I agree that ebay grille does not look great. I think the silver color has a lot to do with it. But on the large pictures you can see holes in the mesh coverage at the bottom of it. That looks like crap.

I don't think that is possible. The Fit bumper has complete coverage on the bottom. You can't reach under the car and touch the condensor. That is why I had to take the top cover off to get the mesh behind the stock grille. It would have been much easier if I could have reached under the bumper, that is for sure.

 

Thanks, but I take little credit for it. I got all my information from other posts on this board. But I was able to do the job without bumper removal and without drilling which was recommended on the other posts. I was happy about that because I get nervous about doing such significant things to my car.

 

I'll do a really detailed install on a sport, maybe this weekend with tons of pics. I found the mesh I used for my RSX grille.

 

Thanks firefox.
I just ordered the black aluminum mesh grille off ebay as well. With my car being silver I think the black aluminum like you have on yours will look really sharp.
Thanks again for the write up.

 

Too bad it's impossible to find mesh material to match the top mesh already in place. I might have to do this now you guys got me paranoid about it. For the ORM Fit I have, I think I'll get the black mesh to match the top grill.

 

I too am a little paranoid after reading all this...I never had my condenser go out but a rock bounced up and took out my fog on my CL-S. That cost my $70 to replace plus a small bird (luckily it didn't hurt anything). Plus I did have some other good size nicks on my lower grille from random debris flying on the CL-S. I couldn't imagine having to replace a condenser costing $700+ dollars. The $20 it cost for black mesh that more closely matches the top grille imo is well worth the added protection and a little of my time to install it.

 

Yes, please.

 

Can somebody please post a link for the lower grille in black, whether on ebay or elsewhere?

 

Mines is metal silver... I'm just going to paint it flat black.

 

Here's a link to an ABS plastic mesh grill that looks like it might be a close match to the upper grill. I haven't actually seen this, just the web site info., but it has a similar shape to the openings and the ABS plastic can probably be shaped and glued to the stock lower grill using ABS cement. I'm thinking about giving this a shot on mine.
Mesh grille, Universal 33.75"x16" black ABS: Electrodyne, Quality Motoring Accessories

 

eBay Store ? eMetroDirect: Search results for.

Don't know if they have any black left in stock. Might have to search a bit.


P.S. just checked my condenser and it is beat up pretty bad already (including a good size ding in my condenser piping on the drivers side) and I only have 1800 miles on my car. Some sort of mesh for the lower grille looks like a must for all of us.
Can't wait until my black mesh comes in for some peace of mind.

 

If you do post the pics please! INterested to see how well it matches up.

In the mean time, I think I'm going with the uber cheap aluminum rain gutter guard route mentioned on another thread for a cheap fix that doesn't look horrible at all. I might go your route if I see it looks too nice to pass up!

 

I might go to home depot tonight to check on pricing for black mesh. I'll report back with photos.

 

I was looking to do that. I have the guttering all painted black. I've changed out the horn but didn't see easy attachment points on the lower grill. Maybe I need to look again. Shame to waste all that creative painting ;-)

 

After seeing my condenser I think an alum. mesh painted black will look like crap after a couple hundred miles of fine gravel etc. hitting hit and possibly chipping the paint. Just mo.

 

I think you have to be selective on the Home Depot mesh. On one of the old threads about doing this job, someone used that mesh but later took it out because they didn't like it. It didn't look good and it collected too much crap. I think the reason was that the mesh was too tight. The pictures made it look like it was screen material from a screen door. I doubt it was that bad, but it definately was not as open as I think it should be. That is why I opted for getting the stuff off ebay. I have had it on for several weeks now and I have had little build up of debris. Just a couple of leaves from my own yard.

 

i painted my alum mesh grill on the rsx and it would last about 6-8 months before i would take it off and repaint. and when i did repaint, it wasn't so bad to where it was bad looking, just bad enough that i noticed and figured i would repaint. nice cheap fix if you ask me. better than getting an expensive black mesh and having that get crappy and having to buy a new one. spray paint=$3.00 mesh=$15-$20.

 

ok good to know. every 6-8 months isn't too bad.

 

it was a lot easier for the rsx tho, as i was able to slip it in front of the oem grill without having to zip tie or anything. i will check to see if it's also doable on the Fit, which I suspect should be able to. It made it a lot easier to take off and paint from time to time. also, you don't really need to paint it 6-8 months unless you are really worried about it. It's really not that noticable. I used to wash my RSX every week, so I would notice each chip and nick on the mesh. Like Firefox said, if you use a larger mesh, you might not get as many problems. The mesh I plan on using has very small opening, so that may trap more junk and catch more rocks.

 

So far I don't have any damage but I know the mesh I have is painted. I scratched it with a screwdriver to mark my cutting lines when I installed it. But I think the paint is also more durable than typical spray paint. Time will tell. If I have to pull it out to paint, I can do that but I would prefer not to. It is in there pretty tight. I know there is some mesh out there that is powder coated. I don't know if you can scratch powder coat or not. If not, then it would be a good solution I think.