Has anyone tried the import grill shells? I am all for buying American made steel, but $550.00 for a piece of aluminum is gouging just a bit. I have to pick my battles with the wife and I can't see even disagreeing with her on this one. Opinions please.

 

I had one in my truck a number of years ago. The metal was very soft, would deform very easily. It did not have the shine it should have, even when new, and it got worse over the years. The fit was far from good. I finally bit the bullet and bought a NOS unit on ebay and the difference was tremendous. You're right though, you have to pick your battles. Get a cheap one to get your rig back on the road and save your money for a good one down the road. One thing to keep in mind, a replacement grill for a 2010 F-150, black plastic, is over $250.00.

 

My original grill is actually in great shape. No dents or gouges, it just doesn't shine like I would like and I was going to get new upper trim which is also $550.00 so I was hoping to save a little. Maybe I should break out the elbow grease and deanodize the one I have and start polishing...Curses.

 

I spent about 2 hours on my grille shell with a bunch of different hand polishes and the power ball, it still didn't look all that great. Then I used a wool polishing pad on a small air grinder with 3M micro polish.. I did not de-anodize it. I only spent about 5 minutes on it and now it looks great! Just removing some stains, debris, scuffs etc made a HUGE difference. I'd say it looks close to new now.

 

I'd sure try this first before you buy a shell and see how it looks compared to the new trim. It won't be AS shiny, but you might be surprised. If not, than I'd sure spend some time de-anodizing it and the polishing it up. If your grill doesn't have any deep pits or scratches, it won't take too long to polish it up. If you have to sand down some stuff than it would take a little more time.

 

Thanks guys. Off to Northern Tool.

 

Dude, Take it from me. DO NOT BUY THE IMPORT $200 GRILLE SHELL. It is utter crap. Here are the problems.
1)Finish. It's a matte aluminum finish. Horrible.
2)Material. Its the softest aluminum I have ever seen other than alum. foil. It bends while looking at it.
3)Fit. It does not fit. I lined mine up and it was a good 4-6" too narrow on my truck. No amount of bending, pulling, etc would get it close.

I sent it back and luckily got my money back. What a waste of time and money. Get a used OEM or the Dennis Carpentar shell. Someone got the steel chrome shell from LMC and it looks really nice and he said it fit fine.

When I first saw the $550 price I was too shocked. After messing with the crap import and polishing a OEM shell and realizing, it's made in USA-not a communist country-with the original dyes with high quality aluminum it isn't that crazy after all. A new plastic chrome grille for a modern car would cost you $300+.

 

What about polishing a grill shell and then clear caoting it? I was considering polishing my very straight OEM grill with fine steel wool and polishing compound, and then clearing it. Never done this before...what are your thoughts?

 

There are some clear coats but they turn yellow after a while. The best thing is to remove the grille shell, remove anodizing, sand, polish and take it to be re-anodized. Shouldn't cost that much. Or leave it uncoated and just polish it up a few times a year then coat with a good wax.