So I bought a pristine F type R a little over a year ago from Long Island NY. I am in Michigan, where we do not have license plates front mounted but in New York they do. I thought I could ignore the small drill holes in the black bar that runs horizontally across the grill but with only 5000 miles on it and not a single other mark on the car, it is now all I can see when I look at it.
Those of you that have run into this situation, how did you resolve the issue? Do you replace the whole grill, is the black bar individually replaceable or did you somehow fill in the drill holes?
It’s stored for the winter so now would probably be a good time to take advantage of its inactivity so it can roll out in spring blemish free.

 

That bar is replaceable but to do so you need to remove the entire front clip from the car then remove the grilles and grille surround from the bumper.
Doable but lots and lots of bolts, screws and plastic clips!
Not sure of the cost of a new bar, could be cheapish or could be mucho $.
May be cheaper and easier just to get a shop to fill the holes and repaint the bar although I vaguely recall reading somewhere on here that filling the holes is either not possible or a real bear of a job.

 

Here is one solution:

https://bumperplugs.com/bumperplugs

 

Given that the bar is black, a set of plugs will look stock and won't stand out. You probalby already have parking sensors in that bar, so these won't look out of place. Could be as simple as checking your local autoparts store for trim plugs. You can order from the link (above) if you want painted plug to match the grill.

 

If the holes are the only things you are fixing, it’s not worth it, lots of stuff to be removed like ozxfr mentioned, and the clips will break, i broke 1/3 of them taking it apart, and almost all of the rest putting it back together.

 

I didn’t have holes but I had several gouges and scratches, presumably from rocks, when I got the car. When I had clear PPF applied to the front and hood, the installer wrapped the bar with black film (on their own initiative), and it looks like new. I thought it was a new bar until he told me what he did. Of course, YMMV. Good luck.

 

Thank you to all for the great suggestions and to The Rock for the offer. After weighing the options, I think I am going to drill and use color matched plugs. With the proximity sensors already in the bar I think the plugs will not be noticeable. This forum and its members sure make owning/working on the F type so much easier. Thx again!

 

I bought my 2017 SVR a couple of months ago and my cross bar is behind the grill. I think it looks much better than having the bar in front of the grill. I bought from a Jag dealer so I was wondering if it can be ordered that way new or if the previous owner changed it out. I see very few F-Types on here with the bar behind the grill for all model years.

 

My guess is it was changed out. Adding a Project 7 style grill is a popular mod on F-Types.

 

Yes...I assume you have the Project 7 version like mine?...The impact bar shows from behind, but there is no protruding bar externally....👍

DC