So I ordered a piece of aluminum diamond-weave mesh from http://customcargrills.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Diamond_Small and installed it as my new grill. The piece of aluminum was $35-$40 including shipping, its shipped flat and ‘cut to size’…the piece I got was 12” x 48”, so I cut about 12” off for it to fit.

Attached are pics of removing the bumper and the stock grill...
1- 7mm screws that secure the wheel-well to the bumper fascia
2- Push pins that are underneath, securing wheel-well to bumper fascia
3- Two large push pins once you 'peel back' the wheel-well
4- Protect your lights! I have a pic of the fogs, but you have to do the same for the turn signal bulbs
5- torx-head screws on top

So anyway, I braved the high 20’s temps here in Boston this past Saturday and took the front bumper off...

1- 'anchors' I used - got them from Wal-Mart in the electrical/automative section.
2- cleaned and roughed up the bottom of the anchors and applied them w/epoxy to the grill
3- remove e-clips in order to remove factory grill insert (this was obviously the first thing I did once I got the grill/bumper inside)
4- cut the aluminum mesh down to size
5- cut small holes in the mesh where the 'posts' are attached to the fascia. These are the posts that the e-clips are secured on.

Brought it in the house and used the guest bed as my work station.

1- secured grill with e-clips and zip-ties tightened down to anchors
2- Factory grill looking at driver's side
3- Custom grill looking at driver's side
4- Factory grill head-on
5- Custom grill head-on

looks great, how long did it take?

And here it is!!!

1- Factory grill from the passenger's side
2- Custom grill from the passenger's side
3- Custom grill - front and center

Thanks, MRG. I took my sweet time doing it and it took about 1.5 hours. Keep in mind that about 30 minutes of that was spent taking the bumper off and putting it back on (about 15 min each) and another 30 minutes was spent just sitting and watching the epoxy dry! (not literally).

But yeah I think I started around 2p and was done and taking the 'TADA' pics by 3:30 :-) pretty quick and painless process, plus it probably cost less than $60 total!

Nice work! Glad when people use their hands creating something to set them apart from others. Very good write-up and pictures. Well done!

Great job! Like it. I think it would look better if painted with black.

Looks awesome! Love that look. Great job.

Great job! Like it. I think it would look better if painted with black.

I agree, stock or paint it black. That looks like something you did yourself.
If it was black, that would look way better.

But hey, if you like it, its your car. No problem

Great job! I love to see distinctive vehicles. Good instructions and photos too. This must go into the knowledge base!

Thanks everybody!

I personally wouldn't do it as black because I'd like there to be at least some contrast...and especially with the Limited's silver bumper fascia, I think the contrast of the grill is nice.

That said, I didn't realize how bright this mesh was until I opened the package it was shipped in...
Before I found customcargrills.com, I had used the diamond mesh 'gutter guards' from Home Depot to jerry-rig a grill. Overall it was a good concept - the guards are only like $1.50 each and I only had to buy 3 or 4. However, they're very rigid and very difficult to cut and to 'unbend' the factory curve that they are shaped in. I didn't have the right resources, or take enough time with the 'gutter guard grill', so after a few months I took it off and replaced it with the factory grill. Case in point - the gutter guards are more of a charcoal/flat color, and that's what I was going for. I'd hoped this mesh would be the same color, but oh well!

All that said, I like it a lot and my wife even complimented how well I did and how good it looks. Plus I haven't seen any others like it, so I'm alright with it :-)

Also this appears to be the "rain gutter" mesh grill DIY from years past. You can get the same material at home depot/Lowes/Menards/etc for 1/4 of the cost and tonight.

Jeep #2 - thanks for the input. But like I said, I think the contrast is a good look. Plus I definitely wouldn't paint it just to have to keep touching it up over the upcoming years. I live in New England and already have to touch up my muffler at least once a month in the winter...with this grill taking any debris that comes across it, I'd probably have to touch it up weekly...not worth it, IMO. Plus I think this looks much better than the DIY chrome piping glued over each vertical fin on the factory grill...

Croat - Agreed, this project can be done for much less than what I paid. However, like I said about the gutter guard mesh - the only mesh I could find was molded in an arch and it was dang near impossible to flatten it out. This made it very difficult to secure it to the grill fascia without there being gaps on each side of the slots in the grill due to the curvature of the metal...that's 7 slots that would have a gap between the plastic fascia and the metal grill on each side...that's 14 gaps in my grill that don't have to be there! It was also a royal PITA to cut through the mesh to get it down to size.

Given that I've done both the gutter guard grill and now this grill, I would do this grill again any day of the week! The gutter guard grill is probably $6-$8 in gutter guards, however much you want to spend in tin snips, and hours upon hours of wrestling the mesh to try to flatten it. I laid my gutter guards on a concrete floor with over 200 lbs stacked on top of them for over a week and they were still curved.

While this install probably cost 2x more, it could be done in less than an hour and all I had to do was cut the mesh down to size (I already had the tin snips from the gutter guard project)...this mesh is much more manageable than the gutter guards. So when the total cost is ~$25-30 vs. ~$45-60, it was worth it (in my mind) to spend about $25 more and come out with a better looking grill that took 1/4 the amount of time...which I used to enjoy a 6-pack and Saturday football playoffs :-)

I agree, stock or paint it black. That looks like something you did yourself.
If it was black, that would look way better.

I disagree. I like it silver because of the contrast like the OP said in another post. If it was black you would hardly be able to tell it was there. The mesh he bought looks like better quality/finish than a gutter guard as well, IMO.

I would consider doing this but I don't know how it would look against a white grille (probably not that great).

Also you can go to local metal shops and get a variety of colors/shapes/finishes of this expanded steel/aluminum.

Thanks, johnnyboy! I like the contrast as well. Just for fun, I cut and pasted the slotted sections of my grill onto the grill of a random white Pat pic I found online...doesn't look too bad! Not as much contrast as if it were black mesh, and obviously not the best quality photo-shopping, but should protray the idea if nothing else...

I agree, stock or paint it black. That looks like something you did yourself.
If it was black, that would look way better.

But hey, if you like it, its your car. No problem

By "looks like something you did yourself" I'm not sure if you mean it looks crappy or what...the pics arent the best quality (taken w/iPhone) so maybe something's lost in translation, but I've had several people ask me where I got it done and tell me they love it, so I take that as a compliment to how well done it is!

And "if it was black, that would look way better"...if I wanted a black grill that no-one would notice is custom, I would've left the factory grill ;)

But, on both of your points, thanks for playing :beerchug::owned:

I think it look just fine....and by that I mean...way to go and nice job. It does give ur front end a custom look...a one of kind type set up. Until someone on the forum copies u ;)

Looks like the dealer asked you..."would u like the mesh grill or slotted?" Keep up the good work and keep posting the excellent ideas.

I would have copied u but I've already gone chrome inserts.

Cheers.

Haha - awesome...thanks, EastBeach!

Sick ride, by the way! I love the rack and blacked out wheels. Grill looks great, and tint makes any car look good - good call on that one. Nice wiring on the fogs, too - very inconspicuous...and I would've never known that your fogs aren't factory!

Have you considered smoking the tail lights? Not sure what NY law says about it, but if it's legal, I think it'd be very inkeeping with how BADA$$ your ride already looks! I blacked out mine, but haven't taken the time to post pics yet...coming soon!

Thank you much....not sure about smoked tail lites. Are there plastic pop on or do u have to paint them some how??? Worth checking out. Always searching for little tips and cheap mods to distance me from the pack. Just cant afford my ultimate desire for new rims and tires yet ;)

Spent sometime online looking for blackout tail lites n no one makes any for the patriot. One site sells vinyl heat on n trim to size but is currently not accepting orders. I don't want to go the painted route. Any thoughts? I may contact my tint guy to see if he can do something.

Ok Killa, u got me. My tint guy is gonna black out the tail lites and the 3rd brake lite. Total cost...65USD. He says he uses exterior store grade vinyl and that the red will show thru just a bit. Translation, weather proof n equally important total street legal in NY. Thank you for the idea.

I did the VHT Nite Shades from AutoZone...it was like $8 for the can? I did not sand anything, I just wiped it all down with denatured alcohol, gave it a little bit of time to dry and applied the next coat. It didn't take very long...I taped off the white sections of my lenses, that took longer than anything else haha. Otherwise, it was really quick and easy. I did 2 or 3 coats on mine, so they are 'smoked' not 'blacked out'...I think the can says 5 coats = blackout

I tried my front markers blacked out, but I didn't think it looked very good due to the silver bumper. I smoked them out and installed them, then realized I didn't really like it and wiped the VHT off with denatured alcohol - you can't tell I ever painted them! I think it would look good on yours if they were smoked/blacked out...

Let me know what you go with!

Thank you very much for the intel. I think I will remove the tail lites to spray but keep markers in and tape around them....just realized we hijacked this thread...oh well.

Again, big mahalo and aloha....ciao for now.

Thank you very much for the intel. I think I will remove the tail lites to spray but keep markers in and tape around them....just realized we hijacked this thread...oh well.

Again, big mahalo and aloha....ciao for now.

Anytime - glad I could help! One of these days when it's not raining in New England I'll take some pics of my tails and add them to this thread...we may have hijacked it from the original subject, but it's all still useful info and 'how to' related :-)