This is what it looks like.







After a 20mins drive, I can feel the heat coming out of the bumper vents when I park the car. Thus, it is really functioning now and the engine bay should be cooler than before with OEM non-functional vents.

Interesting. I was wondering about some sort of new piece to go in there, some sort of mesh.

To put a mesh grills in, you will have to cut those plastic vents off and I don't want to do that. Also, you will need to drill at least 4 holes on the bumper to tight down those mesh grills. This is good enough for me and it looks OEM too

Wow... nice job!
I think it looks great.
I've been on the fence to do this myself, but I'm sure glad that someone else had the nerve to do it first.
What size bit did you use?

Great job .. that looks stock!

interesting...does the sports front end have them drilled already?

I'm wondering if those are actually functional now that you did that... B/c though it might make it dissipate heat better while stopped, what's it's affect at speed... I remember reading a car and driver issue about 6 or more months back where they were testing cars going 0-200-0 and one of the cars couldn't hit 200mph b/c the car wasn't stable enough, so they actually took tape, and taped over the huge holes/vents/brake air ducts what ever you call them, to make the car more stable at higher speed.... I'm curious if that's why infiniti made those "grills" solid in the first place, b/c in the brochure/ads they did say the front of the car was aerodynamically designed...

I highly doubt those holes would make mcuh of a difference in aerodynamics for our cars. If anything, the indentations for the fake vents are already throwing off the aerodynamics.

Phalanx, those look great.
I may just do this when I get my Injen CAI.

I'm thinking the same thing. After all, instead of having the lower fascia "block" the air so it goes around the car, it now allows it to pass through, and creating a bit of a vacuum in the engine bay (with no outlet)... think of a parachute-effect--this could possibly negate the zero front-lift characteristics of the G's design. After all the marketing from Infiniti about the aerodynamics of the car, i don't think they'd just put a solid piece of plastic on there if it didn't do anything.

Then again, the cons of it probably won't be felt on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps if you're going upwards of 100mph constantly, then it's more apparent.

Just a thought.

^1+

tg

Despite any possible aerodynamic issues, I like it. I've always hated how this block of plastic looks in these vents. This gives it a much better look...great job Phalanx for thinking outside the box...

Having the holes would effect the down force on the front end. But only at higher speeds. Kind of like nascar. They want the holes covered to keep the front end on the ground, but risk overheating by covering up too much. If we had side vents, like the FX50, the air would flow right through.

I've never noticed the sport front bumper. Is the front 2 side solid like the non-sport bumper? Or is it vented through all 3 areas?

personally, i think it would look great if you just took the whole plastic piece out like the g37 journey bumpers

I used 1/4 drill bit to drill 2 holes and then trim it. It would looks much better if you spend time on trimming hole by hole with a solder.
I don't think it will hurt the balance of the car since those 2 vents are deep in the bumper like 2 inches. So aerodynamically speaking, when the car is at high speed, air will be forced to those vents and stuck there which just create a force against the car. Look at the early G35 (04-06) they have 2 bigger vents with drilled holes like I did. I know it is not the same design but it does have the similar style to these functional vents.
With cold air intake (long tube), you will get more cold air flow into the engine bay with these vents thus more efficient for power gain.

The Sport bumper is vented, which is why I had the shop purchase and paint a sport bumper for me after I hit the coyote on the highway.
Unfortunately, it doesn't match up if you have the tech pack. The ICC Sensor is in a slightly different location.
Ooops, my bad.