I fitted a lower front grille today on the new car. It fits directly onto the existing grille. Some may wonder why I've bothered to do this. The reason is because on the last 500 we owned, the fins on the aircon condensor got pretty trashed. Personally, I think the holes in the stock grille are too big, but everyone will have their own opinion. Anyhow, I decided to fit the grille in the following link which is made specifically for the 500. Black like the one in the picture. Easy fit, clips directly onto the stock grille and looks neater imho:

http://www.zunsport.com/fiat-500--lower-grille-p331

I prefer the original (as you'd expect) but at least there's a functional reason for you doing it When my condenser goes I'm just going to have some mesh put over the condenser and this should protect it fine

306maxi said:

I prefer the original (as you'd expect) but at least there's a functional reason for you doing it When my condenser goes I'm just going to have some mesh put over the condenser and this should protect it fine

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One of the factors that made me decide to fit it, was because the last time the old 500 went to a Fiat dealer for warranty work, they too picked up on the fact that the condensor fins were in a poor state. They even wanted to change the thing for a new one under warranty and I would probably have let them had we kept the car.

I will admit, it might not be to everyones liking, but if it helps keep out a bit more road detrius than just the stock one, then it will have done its job. I think too it just gives the car a more individualistic look.

it is "Styled For Protection"

The black SS looks miles better than the factory plastic, plus I hate trying to clean every section of the honeycomb. I'd cut away most if not all of the plastic before fitting though.

How does it attach?

UFI said:

The black SS looks miles better than the factory plastic, plus I hate trying to clean every section of the honeycomb. I'd cut away most if not all of the plastic before fitting though.

How does it attach?

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There are about 5 metal clips that are spot welded to the grille which just fit through the existing grille and with a thin screwdriver with a wrap of masking tape or electrical tape on the shaft of the screwdriver, you just push the upper clips up and the lower clips down and they just clip into place. A really easy job and no actual screws or anything to worry about. It feels securely in place too. UFI, I just re-read your original post. the Zunsport grille is designed to fit directly against the stock grille. If you cut that away, you have nothing to fit the Zunsport grille to. Plus, the Zunsport grille does a damn good job of hiding the stock grille. There's abolutely no need to remove it.

I decided against having the unpainted stainless steel because I don't think it would have looked that good, unlike the shiny stainless steel mess grille I fitted to our old MX5 which looked really good on a silver car. Our 500 is Midnight Indigo Blue, so the black grille looks best imo.

I wonder if the grill will show bright metal through the stone chips in time?

The Twins said:

I wonder if the grill will show bright metal through the stone chips in time?

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Nothing a bit of black Hammerite paint wouldn't sort out.

Link was broken as they've changed it, but here it is

http://www.zunsport.com/en/fiat-500--lower-grille-p331

Seeing as typecastboy has revived a thread last contributed to well over a year ago, I thought I'd give an update on the grille itself.

As I previously mentioned, I removed the grille from our old POP and transferred it to the TA. It is doing its job brilliantly, condenser still in very good shape over a year on and much better with it than what happened with our previous POP (prior to fitting) whereby the condenser got hit with loads of road detrius, small stones and of course, large insects. The Zunsport grille effectively puts that extra barrier in without causing any issues with the aircon as some might have thought/imagined.

I was interested in this old thread as I was considering changing the grill while I've got the bumper off for a diamond mesh type. A generic one and was wondering whether anyone has done it and how you actually go about fitting something that you cut to size. Cable ties?

typecastboy said:

I was interested in this old thread as I was considering changing the grill while I've got the bumper off for a diamond mesh type. A generic one and was wondering whether anyone has done it and how you actually go about fitting something that you cut to size. Cable ties?

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I appreciate you may not like the sentiment, but I've seen plenty of mods concerning home made grilles for cars, and they more often than not look crap, ill fitting and can ultimately spoil the looks of the car. My thoughts as always are, if one can afford to spend several thousand pounds on a new car, insure it etc, then 70 quid for a bespoke proper made grille, is peanuts.

Yeah I guess you're right. Just a thought, as was my LED lights in the 4 gaps above the number plate.

this is my Zunsport grill.

And mine in the polished finish (on a somewhat warmer day than Werdna's (Brrrr...).

and mine........

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

And mine in the polished finish (on a somewhat warmer day than Werdna's (Brrrr...).

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They look really nice, especially the silver finish. Nice flush fit too.