Stainless Steel Mesh Grille Material

[NickD85]

hey, does anyone know where I can buy stainless mesh stock, to make grille inserts for the Q?

[Qxxx4]

i bought a precut kit from "automotive authority" on ebay for $40 shipped to Canada, you can get material you cut yourself from them for about $10 cheaper

[NickD85]

thanks Qxxx... i checked the seller's store- they don't have a kit specifically for the Q or Pathfinder anymore, but they do have the mesh stock, which is what I'm looking for. Are you happy with the grille? On the site it said "steel- will not rust" It doesn't say stainless steel anywhere though, so I'm worried that it might just be plated steel that will eventually chip and rust. I emailed automotive authority, but was just wondering what someone who actually bought one of their grilles thought

[Qxxx4]

im in the middle of a brutal canadian winter with grime and road salt. No chips or dings from rocks since install, nor signs of rust. Installation was pretty simple. Its good material, doesnt impede airflow. The only downside is they get dirty fast....after i got my q oilsprayed/rustproofed there seems to be quite a bit of black oil on it (splashed from engine bay) and dirt to clean, but its generally when the whole bodys dirty.

Its well worth the $40 i paid really, i love it, gotten many compliments

[fueler]

i bought "chicken wire" for mine.... primered it and painted it black.... you cant even see it i bought it to serve a purpose. I was driving in Baja ~ 90 mph and a rock went straight through the grill hole, nailed the AC condenser and punctured it. Not fun. No problems since installing chicken wire.

[W O T]

Ya you can get the tiny hole chicken wire for pretty cheap if you just make cardboard templates

I dunno if there is much place to secure it to or not though

[fueler]

i zip tied it to the factory plastic "fins" in the grille, works great!

[Qxxx4]

if you use black zipties and black mesh ok, but silver like mine....zipties look stupid. The proper way to install this grille as i did was remove the entire grille, behind it thers bolts all across the middle, you can actually place the entire mesh piece in, screw the grille back together so that the front of the grille bolts onto the backside with the mesh squeezed in the middle. Then you get a clean look

[NickD85]

yeah i took a look inside and that's definitely the way to go. The only problem is, i can't find any high quality, solid stainless mesh. The stuff from auto authority is apparently galvanized, which i don't think is the way to go. There are other sources I've found, but none of them are selling solid stainless. I have found anodized aluminum, which will be better than galvanized steel, but still not stainless.

[93'Jag90'325ix98'QX4]

i bought "chicken wire" for mine.... primered it and painted it black.... you cant even see it i bought it to serve a purpose. I was driving in Baja ~ 90 mph and a rock went straight through the grill hole, nailed the AC condenser and punctured it. Not fun. No problems since installing chicken wire.

Thats priceless....but it sounds like it worked! I wish I lived out west somewhere, Ive always wanted to do one of those baja or rally races so friggin bad. They look like so much fun. We have a couple tracks around Buffalo that race during summer but only one is dirt and I try and get to it every week its so much fun.

[Qxxx4]

came across these pics from my install. I should have taken some of the grille taken apart but i guess i was too excited and forgot to

the bolts were a little rusty behind the grille so i painted them black..why not lol

[Qxxx4]

an important tip when installing a patterned grille like this....see how there are little triangles..make sure their all pointed the same way or else it will look stupid. also make sure all the metal curves the same way, my lower grille piece is curved slightly inward, it actually looks good but it was a mistake on my part (too excited)

[REZN]

fueler... put some pictures up of your grille

[fueler]

fueler... put some pictures up of your grille

its not worth taking a picture of.... i did it for function not for show.... but since the grille is black and the small zip ties are black, you cant even notice it unless i point it out in person..... they blend right in. I think i did a clean install.

can you see the black grille?? in bothe the upper openings as well as the lower opening by the license plate.

in this photo, there are some large insects caught up in it, on the lower right.

[screwinitupagain]

Christ, your front bumper looks worse than mine (of course I cut about half of mine off too). Did you ever get that TJM from that d*ck?

[REZN]

nonot at allcant even notice it unless i really look closely

[fueler]

Christ, your front bumper looks worse than mine (of course I cut about half of mine off too). Did you ever get that TJM from that d*ck?

Haha you dont even know the half of it. Actually my entire front bumper is held on with zip ties, plus two very stressed out bolts. Its very functional now because the bumper bends and twists to conform to rock and if i hit something hard, it just breaks a zip tie or two.

i never bought the TJM cause it weighs 200+ lbs and im concerned with handling / offroading / etc Light weight is very important in Baja type of wheeling (high speeds and soft sand)

[raddy]

Anyone have pictures of a blacked out mesh grille?

[D13_R50]

Kinda hard to see, but I meshed the lower vents.