Grill inserts to shield radiator from bugs?

[Specker99]

300 days later my 2023 XLT AWD shows up In looking on the forums and online I am not seeing anything as far as a grill insert to stop bugs from going into the radiator. Pretty wide open area when the shutters are open. Out here in South Dakota the grass-hoppers get pretty large!

I remember with the Eco F-150's came out with the wide open area at the base of the bumper--all of a sudden there were some chrome/billet inserts to help with the bug issue. Has anyone seen something like this?

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[Montana]

Surprisingly this is one issue I have not had on the Maverick so far. Bugs are pretty awful in rural Montana as well, but they don't seem to be entering the radiator as bad as some other vehicles I've owned. The only grille options I have seen so far have been the Raptor style ones and such.

 

[crgator]

Lovebugs in Florida are bad too. Fortunately, they haven't been too bad the past few years.

 

[Flight Test]

Lovebugs in Florida are bad too. Fortunately, they haven't been too bad the past few years.

This issue is quite prevalent in Western New York along the Niagara River as well.

 

[K5Blazer]

A bigger problem can be rocks perforating the radiator.

People sometimes put a mesh of some kind in front of the radiator, behind the plastic grill, to help avoid errant flying objects.

Two problems with that;
1 could interfere with the shutters.
2 it reduces airflow to the cooling fins.

Never did it to any of my other vehicles for those reasons.

Take a garden hose and spray that stuff off every once in a while, that should help.

 

[K5Blazer]

Whatever happened to car bras?

They were just as hidious as hood deflectors but they at least kept bugs out of the radiators.

 

[icegradner]

Whatever happened to car bras?

They were just as hidious as hood deflectors but they at least kept bugs out of the radiators.

There is lots of evidence that hood bras do just about as much damage to the paint as the bugs. Dirt in the air gets under them and rubs the paint as you drive. I've seen them removed from cars that have had them, it's not pretty.

 

[Halo9x]

Lovebugs in Florida are bad too. Fortunately, they haven't been too bad the past few years.

THAT is a serious bug issue!!

 

[K5Blazer]

There is lots of evidence that hood bras do just about as much damage to the paint as the bugs. Dirt in the air gets under them and rubs the paint as you drive. I've seen them removed from cars that have had them, it's not pretty.

Tongue in cheek, meant to be a not-so masked reference to the other grotesque add ons people use today to protect their hood paint.

Yes, they were bad for paint.

They made your new ride ugly and after several years you couldn’t take it off or your ride still looked awful, but now for a different reason, your paint was trashed. No easily touched up rock chips though!

People thought they looked cool back then.

Some things never change.

 

[Joe Mac]

If I know I'm going to hit a lot of bugs on a road trip i spray the front end with PAM. Bugs just wash off

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