Originally Posted by RelentlessChaos

Had some good weather yesterday so decided to "work-from-home" outside.
In the midst of monitor emails I got the front end taken apart. It was easy to do. I don't have one of those fastener removal tools, but a fork works great. That fork now lives in my tool box.


If I could do this again (which I might end up doing in the future), I wouldn't buy the grill I did. I'll get to that after though. Her she is with the new grill installed.



As you can see in the first picture, I knocked my beer over.

I bought the "Matte Black" grill on eBay from the seller - Speed Daddy. Cost was about $150. Here's where my first disappointment was. The grill isn't matte black, its gloss. The piece that you have to attach to the honey comb, where the Ford emblem mounts, its matte. So having the matte piece on a gloss grill looks odd to me. HOWEVER, seeing how the gloss looks on the truck, I might paint the matte piece to match. Reason I didn't want gloss, is because gloss black plastic is an absolute magnet for swirl marks, no matter how meticulous you are.

I did a real quick inspection when the grill was delivered, everything looked ok. I get the chrome grill off and unmounted from the shutters, take the new grill out, and find that all but one of the four tabs on the outer sides are broken off. I'm sure these are here for a reason... they're on the stock grill. I'm not sure what purpose they serve, but they're broken nonetheless. After messaging the seller about it, I decide I'm just going to get it mounted and see how it fits at least. Problem number 3... there are four tabs on top of the grill, that get a the plastic fasteners. These holes need to be oval for these particular fasteners to fit. Three are oval, one isn't. So at this point, I've already spent far too long on this project, trouble shooting, trying to figure out why the fastener wouldnt fit, I decide thats it, I'm drilling it out and the seller can decide what they want to do about this thing...
After drilling it out, it was smooth sailing from there. Got it mounted and it seems to fit well. The LEDs arent the best quality. They way they're mounted, the LEDs themselves wiggle a little in the housing. Not a huge deal. I can take them off and glue them so they're secure... maybe. I didn't hook them up yet because thats a whole other project. I need to take a headlight out and solder the wires to the DRL wires. So for now, that wire is coiled up and zip tied in place until I feel like messing with that. But if I have any thought of getting a different grill, I might just hold off.

Lesson learned: Dont buy something from eBay just because it looks like what you wanted at half the cost. This is basically a knockoff of the SpeedForm Baja grill. I should have just ponied up and spent the money on that.

The seller eventually reached out and offered to either take the grill back and issue a refund, or I could keep it and they'd issue a partial refund. Well the grill was already on so I said I'd take the partial. Which they then told me would be $20... whoopee! After reiterating to them the issues I had, and modifications I shouldn't have had to do, I told them to take those emails and the review I left on their page, and then let me know if they think that's a reasonable refund. They're "bringing it to management". Honestly, the grill is on, so regardless of whether the refund is $20 or $150, the grill is on and I'm not swapping them out again unless its for a new grill, when and if I go that route. So it doesn't really matter what the refund ends up being, but $20 kind of says "here take this and shut up". And their quality control leaves much to be desired.

If I do get a new grill, it'll either be the Baja, the RC Mesh grill, or the DOOD grill. I've heard good things about the ones on eBay that come with the F and the R, but eBay grills have left a sour taste in my mouth.

Originally Posted by Red barren

Sorry to hear man,it looks ok and no one will know about the issues,but it doesn’t change the fact that you know...
it reminds me of situation with my retractable tonneau cover. When shopping around they were about 1500$. I found one locally for 500$ and thought”wow what a deal!” Man was I wrong... fits like garbage,binds up and it doesn’t lock properly no matter how many times I tried to adjust it. Too good to be true! Lol
your grill looks alright though man.

Originally Posted by RelentlessChaos

We probably have at least one of those stories... Part of the game I suppose.
But yes, it looks good enough. I like it, but not quite what I was hoping for. Live and learn. I like it enough for it do the job until I decide what to get instead, if I do replace it, but I'm not in any sort of rush. I'm still deciding between three exhausts at the moment. Keep going back and forth.

Originally Posted by Red barren

ahh yes,the exhaust. Lol. I thought it was down to two? Throwing another into the mix!?

Originally Posted by RelentlessChaos

Well... I did lol. Rough Country or American Thunder. The more I listened to sound bites of the MBRP pre tire black series, the more I realized I like that sound the least of the three. BUT, I do like the pre tire exit, I like the price, so its not completely ruled out...

I spoke with a rep at Rough Country, they claimed little drone from their cat back and they said it has a similar sound and volume to American Thunder. Its $500 and they also have a 90 day return policy. It also comes with black tips which would be an added cost to the already $780 American Thunder.
There's just no reviews of that cat back on these trucks, and the only sound clips are from Rough Country and they give very little idea of what the exhaust really sounds like as the narrators voice drowns it out.

Originally Posted by Red barren

90 day return policy even after being installed? If that’s the case go with that deal for sure.
That RC exhaust a dual out back or side exit?
edit: just had a look at it. Ya you can’t lose. Looks pretty decent