[noelnelly]

Summer vacations are boring. I end up sleeping all day. So one fine day when I was out in the market I happened to come across this really neat roll of Aluminium Mesh at a hardware store. Dimag ki batti jali and I thought to myself, I can use this to make a custom DIY Mesh Grill for the car. Went ahead and bought a piece of 1'x3' since the width of the rolll was 3'. I think it cost around Rs.35 or something for a square foot and paid the money and left the shop.

Now time for the DIY.

Tools Required:

1. Philips as well as flat head screwdriver.
2. 10mm and 12mm spanners although a T-spanner is always a boon.
3. Pliers
4. M seal
5. Cutter
6. Masking Tape
7. A thich piece of cloth to rest the bumper on when you take it off so that you don't nick the paint.

My Tool Box.



The Procedure:

1. Start by parking the car in a shaded place since you would have to meddle with the bumper a bit to get it off and also make sure the ground is dry because you will have to get underneath your car.

2. There are 4 screws op top, 2 in the front and around 4 on the underside. Also need to take off a few clip on the under side.

3. Once that is done, gently pull the bumper from the corners taking care not to break the clips which doing so. The clips are mainly near the headlight area.

4. Take the bumper to your workstation where the cloth is laid on the ground to place the bumper along with your tools.

5. The focus now shifts to the piece of mesh, I personally prefer the silver color since my car is a dark shade so I didn't paint it. Keep the mesh on top of the portion to be covered and cut to size using a cutter.

Please do this with caution as the mesh has sharp edges.




6. Once the mesh is cut to size, use your hands and fold them into the shape of the air dam careful not to cut yourself and also take care you don't break it while bending.

7. I used M-Seal to hold the mesh in place rather than drilling holes in the bumper. The advantage of using M-seal is that the whole process is reversible with negligible evidence of any tinkering have been done.

8. The M-Seal, 2 packets was mixed and applied at the corners first and then along the length at required intervals. I used masking tape to hold the grill in place which the M-Seal hardens.







9. Now that the M-Seal has hardened, peel of the tape, check for rigidity and carefully carry the bumper back to the car. Put it back in the reverse order of removing starting by pushing it into the holding clips at either ends near the headlight. This hols the bumper in place nice and tight to put all the other clips and screws back in place. It's always better if you have someone around to help you remove and put the bumper back to save the paint surface from scratches.

10. Once it's fixed, look at your DIY and feel awesome. It was my first DIY and I sure felt super duper awesome.

Some pictures to show you how it will look.



Pretty cool, right?

One parting shot and thank you for reading.

[bblost]

Thanks for sharing. This is a very nice modification and you have made it look so simple.

[racer_m]

The car now actually looks like it has mouth full of white teeth and smiling too!!!

cool mod that should keep the small stones and debris away too

[MetalBuff]

Looks cool! Now maybe paint it black as well to complete the look ?

Cheerio,
-Shivang Gandotra

[condor]

Nice work !
I am not sure if M-Seal will hold. There will be fine vibrations & small shocks as the car travels. The M-Seal will give up at some point. See if you can do a more permanent "fix" of the mesh to continue keep car looking this good ..

[Ahmed]

Thanks for this DIY. You made it look so simple! I am sure the process might be the same for other vehicle builds as well. I'd prefer spraying the mesh black though.

[noelnelly]

Originally Posted by racer_m

The car now actually looks like it has mouth full of white teeth and smiling too!!!



cool mod that should keep the small stones and debris away too

Yes it does look like it's smiling and the one of the reasons was to keep the stones from damaging the fins.

Originally Posted by MetalBuff

Looks cool! Now maybe paint it black as well to complete the look ?

Cheerio,
-Shivang Gandotra

Like I said it comes down to personal preference and I'm more incline to silver because it's a dark colour, if the car was a lighter colour I'd paint it black.

Originally Posted by condor

Nice work !
I am not sure if M-Seal will hold. There will be fine vibrations & small shocks as the car travels. The M-Seal will give up at some point. See if you can do a more permanent "fix" of the mesh to continue keep car looking this good ..

You are right but then I didn't want to drill holes in the bumper and I didn't know of anything else that can hold something together. I'll keep you posted on what else could be used as a permanent fix.

Originally Posted by Ahmed

Thanks for this DIY. You made it look so simple! I am sure the process might be the same for other vehicle builds as well. I'd prefer spraying the mesh black though.

It is quite simple, a couple of hours is all it takes and it's more or less the same for all cars. If you have a light coloured car like white or silver, black will look better.

[Wanderers]

Hi noelnelly,

Thanks for this DIY Mesh Grill. Looks sporty and its truly useful. In fact mesh grill is one of the trending chrome accessories in Delhi.

I want to have one such for my Grand i10, but am only worried about the mesh quality as I saw them rusting within a month on my neighbour's XUV 500.

How to ensure that the grill quality is weatherproof ?

[mkpiyengar]

Originally Posted by noelnelly

You are right but then I didn't want to drill holes in the bumper and I didn't know of anything else that can hold something together. I'll keep you posted on what else could be used as a permanent fix.

You could have used Araldite as well. It forms a chemical bond that stays. There are other synthetic adhesives available but others might have some side effects.

Araldite should suit you fine if this comes off later.

Cheers
MKP

[Whiplash7]

Originally Posted by Wanderers

but only worried about the mesh quality as I saw them rusting within a month on my neighbour's XUV 500.

I would consider painting the mesh black using a spray can to help it blend with the body and also prevent rusting, wonder how a body coloured mesh would look like.

[Asta_la_vista]

Hi noelnelly.

Nice and clean DIY Mesh grill.
Paint the mesh grill black. It will prevent rusting and will sync with the upper grill. Looks kind of odd now. Just my 2 cents.

Happy motoring.

[bigben]

This is a nice and neat job and I think it makes sense to have this protective grill.
However, my experience of using MSeal in my car was not good as its sealing/ sticking property is not very effective in areas near heat. In my car over a period of about 2-3 months the MSeal cracked and came off.

[DevSoms]

Brilliant DIY... looks classy, understated and brilliant.

I Agree with you, this colour is best suited to your car. Will be on the look out for your update on something that is a more permanent fix compared to m-seal

[abhi29]

Originally Posted by Whiplash7

I would consider painting the mesh black using a spray can to help it blend with the body and also prevent rusting, wonder how a body coloured mesh would look like.

+1 to painting it black.

Rusting shouldn't be an issue if its Aluminum, which he has used here.

[srishiva]

Nice and simple DIY. Looks great. Cant some wires be used to hold at the edges if there are any openings somewhere?

Honestly, for something that looks so good, I wouldn't mind drilling a few holes