I don't know, what do you think?

 

I really like the tight mesh Max!


Butttt, I don't care for seeing it sitting so far back. Is there any way to move it forward about 1/2" to put it in front of the bumper "trim" (for lack of a better word to call it)? I guess that's why the aftermarket mesh grills have a chrome banding around them.

 

I like the mesh, what about some fender or door edge chrome trim to finish it off?

 

Yeah, I know-my wife and I were looking at it and decided the same thing. At this very moment, I have a 18' roll of chrome door edge guard that is going back. Just won't do the job. It will have to be bright silver and either mount with adhesive to just the top of that lip, or clip on and be very deep to cover the whole thing.

Right now it's a great 10 footer. But if one get too close, it's unfinished.

I always go off too early-my wife says this is so.

Good thing I'm french! Rain is moving in. A trip to Autozone will have to wait for the morning!

I'm open to suggestions. One thought-More open mesh and turn it 45 degrees.

Remember this?

That's what I was going for.

Is anyone interested in what it looks like with the hood open?

 

I have to agree. It needs something along the edge, just not too thick.

 

I don't have the tooling required to make the bend to tuck it under the lip. Working with this tuff is a major PITA. Sharp edges and stiff as can be. I suppose that the angle I took the pic is about as unflattering as I could get. But that's a good thing. I'm an honest guy. It has to be an artifact of my digital camera-the lines are as straight as a string. I don't know why they look bent.

Like I said-I'm open to suggestions!

 

Now I understand the look you are going for. That has been my fav aftermarket grill. I think your choice of the tighter mesh will better hide the elements behind (and look more Bentley ) I'm at a loss to suggest anything to trim it out like the prototype:

 

Nice effort. I think you have found it isn't as easy as it looks to make a grille for our babies.

How durable is the mesh fabric you used. It looks a little fine and would probably bend easily ( from the picture anyway). I noticed it is very far back at the top. Did you cut it around the hood release? When I was first working on my prototype, once I closed the hood I couldn't reach the latch to release it. I had to cut the grille away to get it open.

The picture of the grille you liked is actually mounted behind the bumper edge. look closely and you will see a small lip from the edge of the bumper at the bottom of the grille. I tried this as well and felt it looked very unfinished.

The heavy surround on my grilles actually serves the purpose of maintaining the rigidity of the grill along with the heavy stainless mesh fabric.

The best solution would be to have a molded plastic grille that matches all the contours of the opening. The curve around the bottom edge in the middle seems to be hard to match. Look closely at the new Bently mesh grille and you will see it isn't metal at all but molded plastic with a chrome finish. Unfortunately the process takes about $10K - $15K up front and I could not convince any of the companies to move forward on it. We needed a firm commitment of 200 people to get the price down to $300 and I could never muster more than 10.

Good luck and I hope you succeed. You can't have too many options!

 

Max,
I like it a lot! When I saw the mesh you were going to use I was wondering if you could buy it in the diagonal pattern, or just have to buy a bigger piece and cut it on the diagonal. I was also wondering what it would cost to have a shop water-jet or laser cut a thin stainless steel frame similar to the one that is being sold online. I will be interested in see why you come up with for your trim. Again, good job(so far) .

 

Unless you are also redoing the lowers, I think it would look better rotated 45 degrees, and maybe a larger mesh. Personally, I like a billet grill. In any event, either the mesh or billet is a nice improvement over the stock plastic.

BTW - I really like those rims!

 

Depending upon how thick your materiel is, you could use the stuff that goes on the sides of doors, car doors that is. Also Home depot or Lowes has a pretty good supply of edging that is used for doorways and finish work on tiles. It can be welded in place rather easily. I love what you have done so far though.
Rick

 

The durabilty I don't think is an issue, It's .047" diameter 4X4 T304 mesh. It could take a crow at speed and do fine. A turkey might cause replacement! Casual poking and prodding is no problem. It's crowned in two dimensions giving it good strength.

I like the set-back look. Appearing as a scoop appeals to me. There seemed, over the last few months, a number of folks that were asking for, as you said, options and the 2005 SEMA Crossfire grill came up. I figured I'd give it a go.

I'll have some .047" 3x3 delivered this week and try it again. That is what is used in the SEMA grill. I've worked with .062" 3x3 and it is so stiff as to make it unmanagable.

Doing something with that lip seems to be the highest hurdle-massaging metal has been done by humans for a long time. Going in front and turning the edge under is just too much like work!

I saw the reasoning behind the stainless surround, but it just doesn't appeal to me. I've just got to find a solution!

And turn it 45 degrees. It's just more money!

There is always an answer!

Thanks for your input-a veteran is always welcome!

Oh-I saw the danger of restricting access to the hood-release latch. It has a cutout for that. As for being recessed, it looks OK to me?

 

Oh yeah-the lowers will get attention. In time.

Thanks, bud!

 

But, THERE IS NO TRIM!!!??? I think it's just hidden better with a silver background?

 

grt effort pal, but I finally gave in bought one of Karl's...I love it...I didn't like the thick edge in chrome, but I don't mind it black...I have the upper and lowers mounted...really like them...the blk has a shade of orange peal look, but buffing a little has helped some...but like them better than stock....keep trying my friend....

 

Many people have commented on them not liking the lip on my grill as well as seeing through it. The odd thing is that in person, the lip is not as pronounced as it seems in pictures. Not sure how or why that is.

As far as seeing through it, when the camera flashes, it picks up everything behind the grill. In person, you are hard pressed to see anything through it unless you really concentrate on it.

As far as your grill you made, I wonder if some sort of trim piece that adheres to the lip from the bumper that is exposed would look good. On mine, the bumper is scratched from the stock grill and new scratches from the mesh grill. Fortunately, when the grill is on, you cannot see any except one spot from the stock grill.

 

right now, you can see my needswings cai since it is still silver...but, the way I look at it, there are only a very few guys on here that would ever see it...the rest will be looking at the tail pipes...

 

Right!!!!!!!!

 

Welllll, you could always start a group buy for custom bumpers that have the lip/trim as shown in the pic.














Or maybe not.

 

Max, as a suggestion, Master-carr does sell edge trim that has a slot that will fit up to about a 1/4 inch. Although I've only seen it in a black textured finish, you could paint to match the silver trim? This is a trim that is generally used in heavy equipment door jams. Napa my be another source?
Bill,