2019 Honeycomb grill causing radiator damage

I noticed my radiator and trans cooler taking a beating with only 4000 miles on the truck. Only highway driving and not a single stone chip on the hood. Was definitely shocked when detailing the truck.

I suspect the wide opening in the honeycomb grill is allowing larger debri in. Is this anything to worry about? Considering some sort of screen that I can takes out and clean. Any suggestions?

 

That does seem to be quite a beating. I have a spotless radiator on a 17, just switch to the honeycomb grill the other day. I’ll keep an eye on mine now. Conditions obviously vary significant based off driving conditions, but In your case it looks like a getting a piece of screen material from Home Depot and rigging it behind the grill may not be a bad idea.

 

Holy crap! Why does that look like you drive 10 feet off the rear bumper of a semi truck going down a dirt road, without mud flaps?? Seriously, is this all from the highway?

 

Here is my honeycomb with gutter guard. I do this with all my vehicles.

 

How did you attach that? Is the gutter guard in 6" strips?

 

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Yes it is. I screwed it in on the edges and then used small zipties every few inches to suck it up to the honeycomb. You can actually see one in that pic. Its an easy 15 min job. I use tin snips to cut around the TSS sensor and to cut the excess off.

 

Looks like it's attached with zip ties. I can see 2 in the pics. Wonder if it's attached with anything else.

 

They make the guard in a silver as well. Here is my FJ grille.

 

Yes. All highway driving on 25 and 470 in Colorado. I was shocked when I was detailing the truck.

 

And here is the screws I use. And i try and hide the seem behind one of the rows and zip tie them together.

 

Appreciate it. I think I will need to still do a screen with smaller holes after seeing the size of the chips in the radiator. How does your radiator look at this point?

 

Condensor and radiator looks like new. But the real test is the FJ. Had it since new and installed the gutter guard the day I bought it. Has done 100k with 2 trips to alaska(with 100s of miles on gravel and sanded roads)and at least a dozen trips across the lower 48. Have had rocks break 5 windshields. The condensor and radiator looks perfect.

I would be concerned that smaller holes could effect air flow and cooling in hot climates.