

Aside from a really crappy ebay version and some guy who used to import them from Japan a couple years ago, I have struggled to find anyone that makes a near replica of the OEM aero lip.

https://i.imgur.com/LRGSi9e.jpg?2

IMO that front lip is one of the cleanest looking lips available, and from my extensive online search to try find one, a lot of other people seem to agree and have also tried finding it.

I've gone as far as to contact local Toyota dealerships about it but they must not make them anymore as the responses I've gotten is that they know nothing about it.

Really curious as to why nobody has tried making a proper replica of this lip that includes the grill pieces (as I think that part makes the look). I've found a few suppliers that have replicas of the side skirts and can find replicas of the AERO spoiler fairly easily, but never found a true front lip replica.

Not enough money in it. If there was money to be made they would be out there. You are looking for aero parts for a car that is 4 to 8 years old so they are starting to discontinue many things and what is in stock is probably it.

I'd agree if not for the fact that there are still multiple producers of the OEM aero spoiler/ side skirt that arguably are in less demand than the front lip.
Even looking back years ago to when those parts were new I can't find any evidence of people replicating it at the time.

Look up Nur Spec/ OEM Aero front lip and you'll find multiple posts on various different forums of people trying to get a hold of the front lip

do you mean that itty bitty piece of black at the very bottom? or something else?

That's part of it yea but also the red parts on either side of the bumper that wrap around the bottom of the fog lights/ indicators. That's all part of the aero bumper. It's subtle but looks really clean in-person. You'll see the outline of it if you look closely at the pic

You have marketing data to support these statements? Because a handful of people asked it is a huge demand? You are upset because some Chinese knockoff company hasn't made the parts you want?
Maybe there are more spoilers and side skirts because the demand was high for a while and they made many and now it has dropped off but there are no front lips because the demand never was high enough.

Similar thing: https://www.ikonmotorsports.com/13-1...oiler-abs.html

Looks the same to me. You could scout eBay. I have found some cheap ABS parts that work just as good as some of the branded stuff.

This kit has a seemingly direct inspiration from the front bumper of the OEM Aero lip. at least i think its front lip / grill is directly related to the OEM Aero. I found this kit, and it made me think of the OEM Aero lip immediately. Its called the ROBOT-WORKS kit, and apparently is just beginning production in australia. more information contact Coulson Lau on facebook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEWH4W0P9Zo

Yea I've seen that one as the ebay knockoff I mentioned. It doesn't include the grill piece as I mentioned is an important part of it, and that ebay piece is a lot thicker than OEM.

The OEM front lip front what I remember comes in 3 separate pieces you individually attach, it isn't a single lip mold like that ebay attempt

Looks cool and yea could be a similar alternative to the OEM aero if the grill piece/ lip comes separate to the rest of the widebody kit

hmmm, i really like that hood...

Still interested in the front lip, specifically the grille piece. May have found a way to get a hold of it but not totally sure as I've never imported parts before.

Using this diagram
https://i285.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0d373b72.png[/URL]

I'm determining that the grille piece is
SU003-04182 --- 76853B --- Cover, Front Spoiler Center D4S Crystal Black Silica

Which can be found here https://jp-carparts.com/toyota/partl...ype=8&fig=7601

Just not sure if that's the correct piece or not as there seems to be paint options for all the different paint colours for that piece, yet I haven't seen it come in anything other than the matte black plastic that the rear diffuser is made of.

Also haven't seen any unassembled pictures of it to get an idea of what the fitment would be like on its own, without the left and right painted spoiler parts to connect to..

Looks like it'll cost around $500 USD + shipping for the main 3 front lip parts and all the hardware. Don't think the side lip parts will fit with the front splitter I currently have which is why i'm mainly interested in the grille

There is a gap between the center piece to the bumper to allow the side pieces to snap in. I have the whole thing disassembled in my room right now as I am lazy to put it back on the car.

Would you think it'd look weird with the grill piece on its own? is the gap something that could just be filled in, and then cut off those little tabs on the sides I can see in the diagram where the screws go?

a picture of it disassembled would be great because I don't know that i've seen anyone post it before it was attached

Honestly, it's not worth modifying the middle section. You would have to chop it into two pieces (the bottom side of it extends past the bottom of the bumper by ~1-2 inches) and filling the huge gap on both sides will be a pain. The tabs are for the OEM bumper mounting points minus the two tabs for the side pieces (which is inside and does not stick out).


If I have time, I can try grab some pictures for you.

I feel like that could still work for me, I have a font splitter attached that has a little gap in the area the grille piece would go between the splitter and the bottom of the front bumper. Potential that the grill piece could fill that gap.

Seriously don't know why I like that grille piece so much, just haven't seen any other front bumper or lip that looks as nice as the aero does- think it might be the way it makes that front portion of the car stick out a little, making it more aggressive over stock. Only got the splitter I currently have because it came with splitter rods I could position in the same spot as where the aero grille piece sticks out which you can see here


https://i.imgur.com/O39sEgC.png

Not to burst your bubble but it will not work. The gap that you see is due to the design of the bumper, not because the splitter isn't sitting flush with the bottom side of the bumper. Again, the middle section will extend the bottom side of the bumper another 1-2 inches, which means now your sides of the bumper/the splitter will not sit flush. To make it work, you are cutting apart the section of the lip responsible for it to be held in properly.


I just remembered an example from my buddy's car who has the nur spec lip until an accident happened. The last two pictures will show you how much gap I am talking about for the middle section not to work properly with a splitter unless you have the full setup or willing to completely chop it up and make it from ground up.



https://www.instagram.com/p/BuR5zEIH...vqvJektBZt2I0/

Still desire this bumper and have made a dumb financial decision that I’ll update everyone on the result of who may also be unrealistically interested in this bumper.

I couldn’t find anyone willing to sell me one so I have purchased a replica bumper, and also ordered the OEM ‘front grille surround’ from the local Toyota dealership. I’m putting a lot of hope in the replica being close enough that the OEM aero piece will somehow fit, or at least I can make it work with little effort.
The tiny, non-painted grille surround costs more than the whole replica bumper lip itself hence the poor financial decision.

Was honestly surprised they still had factory aero/ ‘nur spec’ parts available. I enquired when I originally made this post and had no response from the dealer

Eh,I just saw a replica at a friends shop a few days ago. :)

I've also seen a replica but it was missing the black vertical pieces in the middle that attach to the grill.
It also had some bumps in the middle that almost look like a vortex generator.
It doesn't look too off but you can definitely tell it is a rep.

I think we have seen the same thing.

You described it to the point. :)

Yep, just arrived today. Will be placing my order from Toyota for the ‘black vertical pieces’ today.
Don’t like the vortex bumps and don’t know why the replica has them but they won’t be noticeable since it’ll be painted black. Hope the vertical piece fits, looking at photos of the real bumper I should only have to trim off some tabs at the bottom.
Edit- just found out the grill piece actually has a painted part across the bottom which i had no idea about, thought it just sat over the existing bumper bar. Looks like I’ll definitely have to modify the replica bumper and cut off that bar with the vortex so it may actually look completely OEM if I do a good job of it.
https://i.imgur.com/eoRxlwf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2vqzqNm.jpg

I’ll post another picture once I get it painted and successfully fit the OEM grille piece

Hope the your lip works out :thumbsup:

I was lucky enough to find the whole front lip brand new last year but it seems like it might have been the very last one?
Other's have reached out to the shop I got mine from but they were told they aren't made any more.
You may want to check NigelJDM. It wouldn't hurt to contact them in regards to possibly getting one.
Just be prepared that international shipping will be a lot, especially it coming straight from Japan.

https://i.imgur.com/yCIwF1p.jpg

The front lip is a 3 piece lip.
You may have to do some heavy modifications in order to fit the middle piece to the rep.
I have a few more photos on my build page(shameless plug).

Thanks for those photos,
Very hard to find images of the aero lip disassembled. I remember someone else posting it here but couldn’t find it.
I think I may just cut the replica bumper into 2 seperate parts like the OEM bumper and then attach the middle piece directly to the car with bolts and glue sealant.

I’ve checked out NigelJDM in the past but I wasn’t sure whether they were OEM or not, and even if they were they didn’t have black available and the shipping price was way too high.

I’ve been searching local Facebook groups and marketplace for the past year for a OEM bumper and only ever came close to getting my hands on one once but the guy was too lazy to ship

No problem, glad it somewhat helped with your project.

I've done the same amount of research for this lip(local markets, forums, asking others on advice to obtain it) and I feel your pain.
Sometimes the deal wasn't meant to be and hopefully there will be a better one.

Best of luck on your build!

Received my front under spoiler. Had no guarantee it was going to match but I’m fairly confident now it’ll work out. It looks like it’ll go over the side pods of the replica spoiler so any bad cut lines will be covered up anyway. Only part I have to get right is the bottom cut

https://i.imgur.com/ilG3TQL.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MV8UJCk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5wwmO5u.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NWma1B4.jpg

Incase you were wondering what the car looks like with just the grille piece as I originally did back on this thread. You could honestly get away with it if you have a splitter. It’s not fully in place in the photo because I didn’t want to take off my bumper, but you get the idea.
Bought a dremel to cut up the side pods off the replica aero bumper. Fingers crossed I don’t mess it up
https://i.imgur.com/4sYfxXF.jpg

Well I gave it a go but unfortunately I was let down by the replica’s accuracy (which I sort of saw coming but was optimistic I could make it work). They made slight changes in the mould to the OEM part in the area that connects to the grille and it just wasn’t fitting in a way that I was happy to spend the money to go have it painted.
If you’re good with moulding I think you’d be able to make do but I ended up just taking the loss on the replica lip money and buying the remaining OEM pieces. Ended up spending way too much on everything just for this lip, I would suggest anyone doing the same not to order the parts and to try buy an entire aero bumper, even at the expense of overseas shipping, and then swap bumper and sell your existing bumper to make back some of the cost. That way you’d probably still get it for half the cost I’ve had to spend.
Also doing a mock up of the fitment it looks like I’ll have to cut the fins off my beloved splitter which is kind of sad as I loved how it looks :(

Replica on left
https://i.imgur.com/FLSwyic.jpg

OEM fitment
https://i.imgur.com/Zs0uBxP.jpg

Replica Fitment
https://i.imgur.com/4a08TnQ.jpg

FWIW, this may help others who have thought of doing the same thing. This might also help save others of time and money :thumbsup:

Thanks for posting your process, it was all done in the name of science!

Authentic or bust. Most of the time, the time and money you end up wasting trying to get it to fit right and look nice you might as well get the real deal. Not to mention if the knockoff pieces are cheap fibreglass stuff, they will not be very durable either.

Yea, in this instance though some may not have the luxury. I don’t know whether US Toyota dealers offer the aero kit to order as I don’t believe it was a factory option as it was in AUS, UK, Japan and a few other countries I believe.

Also I don’t know how much longer OEM aero parts from dealers will even be floating around with it being almost 2 facelifts old. When I ordered the side pods, I was told there were 0 left of the RH side in the entire country and I’m currently waiting for it to be sent over from Japan

Well here’s the conclusion to my thread, one way or another I’ve got my Aero front and I’m pretty satisfied with it.
Although I might need side skirts because of how low my front end sits now.

Installation was pretty easy, didn’t buy any hardware just reused the bolts and push clips from the original front bumper. You need specific push clips for the 3 wheel well holes as the ones I had weren’t long enough to push through the 3 layers (bumper, wheel well plastic, aero piece) The pull tabs from the 3m tape were very flimsy though

Putting my splitter back on was the hardest part as the aero front extends down below the bumper slightly, so you can’t have the splitter sitting flush with the front bumper. My bolts were also too short so I had to find really long ones

https://i.imgur.com/59YJ0xd.jpg