Front appearance improvement with vinyl on front light bar + side stripes!

[mkhuffman]

I have been following Rivan for years, as you can see from when I joined this forum. In fact, Rivian is the company that first got me interested in driving a BEV. I was blown away with 400+ miles of range and 0-60 in 4 seconds. Well, it took too long for Rivian to release from announcement, so I ended up purchasing my first BEV from Ford. Great car, but still. Rivian.

Anyway, I have never liked the front facade. The sides and rear are great, but the front? I get the marketing aspect: make it unique so people get to know your brand. Even though I wish RJ had been a little more conservative, the unique front end is a cool differentiator.

Since the reveal I have been watching those who have modified the front, and trying to figure out what I would do if I ever got one. Well, I got one.

My changes are very subtle. I think the distinctiveness of the front is important. But the oval headlights just look goofy. Sorry. Anyway, the changes I made, while subtle, take the goofy edge off. I love the Storm Blue color, absolutely love it, but it makes it more difficult for the mods I made to be apparent. They would look a lot better with a lighter color. Maybe Sand Dune?

I wanted to take advantage of the new Gen2 light bar design, and emphasize how it is cut. I noticed that it is hard to see the details of the design because the lightbar is made out of clear material. So I put black vinyl on the light bar, under when it angles down, so that the outline of the bar profile is more apparent.

I put a strip of vinyl on the painted surface above and below the light bar, between the headlights, to give it a more imposing appearance. It is hard to see on the darker paint color, but in the right light, it looks great.

The circled area is where I put another smaller strip of vinyl, to make the lightbar smaller. It works well, but when I tried to do it on the left and right sides of the headlights, it didn’t look good there. So I took it off. It is hard to appreciate in the photos, but that little strip above the bar does improve the appearance.

And finally, as you can see in the above photo, I put a little piece of black vinyl above the headlight, giving it a slight eyelid look. I thought about angling it in and covering more of the light assembly to make it look aggressive, but then it would be obvious I modified the headlight appearance. I wanted something subtle, that made the headlights look less like the eyes of a hippopotamus, and just more appealing. The slight eyelid cover achieves that, I think, without substantially changing the look that makes it a Rivian.

And finally, I added a yellow stripe to the side to tie the calipers into the Rivian yellow motif. I did something similar on my Mach-e with red, since the calipers were red, and I think this little stipe adds a little class to the side. I am still considering adding more yellow somewhere, like on the front tow hooks, but not sure if that is too much or not. What do you think?

Let me know if you have any questions about how I did this. I can share vinyl information, how I applied it, etc. Just let me know in this thread if you are interested.

Here are some pictures of what it looks like from various views, and with the headlights on and off.

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[Glembi2]

I really like the yellow accent on the side. I’m ok with the front. It is so minimalistic, I don’t notice it.

 

[mkhuffman]

I really like the yellow accent on the side. I’m ok with the front. It is so minimalistic, I don’t notice it.

I think a little more yellow somewhere would be good, but don't want it to be too much. But the yellow contrast does look great.

I also thought about making the top white, like the old Bronco look. Not sure about that.

 

[atR1S]

Yellow stripe on the side is nice and sporty looking. I personally love the front design and its uniqueness. I can spot a Rivian from far off and that’s not a bad thing IMO

 

[malditofman]

I have been following Rivan for years, as you can see from when I joined this forum. In fact, Rivian is the company that first got me interested in driving a BEV. I was blown away with 400+ miles of range and 0-60 in 4 seconds. Well, it took too long for Rivian to release from announcement, so I ended up purchasing my first BEV from Ford. Great car, but still. Rivian.

Anyway, I have never liked the front facade. The sides and rear are great, but the front? I get the marketing aspect: make it unique so people get to know your brand. Even though I wish RJ had been a little more conservative, the unique front end is a cool differentiator.

Since the reveal I have been watching those who have modified the front, and trying to figure out what I would do if I ever got one. Well, I got one.

My changes are very subtle. I think the distinctiveness of the front is important. But the oval headlights just look goofy. Sorry. Anyway, the changes I made, while subtle, take the goofy edge off. I love the Storm Blue color, absolutely love it, but it makes it more difficult for the mods I made to be apparent. They would look a lot better with a lighter color. Maybe Sand Dune?

I wanted to take advantage of the new Gen2 light bar design, and emphasize how it is cut. I noticed that it is hard to see the details of the design because the lightbar is made out of clear material. So I put black vinyl on the light bar, under when it angles down, so that the outline of the bar profile is more apparent.

I put a strip of vinyl on the painted surface above and below the light bar, between the headlights, to give it a more imposing appearance. It is hard to see on the darker paint color, but in the right light, it looks great.

The circled area is where I put another smaller strip of vinyl, to make the lightbar smaller. It works well, but when I tried to do it on the left and right sides of the headlights, it didn’t look good there. So I took it off. It is hard to appreciate in the photos, but that little strip above the bar does improve the appearance.

And finally, as you can see in the above photo, I put a little piece of black vinyl above the headlight, giving it a slight eyelid look. I thought about angling it in and covering more of the light assembly to make it look aggressive, but then it would be obvious I modified the headlight appearance. I wanted something subtle, that made the headlights look less like the eyes of a hippopotamus, and just more appealing. The slight eyelid cover achieves that, I think, without substantially changing the look that makes it a Rivian.

And finally, I added a yellow stripe to the side to tie the calipers into the Rivian yellow motif. I did something similar on my Mach-e with red, since the calipers were red, and I think this little stipe adds a little class to the side. I am still considering adding more yellow somewhere, like on the front tow hooks, but not sure if that is too much or not. What do you think?

Let me know if you have any questions about how I did this. I can share vinyl information, how I applied it, etc. Just let me know in this thread if you are interested.

Here are some pictures of what it looks like from various views, and with the headlights on and off.

Doesn't look much different to me, but hey, whatever floats your boat. Enjoy. Drive well.

 

[icy1007]

The front is good as it is. No need to change it.

 

[iamnid]

You want my honest opinion?

I think the yellow stripe looks good.

The light bar doesn't look very different at night; however, I think the vinyl makes it look worse during the day. I especially don't like the vinyl on the hood and the tops of the headlights.

 

[shamoo]

I was ready to roll my eyes when I clicked on this link, but I am surprised at how good it looks. Very subtle. I like it!! Sadly I don't have a 2nd gen so I can't do the same on my front light bar.

I'm not a fan at all of those who tint their light bar/headlights or vinyl it up with a logo. But this is

 

[bmedfo1]

I completely agree with you about the front looking like a happy Hippo and that is a big turn off for me on my 800HP truck. I blacked mine out but am still not 100% happy with it. I think the Gen 2 is a little better and I like what you did and will probably try something like that if/When I ever get my Gen2 quad.

 

[DayTripping]

I was actually thinking about some cheesy graphics since I put my topper on. Nothing says supertruck (or car) like cheesy graphics and stripes. I was considering putting a big yellow stripe like a skunk down my entire truck, or maybe more like Herbie the Love Bug if anyone is old enough to remember that movie or saw the reruns. Or maybe just a slight off-center skunk line down the truck.

Then I saw your tasteful side stripes and thought I might scale it back a bit to be a bit more understated. I was thinking about a line going maybe from about the height of my front tow hook covers all the way back. Which was pretty close to your line, but maybe do mine as thick as the tow hook covers.

As for the headlights, I like them better in the dark than in daylight. Then again in general, I like the G1 face with foglights better than the G2 with the turn signals where the foglights were previously.

Just in case it wasn't obvious, I was joking a bit at the beginning but I have been thinking about some subtle graphics to break the truck up a bit.

 

[cohall]

I usually hate mods like stickers. But, I will admit the subtle yellow stripe against the Storm Blue does actually look nice.

I'm indifferent to the front changes. Not really noticeable, which is a good thing for me.

 

[SRO]

The front is good as it is. No need to change it.

Waste of time.

 

[JMACCA]

I have been following Rivan for years, as you can see from when I joined this forum. In fact, Rivian is the company that first got me interested in driving a BEV. I was blown away with 400+ miles of range and 0-60 in 4 seconds. Well, it took too long for Rivian to release from announcement, so I ended up purchasing my first BEV from Ford. Great car, but still. Rivian.

Anyway, I have never liked the front facade. The sides and rear are great, but the front? I get the marketing aspect: make it unique so people get to know your brand. Even though I wish RJ had been a little more conservative, the unique front end is a cool differentiator.

Since the reveal I have been watching those who have modified the front, and trying to figure out what I would do if I ever got one. Well, I got one.

My changes are very subtle. I think the distinctiveness of the front is important. But the oval headlights just look goofy. Sorry. Anyway, the changes I made, while subtle, take the goofy edge off. I love the Storm Blue color, absolutely love it, but it makes it more difficult for the mods I made to be apparent. They would look a lot better with a lighter color. Maybe Sand Dune?

I wanted to take advantage of the new Gen2 light bar design, and emphasize how it is cut. I noticed that it is hard to see the details of the design because the lightbar is made out of clear material. So I put black vinyl on the light bar, under when it angles down, so that the outline of the bar profile is more apparent.

I put a strip of vinyl on the painted surface above and below the light bar, between the headlights, to give it a more imposing appearance. It is hard to see on the darker paint color, but in the right light, it looks great.

The circled area is where I put another smaller strip of vinyl, to make the lightbar smaller. It works well, but when I tried to do it on the left and right sides of the headlights, it didn’t look good there. So I took it off. It is hard to appreciate in the photos, but that little strip above the bar does improve the appearance.

And finally, as you can see in the above photo, I put a little piece of black vinyl above the headlight, giving it a slight eyelid look. I thought about angling it in and covering more of the light assembly to make it look aggressive, but then it would be obvious I modified the headlight appearance. I wanted something subtle, that made the headlights look less like the eyes of a hippopotamus, and just more appealing. The slight eyelid cover achieves that, I think, without substantially changing the look that makes it a Rivian.

And finally, I added a yellow stripe to the side to tie the calipers into the Rivian yellow motif. I did something similar on my Mach-e with red, since the calipers were red, and I think this little stipe adds a little class to the side. I am still considering adding more yellow somewhere, like on the front tow hooks, but not sure if that is too much or not. What do you think?

Let me know if you have any questions about how I did this. I can share vinyl information, how I applied it, etc. Just let me know in this thread if you are interested.

Here are some pictures of what it looks like from various views, and with the headlights on and off.

Great looking truck....planning same color scheme on my R2.....really like the side accent and front blackout.

 

[miggity02]

I like the side striping. A little something to give some contrast. Where did you get it from and are there other colors available?

 

[Gurule92]

I love me some extra yellow.

I've been thinking about a roof delete, I used to do pillar delete on my 3 and Y but I think the rivian wouldlook pretty good with the hummer treatment.

lol someone want to photoshop that better?

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