Mesh Grille Instruction Manual

If you have an 03 and up or an R/T Sedan this will not fit your car.  Do not cut your grille!!

 1.       Pop the hood.  At the front of the car you will see 6 little plastic buttons (marked with white arrows) as pictured below.

2.       Notice each one has a notch on two sides.  Slide a flat tip screwdriver into the slot and pull up.  Once they pop up, they pull right out.  Take out all six. Like so:

3.       There are about 8 more under the bumper.  Time to get down and dirty!  Get them all.  I don't have a picture of this, but they are easy to find.

4.       Now get a 9/32nd socket and a 1/4" drive ratchet.  There are three screws on each side on the edge of the wheel wells.  They are pointed out in this pic:  Remove them.

5.       Time to pull off the bumper.  Starting on the sides pull out slightly away from the car.  Once the sides are free, pull it straight out from the front of the car.  See picture on next page.

 6.       Now be careful and try not to scratch it.  Place it somewhere soft, like on carpet.  This is what you should have:  Minus the red mesh grille.  Yours will have the factory grille in it.

 7.       The big black piece of foam needs to come off.  There are three big plastic screws holding it in.  One on each end and one in the middle.  Pictured here:

 8.       Once that is out the only thing left to do is to take out the 8 Phillips head screws holding the grille in.  Pictured here:

9.       Once you have the screws out, the middle piece should snap right out.  Careful it may take some effort but try not to break it.  It’s pretty flexible so it should be okay.  This is what you should have after you have removed it:

 10.   Each of the four sections has a chrome ring around it.  These will need to be popped out.  On the back of the grille, each quarter has 6 tabs that need to be released.  The tabs just push in one direction and should let go.  Behind each tab is a tab that is a part of the grille.  This needs to be bent up so the other tab can be made to release.  This is the back side of one of those four sections and a close up of the tabs:

This is the point of no return, after this next step your factory grill cannot be put back in.  THIS NEXT STEP CANNOT BE REVERSED.

 11.   Once the chrome rings are out you should have the plastic piece with the slats and verticals in it.  These need to be cut out.  Cut these flush to the grille.  CUT ONLY THE SLATS AND THE VERTICLES!! DO NOT CUT OUT THE INNER RIM OF THE GRILLE SECTIONS.  CUT AT THE BASE OF THE SLATS AND VERTICLALS ONLY!!  You may want to paint where you cut to the color of your choice.  You can see the cuts after the grille is in.  Here is an example of a correct cut:

IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO PUT YOUR LICENSE PLATE BACK ON, DO NOT CUT THE PART OF THE SLAT WITH THE SCREW HOLES IN IT.  You can run the screws through the mesh and put the plate holder back on.  Also, you will not be able to push the lower clips from the plate holder through the mesh.  They will have to be trimmed off.  Check local laws regarding front license plates.

This is what you should end up with:  The red pieces are what you should have cut out. 
 

12.  Now comes the fun part.  The four pieces of aluminum mesh that shipped with this kit are marked (on the back of each one) where they go.  They fit into the chrome rings from the back of the ring.  The rings have a lip on them that will hold it and mold the mesh perfectly when it’s snapped back into place.  The ring on the plastic part above will also hold them in.  The plastic part above and the chrome rings will pinch the mesh between the two and hold it in place.

If you have trouble getting these chrome rings in far enough for the clips to “click” back in place I recommend taking a piece of sandpaper to the piece in the picture above and lightly sand the lip down that presses against the very edge of the mesh to allow more room for the mesh to sit.  You may not have this issue.  Some people have told me they did and others have not.  Do not sand too much.  

The aluminum pieces may need to be trimmed a little but it won’t be much if any at all.  DO NOT TRIM THEM UNLESS YOU ARE ABOLUTELY SURE IT NEEDS TO BE CUT.  CUTTING TOO MUCH WILL LEAVE A GAP IN THE MESH WHEN YOU’RE FINISHED.  Once they are snapped in just follow these instructions in reverse to reassemble. 

 This is what you should end up with:

If you have questions you can e-mail me at F5Performance@sbcglobal.net.