I had mesh for first year I had my front mount. Stopped alot of crickets in the spring time but that was about it. Took it off now since it looks better without it and since it wasnt really protecting much anyways.

Mesh just makes me think of some honda boy throwing anything he can find on his car. I can see how it would protect the intercooler but I just dont like the way it looks. But hey thats just my opinion.

Yeah, I don't really like the mesh either, but I have this reoccuring nightmare where I install my FMIC, pass on the mesh, and then a truck slings a rock which punctures my FMIC and I cry a lot. Kidding, but really, would a piece of gravel or other debris hitting the FMIC do serious damage to it, or just put a superficial ding in it?

It would have to be a pretty big rock to do any real damage to the intercooler. Most of the time my experience with rocks getting kicked up at my car is that they always find their way onto my hood or windshield. Either way it still sucks.

Most car radiators do just fine without protective mesh and I don't think they're any more "projectile resistant" than a godd IC.

Yeah when I think of mesh I think too fast too furious. I'm both but in NO way representing the movie
Also, for a 200 dollar intercooler off of ebay you can AFFORD to go meshless...
You have a good point about the radiator...

Hopefully I speak for most when I say that we don't use mesh because we'd rather take the chance of a rock hitting it than putting that crap on our car. It reminds us of HONDA. Or most of us are too lazy to do cosmetic mods, and are more interested in making more power.........

yea no mesh here covering my front mount

jon21388 said:

yea no mesh here covering my front mount

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Same here, but my car is not a daily driver. I maybe put 500 miles on it a year.

talon95newb said:

In most of the pics I see of your guy's cars, you never have any sort of mesh or grille in front of your FMICs. Why? It looks really cool, but is it worth it if you catch a rock right in your FMIC? Does mesh really slow down airflow? I was just wondering because I have a FMIC but no piping yet and when I bolt it up I wanted to know if I should put some sort of shield in front of it. I drive down a lot of rural roads so gravel in my car's face scares me.

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I daily drive my car all year on roads used by quarry trucks. Stones and general debris are all over the roads here in NJ. I installed mesh in front on my IC the same day I finished the install. It was even painted the same coloe as the car at the time. Now 18 months later the mesh needs to be painted again.. I understand it could look a bit "RICE" but then again no Honda ever see's the front of my car anyway!!

I've thought about putting some black mesh in my grill, just so I'm not giving it away that I've got some aftermarket mods done to it.

Bent fins suck, mesh doesnt cost too much.

I'm not saying that I would never use mesh, because I have thought about it before, I just haven't gotten around to putting a grill on in the last two years.

If I have a 2G I wouldn't put any mesh. but a 1G.... well they don't look that bad.


Does it look bad?
BTW, if you notice in the avatar I didn't have any mesh but the upper vents looked like cheap holes...

So, I guess I should take out my mesh?

Erik

Just go black on it.....imo

I had just regular Home Depot wire mesh protecting mine in the past but it just looked so stupid and cheap. I then got the chance to get a full Grille Craft set for cheap and so now my FMIC is sleeper black hidden behind a very sturdy high quality grille.

P.S. I have the Greddy big FMIC and the fins get bent so easy so this was completely necessary.

It still makes me think of the Honda Boy thats running around with everything that you can possibly put on the outside of a car no matter how rediculous it looks. You know. The crazy body kit that will be junk in a year. The parkbench of a spoiler. The dozen or so stickers on the car that came with the part he bought and not the fact that he is sponsored by someone.

Eclipse99GST said:

So, I guess I should take out my mesh?

Erik

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I wouldn't really worry about taking it out.

1gcrazy said:

Also, for a 200 dollar intercooler off of ebay you can AFFORD to go meshless...

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Thread Winnar!

I don't think it looks bad on the 1g's above. Was there a specific kind you used or did you just get something from the hardware store?

Dream On said:

I don't think it looks bad on the 1g's above. Was there a specific kind you used or did you just get something from the hardware store?

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well I don't you refer to my car. But I bought it from eBay (something like that). Because I couldn't find any local store to sell me something I wanted.

And the funny part is that I didn't have enough to cover the front vents. and I was lucky my roommate had some left from his GTI. He said he didn't want it anymore in his car. I was lucky.

Then to install it. well it was a PITA. because I had to deal with polyurethane adhesive for the vents (I believe that is what I used).

1g the grill doesnt look too bad, the pics proved me wrong.

On a 2g, it looks cheap, tacky, and just looks like it doesnt belong. Personally, I dont put a grill, for all the following reasons already mentioned; but like many others im sure, is because my car is a weekend warrior. What goes with that usually are just driving on familiar roads, which usually mean nice roads. Don't get me wrong, I have driven my car like a daily for a few months spurts, and throughout that time, I never had a problem. I had the big 24r greddy, and as mentioned the fins on those bend easily anyways, a fly hitting it can bend the fins. I now have upgraded, to ebay ssac xs auto, and the fins are a lot stronger. Oh and the entire kit with piping was <$290 shipped so ya know, I can live with it.

Is "I'm too lazy" an acceptable excuse?