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[LRD]

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[basicxj]

I know I wouldn’t want to strip ours down without good reason to do so.

Unfortunately, plastics are common from most manufacturers today, and with radar sensors, park distance sensors and the like the associated clips and wire harnesses are everywhere. That is true whether the badge says Toyota, Honda, BMW, Cadillac or Jeep. My old Jeep was devoid of tech apart from what I installed myself. Some dipsh*t hit my OEM steel bumper hoop and damaged it in a parking lot- rather than springing back like soft plastic it was $1700 to replace the affected end cap. While it is possible to buy simpler vehicles than the Land Cruiser, I am not sure I’d want to go back myself.

Out of curiosity, what required the replacement of the front end component?

 

[k_mango]

I believe it's because of pedestrian impact regulations, as it take an impact the shattering helps dissipate energy. Picking out shards is better than concussion apparently.

 

[MaximusLC]

I agree 100%. The “clip” or whatever you’d call the way the front end snaps together feels janky. It was the same thing on my 6th gen 4Runners. I even had to replace the OEM rigid fogs bc I couldn’t get the driver side to stop shaking. Incredibly annoying on this expensive of a vehicle.

 

[basicxj]

I bought mine in Maryland back in May, and they mount license plates on the front bumper. I'm from TN where we don't have front plates. The dealer and I decided some plugs (standard plastic push plug thing) would fill the holes in the bumper nicely. However there was some additional marks that they agreed to have their body guy take care of. It wasn't bad but for a new car I didn't want to start of with imperfections in the bumper. Anyway the body guy must have sprayed the bumper when he fixed it, because a week ago i noticed gray blemishes coming through on the center piece. It looked really bad and using so alcohol to lightly try and clean only made it worse taking black paint off. So being a new vehicle and me being utterly anal about my vehicles I decided I would fix it myself.

However I will say that plastic on cars doesn't bother me but the plastic on the latest toyotas is just terrible and equal to what i expect a chinese knockoff to look and feel like.

That would bother me too.

Front plates are mandatory where I am, so I got to watch our sales lady drive license plate screws into the virginal piece you are talking about

I suppose one day I might look at one of the winch bumper solutions and get to deal with the same disassembly you have. We’ll see.