I did the exact same thing you did on my Sport using a metal version of that mesh. I found it at Lowe's in the area where they have gutters and gutter guards (eves trough for the Canadians). These come in multi-packs, so you'll have extras for those "oops" cuts, etc. I have the metal mesh installed on both the upper and lower openings with the optional Honda grille.

I needed something durable because of all the gravel we have on our roads in the winter / spring. The five-pack costs $8.22 here, but I'm sure it's cheaper in the Lesser 48. Shop Amerimax Galvanized Steel Hinged Gutter Guard - 5 Pack at Lowes.com

 

Love this! One of the cleanest cheapest mods but also one of the most tedious and time consuming. Looks great when youre finally done, really like the looks on my Fit.

FYI - after a couple weeks the adhesive anchors started popping off - not because the sticky didnt hold but it was taking the clear coat overspray off the plastic! Ive had to redo many of the mounts but they should hold a lot better on bare plastic instead of the paint/clear overspray. Ye be warned.

 

Thanks for this diy. Just ordered some mesh from your link.

 

Back in the day some odd 25 years or so ago I used to add fake ground effects to cars on the dealers lot. One thing I learned from a rep for the 3M adhesive tape I put them on with was the key to my success.

Clean the area the tape is going to touch with Toluene, then Acetone. Then heat the tape and the metal it is going to touch with a heat gun until both were almost too hot to touch, then apply the tape.

You guys won't believe this but I never had a single panel I installed fail at the tape. I had jobs come back from hitting curbs and whatnot and the plastic or glass would be broken and the tape still adhering. If the tape did fail, it failed at the tape to ground effects junction.

Very nice DIY, thank you.

 

Did mine yesterday... couldn't be happier!

 

I posted this on another similar thread, hope it helps.

I ended up going with the $3 gutter guard aluminum mesh. I gave it a coat of Rust-Oleum semi gloss black. What ever gets put in there is going to get dinged up and I wanted something inexpensive and easy to replace. I also like the looks of it with the upper grill which it echoes the pattern of with out standing out too much. Here's the finished job... I also Plasti-dip sprayed the chrome H emblem.






I removed the top radiator cover and the upper grill assembly for easier access to the back side. (While I had the upper grille off I Plasti-coated the H emblem.)
I cut a piece of cardboard to the rough size than, holding it in place I marked with pencil from the front side where the four tabs on the rear of the bottom grill supports protrude. I cut out the holes and checked fit with the cardboard template. I than cut the wire mesh to the size of the template and cut out the tab holes and then secured it to the back using 4" black wire clamps just below the horizontal bar on each of the 4 vertical bars. The tabs also hold the mesh tightly, just don't make the holes too big.

To make it easier for anyone else wanting to do this, here are the measurements for the mesh. This is for my base model 2009 with fog lights, don't know if others are different but it should give you the basic size at least. Once you have a template, making them is a breeze.
Thanks to everyone who has posted on this.


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Doane2u: Great pictures of your work. The template and measurements should come in very helpful for others. Thanks for taking the time to make those to share.

I used the same gutter guard mesh that you did, although I only used a black permanent marker to darken it. Needless to say the black marker had virtually disappeared less than a year later. It's not very visible on my model so I'm not going to do anything about it.

I'd love to hear how the finish holds up over time.

 

Thanks, BraytonAK. I think it should hold up pretty well as it's Rustoleum. If it gets badly dinged it will be easy to replace it now that I have a template for it. All the best.

 

I just did this today. I used the metal gutter guard as well, but I thought I'd take it a step further with all the bugs already filling up the condenser in under 1000 miles. I picked up a roll of window screen and laid that on top of the gutter guard with spray adhesive. We'll see if it holds up. I know it will cut down on airflow, but hopefully it's not significant.