Conversation Between Triskelion and Dwalbert320

Hey! Long time no speak my fault. Anything new I should be aware of? The site got boring.

You will be OK as things stand now. I used galvanized screen behind the plastic grile of my GD3, and used that DIY to start all of the grille guard threads back in 2007 on the forums. But I replaced the screen with a front surface grille cover later because I liked the idea so much and wanted the extra bling on my BOM Fit. With a BBP Fit now, I want to get rid of the bling from the grille (so I bought the used black anodized grille from a forums member). In your winter weather with road salt, the galvanized screen WILL rust, but the rust will be hard to see for a while. At least the screen is not in contact with any metal, and normal electrical conductivity will not speed up the rust. The upper grille with the "H" emblem is black plastic. A lower grille cover that has been blackened with Plasti-Dip Spray would be stronger than the screen and would be invisible and last forever. Keep that in mind when you start to see rusty screen. The galvanized mesh will stop rock damage to the A/C condenser until it rusts apart. Will take years to do that. I just like the look of a front grille cover that will stop a brick standing in the road from damaging the condenser.

I looked around at all the online options for a grill that would fit on a 2012. Not very many. And I didn't like any of them. In order to match both upper and lower grills would have to be replaced. I have an air channel that catches the air at the front of the upper grill and directs it to the back in a duct to the air opening of the stock air intake (Bypassing the hot engine). I went to Home depot to consider my options. My goal was to find something to add to the back of the existing grill on the lower part.

my options were:

1. Aluminum bug screen.
2. Plastic gutter leaf guards
3. Galvanized steel mesh.

I went with the third option. I installed it behind the existing grill insert. There are big lips on the top and bottom that I was able to drill some holes and affix the material without using tie-ties like some of the DIY's on this site. It's galvanized so it will not rust anytime soon. And it's shinny so it looks nice behind the black grill insert.

Ever since I install this I've been noticing all the other cars in my neighborhood that have completely inadequate protection up front. Even the Porsches and Mercedez's...

I vacuumed and washed all the bugs in the front AC grill. If this mod doesn't reduce the amount of stuff that gets through I might add a piece of bug screen to my DIY grill. Thoughts?

Hey Wayne,

Good! which grille did you buy? (Not Grilles-4-You I hope!). I also hope that yours is was good quality. The best manufacturer is "Mr. Grille". But he seems to have disappeared. The Zeta Products stainless steel grilles are also good, and Zeta is extremely honest and customer-not profit- oriented.

I bought a used black anodized Mr. Grille for my BBP '09 Fit Sport (from another member with a totaled Fit), and sold my original polished aluminum Mr. Grille to another member on the U.S. East Coast. If I had known that you were in the market, would have offered it to you. He will be using black "Plasti-Dip" spray rubber paint to make my grille match his Black Fit. Had I not found a black anodized grille for sale, I would have used Plasti-Dip on mine to reduce the glaring effect of polished aluminum against the dark BBP paint of my car. When I bought my grille, black anodized aluminum grilles did not exist.

You will get the absolute most benefit-for-the dollar with the Sway Bar. Keep trying to make your Fit perfect!

Hi there,

I added a grill to the front of the Fit today. Thanks for the advice. The sway bar is next.