Grille Covers, the non obtrusive way

[acdii]

I didnt want to hide that awesome grill work behind cardboard or some other type of covering, so I went out and got a $34 sheet of clear plastic, about 1/8" thick. Took a piece of paper and taped it to the nose, traced out the grill opening, then went about trimming it to fit. I then traced it onto the plastic and spent about an hour cutting it out with my Dremel. Did some final shaping, sanding and marked where to drill for the cable ties. Now if I can locate clear ties, it would be perfect. I then fitted it to the grill marked where the grill bends in, then heated up the plastic and bent it inward to match.

 

The results.

 

 

I left the lower opening as is for now, I want to see if it makes any difference covering the main grill. If I see a big improvement, I will leave it, if I see some improvement I will cover it too.

 

From the 36" x 48" sheet I can make at least 2 sets. Now to get the plastic out of my hair, my clothes, the floor, the cat.....

[elle]

Nice job. I'll be interested in hearing how it works out. Who knows, if it goes well you might have a second career, as we might all want you to make us one!

[ptjones]

Nice going. Glad to see someone try my idea. I'm still working on getting someone local to try my Grill Cover for testing. I need a easy and secure way of attaching and removing covers. Also you need to have two center covers, one solid and one with an opening to let some air in. If temps are less than 60deg's you need the bottom covered too or you won't be accomplishing enough. Using Plexiglass is prone to cracking, brittle in cold temps That is why I use LEXAN/Polycarbonate won't break. Let us know how it works out.

Edited March 2, 2013 by ptjones

[acdii]

Thats lexan. I cracked it when I tried to cut it though. I got the dremel out and used a diamond wheel and that worked much better. Going to make the bottom one tomorrow. It did warm up much faster, I got into EV 3 miles sooner than usual, but it made no difference in gas mileage, it still is only getting 35. It gets to 182* and thats it. Hoping covering the bottom helps it get higher.

[acdii]

Well its been a week of driving now, and my conclusion is, it helped to get the car to where my 2010 is without any modifications. It's right around 38 MPG now instead of 34, so a 4 MPG gain with the covers on, just like it was stated by others who use covers.

 

So if you want to improve MPG in winter, covering the grill is well worth it. Didn't fix my car, but did help get a little better mileage out of it, now it only needs to make up 9 more MPG. For a couple days I was able to keep the battery levels above 60% for most of the drive and saw another 2-3 MPG gain, but when traffic yo-yos like it did today, then I am forced to use the EV mode, so only saw 38, lost 3 MPG. So both of my cars now are in the same ballpark in MPG, I can hit 38 in both now without fancy driving.

[Sky14FFH]

Would like to see pictures on this.