Dermen

I don't really like the black honeycomb look that the grill on my 02 ES has. Is there a company that makes mesh grill insert for proteges or a new grill? I would want it on the bottom between the fogs too. I think it would look much better than what I have now. I don't really like the black with the silver so if I find these somewhere I was thinking about having the black trim piece thats right under the hood painted to match the car.

If quikmp5 reads this: Do you have some kind of insert for your grill? I like the way your mp5's grill looks in your sig.

NegatiZE

For about $6, you can buy some mesh at Home Depot and make your car look like this:

Pro_fan

Negatize, can you list how you did that (ie. material, how to attach, etc)? I'm looking to do that to my Parent's CR-V because there's no grill for the radiator.
Thanks in advance!

NegatiZE

Here's some instructions I typed up:
http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/sho...&threadid=8415

Dermen

I might end up doing that. I read your post before I posted this but I just wanted to check if there were any that I could buy. I read bad things about AT grills and thats the only place I found that made them for pros.

I have some questiongs about it though.

Was the grill hard to get back on after you put the mesh over it? I haven't looked at my car that close but it seems like it would be a tight fit since you were making the grill a tiny bit bigger on all sides.

The bumber is plastic right? So if the mesh scratched the paint it wouldn't rust. But will anything bad happen if it does scratch it?

Makaveli

Don't get AT Grills !!!!!!

everybody that got one had nothing but BAD things to say about it...... starting with delivery then the quality and installation, etc.

Go to Home Depot or somewhere else and buy some material that you like and make it out of that.

NegatiZE

The grille wasn't too hard to put back on. The grille sticks up a little more now, but since it's all uniforma and even it doesn't look too bad. I'm not too good at doing this type of stuff so you might be able to do it a little better. Yeah, the bumper is plastic so it wouldn't rust at all. Just be sure and put some touch up paint in the area.

Dermen

How would I put touch up paint on it is between the grill and the bumper?

Does anybody know how to take off the lower grill on the 02 sedan? I haven't looked at it but I'm hoping its not too hard.

Also I found a solution to painting the black strip above the grill. If the mesh looks good I am going to get a magnetic bra. That way there will be more black on the front than just that strip.

Thanks for all the help guys.

ProtogePimp21

ya i know how to take off the lower grille... itll be difficult to explain but here it goes.... to take off the fog light covers if you dont have fog lights you simply remove like 3 tabs from the housing and it will pop right off( thats the easiest part) now as for the center piece in the lower grill there are the same kind of tabs that you found on the one for the foglights on each end of the center grill piece... next you need to take off the three vertical tabs that are torwards the middle of the grill, this is tricky but the easiest way to do it is take a coat hanger and flatten it to make it as skinny as possible. then, take the end without the hook and put it through one of the holes in the grill next to the vertical tab. use the hanger to "grab" onto the tab and pull torwards you, the tab should come out. there should be something holding the grill on the top and bottom od the vertical tab.... repeat until all tabs are off and take off grill.

sorry its confusing... hope this helps dermen!

Cactusboy19

I did my grill just like negatize, but I took the whole bumber off and did the lower middle portion and the end ones too.

the 2 bottom ones on the sides are just solid plastic no air flow there but I did them anyways.

For the bottom middle piece of mesh I use some #6 half inch wood screws on the top to secure the mesh. U cant see the screw on the top but U can see the two bottom screws that I used. So I am gonna get the dremel and grind em down so there are not visible.

I will post some pics today when I get a chance.

I bought the mesh at my local hardware store $5 for a roll its aluminium with a shiny silvery finish.

overall it looks really nice.

P.S. if U want to get those 3 bottom plugs back in the grill U have to take the bumper off. once the mesh is in there is no way to get at the bottom plugs, to put em back in.

Taking the bumper off is pretty easy. Go HERE for instructions to remove bumper

Dermen

Thanks guys. This is getting more and more complicated. Oh well its not like I have anything better to do. I am going to pick up some mesh on monday so I'll tell you how it goes and take pics when I'm done.

Dermen

I went to Hope Depot and Lowes and neither had the mesh stuff. They only had plastic gutter guards that were black. I did find some at jcwhitney.com but its $30 and thats way too much.

I also wanted to wait till I got my block heater installed to see where I could try and hide the plug. I got it installed today and found that I can have it come out of the bottom grill behind the license plate holder and that the plug and 4-5" of cord will fit up in the license plate holder so I won't have to see it.

And for the black strip above the grill sticking out if I do the mesh. I think I am going to get a magnetic bra so it would go with that and not stand out.