Have any of u decided to go cheap and get the door edge guards at your local Autozone or PepBoys to install as your grille? The only one at my store has the 3/8" wide and 21' long (Trim Brite) one that is wrapped circularly. I don't know if the 3/8" is wide enough or should it be wider. Also, did anyone try to secure the ends of the grille with some screw, string, tie raps, etc. or did they just rely on the molding adhesive ? Thank alot!

 

That size trim should be fine. It helps to warm up the material before working with it (let it sit in the sun or use a blow dryer). When the material is cold it is not very pliable and can be difficult to "push" it onto the grille.
The trim I used came with an adhesive already applied to the material. The adhesive was not strong enough and the trim came loose the next day. I ended up using super glue throughout the trim and had no problems after that. Gorilla glue would probably work better since it is water proof.
IMO the door edge did a great job in dressing up the grille. I have even received a few compliments on it.

 

the one i got was the 3/8" x 10 '. it was the right amount. it was wrapped circularly (is that a word?) too. i just stuck it on and it was fine. i tried to attach small corner pieces on the ends. made it look a lot better imho, but one of those fell off somewhere, so i just yanked the other 5 off. if i did it again, i would glue those small pieces on with glue.

havent had a problem with the long strips falling off or coming loose yet. i will keep those strips on until someone comes out with a grill i like.

 

They work good - be sure to coat the cut edges with clearcoat to keep moisture from getting inside between the chrome and the clear outside sheathing.............

 

I wouldnt do anything to attach it permanently, The chrome will start to peel and discolor after a few months. Thats what happened to me. Basically it is a "disposable" mod that you just have to keep replacing.

 

That looks awsome. I am going to do this mod in the summer

 

I wouldn't do anything to "permanently" attach the trim - if you don't get the cut edges coated good, moisture will definitely get in the strips & you'll need to replace it. I've had mine on for approx. 2 months now and still looks good. It is nice, however, to know you can simply replace the strips inexpensively as needed.

 

I did mine almost a year ago and they still look good, one thing i will say about the door edge guard grill is that if you do a half assed job on it it will definitly look half assed. If you take your time, cut the strips to the right length and make sure they are really stuck on well it will look good. The kind i used was a semi flexible polyurethane with the chrome on the outside and sticky inside. I heated the edges of each strip up with a hairdryer(dont heat up too much or it will mess up the chrome) then i bent the ends to go all the way to the edge of the grill(if you look at your grill the 3 lines go in at the edges) the edges werent staying stuck too well even after bending and heating them up so i just wraped each edge with a black zip tie(about 50 cents for all 6). it sounds a little complicated but i went through a little trial and error so anyone who wants to do it i think this is the best way. by the way the zip ties arent even visible. youll see what i mean buy the edges of the stock grill going in at the ends. some peoples i have seen neglected to go all the way to the edges with the chrome cause they didnt want to bend it or whatever and it didnt look very good. I tried that at first too and it looked half assed. the zip ties are really key though.

you can sort of see what im talking about in this pic. some people stopped where it starts to bend. you gotta go all the way

<http://www.tcnj.edu/~szczure4/z5.jpg>

 

You could buy stainless steel door guards. They would last a LONG time and could be mounted permanently.

 

Here is my homemade grill

 

Another view

 

350chas , how did u make that?

 

Its door edge molding from pep boys.
It was like $10 for a strip that was like 20 feet.
it was more than enough to do the grill and the strip filling in the space between the bumper and the hood.
Not sure that i like it there but for now it stays.
It's in-expensive so i can take it off and put it back on as i feel the need.
Its installed by cutting the plastic strip to size, peeling off the adhesive backing and putting it on.
I took too high of a quality pictures and when i resized the pictures they came out not so clear.
Ill try to get some new pics if you would like to see.

CHas

 

I did the same...

 

.

 

Almost a year on mine too and no cracking fading or loosening. I got the $10 strip at AutoZone. Peeled off the backing and measured to fit before I cut them. I beveled the ends to fit the contour of the edges of the stock black grill.

 

..

 

Well guys,
I just finished putting my grille on. However, the edges don't go all the way in. I didn't want to put superglue. Is there another way to get the edges to the end of grille in? I made mine go in all the way the very end of curve. Mr. Bonz, how come u didn't make yours go all the way to the end. Anyways, is the adhesive molding suppose to taken or peeled out. I thought it was suppose to stay in.

 

First of all it's DR Bonz

Just kidding!

They DO go all the way to the end. That's why I cut the ends of the edging at an angle. So they would not sit out OVER the end.

 

I've had mine since Nov. 2002. I did not add any adhesive and I've never had a problem with one coming off. I have replaced a couple that got dinged up by bugs, etc. Changing out an old one only takes a couple of minutes.