Damage to Front Lower Grille

4624 Views 13 Replies 6 Participants Last post by mswaim, Sep 22, 2005

Ed and Sandra

Discussion Starter · Sep 4, 2005

We discovered in the front lower plastic grille (the lower center dark area shown on page 3-28 of the 2005 Owner's Manual) that two of the small horizontal elements had broken loose from one side of the vertical dividers. Although there was no evidence of an impact from a thrown rock or such, we assume something like that must have happened. We've "super glued" them back into place but feel like that's probably not going to hold. Frankly, we're rather surprised this small grille is not made either from a more substantial material or vinyl which would be more resilient.

Since we're expecting to have to replace the grille, does anyone have the instructions for doing so (as we've intimated in previous posts, we don't have a lot of confidence our dealer would handle such a matter to our satisfaction - that's why we did the XM antennae installation ourselves)?

Apart from this sort of nuisance, we must say we are immensely enjoying our XLR!

Best regards,
Ed and Sandra

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1 - 14 of 14 Posts

· #2 · Sep 5, 2005

Hi guys,

As you might remember I had a small collision on the 4th and after being fixed, the passenger side plastic was missing after about 800 miles on my trek back to NYC. They had to take the bumper off and the piece had to be replaced from the inside. It's all one piece so they had to order the whole grille.

Ed and Sandra said:
We discovered in the front lower plastic grille (the lower center dark area shown on page 3-28 of the 2005 Owner's Manual)
Best regards,
Ed and Sandra

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tim harris

· #3 · Sep 6, 2005

lower grill fix

try cadillac-XLR.com gift section and you will find 2 snap- in grill, black and stainless, replacments that are better than the origional, at a fare price, and you will never have this problem again. Reguards , Tim

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Ed and Sandra

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 6, 2005

Damage to Lower Grille

Tim,

That's a fabulous solution - thank you!

Now we're trying to decide which version would look best with a Black Raven finish - the stainless or the black http://cadillac-xlr.com/_wsn/page8.html (scroll down the page to see them). Any opinions from the readers?

Best regards,
Ed and Sandra

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mswaim

· #5 · Sep 6, 2005

I installed the stainless unit on our car, we had two holes in the factory grille. The stainless unit snaps right into place, completely hides any previous damage and prevents any future problems. All I can say is the stainless unit worked well with the crimson paint. All in all, well worth the price considering the cost of replacing the factory piece, not to mention how fragile it is.

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xlr47

· #6 · Sep 7, 2005

Stainless insert with the Black Raven

looks great. I have had my 04 for 15 months and still marvel at how good it looks from the front with the stainless grille insert. It absolutely looks factory.
Call or email Allen aka Mr xlr and he will help make your decision easier. He's a wealth of knowledge on all aspects of the xlr.

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tim harris

· #7 · Sep 7, 2005

BuyBoth

I have both inserts, they are easy to change out ,and they give your XLR a new look each time you change them. TIm

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Mr XLR

· #8 · Sep 7, 2005

XLR Grille_Gard

First, thank you to each of you that has comented on the Grill_Gard one of my XLR owners developed the piece and it has been well received.

Ed & Sandra: The unit is a flexible stainless steel in a brushed look to give the front end a sporty or a more aggressive look. The Black urethane Grille _Gard is designed to look like the original piece.

You can simply see the Grille_Gards and the other 70 XLR exclusive items at:

www.XLRgiftBoutique.com

Thank you
Allen

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Ed and Sandra

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 8, 2005

Ordered the Grille Guard

We've now ordered the Black Urethane Coated Stainless Steel Lower Air Intake Grille Cover and are very much looking forward to receiving it. We must say we were quite intrigued with the idea of also ordering the brushed stainless steel finish version. However, we decided not to do so because we're toying with the thought of at some point obtaining the chrome upper grille from XLR Gift Boutique and feel the lower brushed stainless grille would not match as well.

Best regards,
Ed and Sandra

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Ed and Sandra

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 17, 2005

Follow-up

The lower grille cover has been received and installed. We're very pleased with it and consider it a "must" for XLR enthusiasts.

Best regards,
Ed and Sandra

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tomgallagher

· #11 · Sep 21, 2005

S S Ggrill cover

What does the metal grill do to cuuise control system? Tom

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Mr XLR

· #12 · Sep 22, 2005

Grille_Gard Does Not Affect your ADC System

The Grille_Gard is designed to fit to an approximate matching of the cut outs of the air intake in the lower center area of the front bumper. The Grille_Gard is made out of stainless steel and comes in two finishes.

The Adaptive Cruise Control (ADC) is controlled by a radar unit that is located behind the smoked plastic panel on the driver side between the center air intake and the driver side fog light. Thus having no affect on the air intake system of the XLR.

The air intake, because of it's proximity close to the ground can be susceptible to stone damage that could poke a hole through it.

You can see the Grille Gard described in detail at:
http://cadillac-xlr.com/_wsn/page8.html

you the can simply go to www.XLRgiftBoutique.com to purchase it if you
desire.

Thank you
Allen

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tomgallagher

· #13 · Sep 22, 2005

Hi Allen, The question is wil the radar controled cruisd control work with a S S plate
in fron of it's sensor?
Tom

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mswaim

· #14 · Sep 22, 2005

The grille guard that Allen markets does not obstruct the sensor, since the unit fits over the existing grille which is located between the two smoked covers - the drivers side one being where the sensor is located.

Now, the mesh grille that others market (that covers the entire lower front opening) has created problems with the ADC as reported by a few members.

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