When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
DIY $20 Honeycomb Grille Inserts - 2018 Lariat Sport Grille Mod
First off, the 2018 style of F-150 has been around for a bit now and to be honest, I have yet to see an aftermarket grille or grille inserts that I've been overly impressed by. There are a few out there that look great to me but they come at a price that I simply could never justify. So, for $20.50 I bought a sheet of honeycomb mesh on eBay and started hacking up my Lariat Sport Grille. First thing to do was to cut the top and bottom "smaller bars" from the grille, and sand the teeth that were left behind smooth. Then I cut two pieces from the mesh to fit the openings, I left it a bit over-sized top and and bottom to allow myself some material to help attach the inserts. For simplicity, I drilled several small holes behind the face of the grille and zip-tied the mesh inserts in place. The zip-ties really helped to pull the mesh against the face of the grille and hold it to the slight curvature of the grille. Very hard to see that it forms the shape in the pictures and in this sense it looks much better in person. Re-installed the grille and wallah, new "sport" grille.
Next up was creating a bumper insert to match. Fortunately there was just enough mesh left over. Since my truck is the 5.0, it originally had the solid, horizontal bar-style bumper insert. I decided to replace it with the Ecoboost bumper insert which has three large openings. This allowed me to add the honeycomb mesh to the bumper and IMO helped tie the bumper and grille openings together.
For less than $25 and just a few hours of my time, I'm happy with how it turned out. If I had more patience and skills I would have cut the mesh exactly to the openings, shaped/formed the inserts so they had the same curve as the opening, and then plastic welded each and every honeycomb leg to the Lariat grille itself. If someone could pull all of that off I think you'd definitely be on to something and this mod would have a much sleeker OEM+ appearance.
I didn't take a ton of pictures along the way, mostly because I was unsure of how it would turn out. I imagine I will be taking this grille apart again one day as I'd like to had two slim LED light bars on each side of the emblem eventually. So I could always take pictures of how I attached the inserts at that time. Also, now I NEED to paint or replace that emblem asap Anyways, on to the pics.
Stock Lariat Sport Grille and original "bar-style" bumper insert.
First off, the 2018 style of F-150 has been around for a bit now and to be honest, I have yet to see an aftermarket grille or grille inserts that I've been overly impressed by. There are a few out there that look great to me but they come at a price that I simply could never justify. So, for $20.50 I bought a sheet of honeycomb mesh on eBay and started hacking up my Lariat Sport Grille. I've always liked the honeycomb styled grilles, to me they have a more sporty appearance than other types of grilles. Anyways, first thing to do was to cut the top and bottom "smaller bars" from the grille, and sand the teeth that were left behind smooth. Then I cut two pieces from the mesh to fit the openings, I left it a bit over-sized top and and bottom to allow myself some material to help attach the inserts. For simplicity, I drilled several small holes behind the face of the grille and zip-tied the mesh inserts in place. Re-installed the grille and wallah, new "sport" grille
Next up was creating a bumper insert to match. Fortunately there was just enough mesh left over. Since my truck is the 5.0, it originally had the solid, horizontal bar-style bumper insert. I decided to replace it with the Ecoboost bumper insert which has three large openings. This allowed me to add the honeycomb mesh to the bumper and IMO helped tie the bumper and grille openings together.
For less than $25 and just a few hours of my time, I'm happy with how it turned out. If I had more patience and skills I would have cut the mesh exactly to the openings, shaped/formed the inserts so they had the same curve as the opening, and then plastic welded each and every honeycomb leg to the Lariat grille itself. If someone could pull all of that off I think you'd definitely be on to something and this mod would have a much sleeker OEM+ appearance.
I didn't take a ton of pictures along the way, mostly because I was unsure of how it would turn out. I imagine I will be taking this grille apart again one day as I'd like to had two slim LED light bars on each side of the emblem eventually. So I could always take pictures of how I attached the inserts at that time. Also, now I NEED to paint or replace that emblem asap Anyways, on to the pics.
Stock Lariat Sport Grille and original "bar-style" bumper insert.
Great Job!!! I think Ford should put you on the payroll as a designer. I just purchased a 2018 Lariet Sport in Oxford White and mentioned to a couple of buddies that Ford should have designed the front grill with honeycomb.
08-13-2018, 10:32 AM
DIY $20 Honeycomb Grille Inserts - 2018 Lariat Sport Grille Mod
Anyways, on to the pics.
