[C-Trink]

Disregard the wire color, that's all I had available at the moment. With black wire this will look better. There are a couple of small gaps but nothing that a rock will get through. If you wanted to measure the dimensions out perfectly and then get a machine to cut the mesh, it might be slightly better fitting. But for an initial workaround that we are looking for, here it is. Thoughts?

View attachment 120391

Take the meme with a grain of salt. This actually accomplishes everything it needs to. If it were behind the bumper it would be fine. Did you make those yourself or find them?

 

[GWH]

Made them myself. Can't get behind the bumper without taking it off. I tried

 

[C-Trink]

Disregard the wire color, that's all I had available at the moment. With black wire this will look better. There are a couple of small gaps but nothing that a rock will get through. If you wanted to measure the dimensions out perfectly and then get a machine to cut the mesh, it might be slightly better fitting. But for an initial workaround that we are looking for, here it is. Thoughts?

View attachment 120391

Why don’t you hold it flat and feed it through the bumper long ways and then attach it? Might be worth a shot. I’m waiting on mine to show up.

 

[GWH]

Why don’t you hold it flat and feed it through the bumper long ways and then attach it? Might be worth a shot. I’m waiting on mine to show up.

I did. The issue is attaching the wire. I can get the cover through but if I pre attach the wires it's no longer able to maneuver correctly. Good luck to the person who does it though. But I had to do it in Southern Alabama humidity and heat today and I was not about kill myself. I found black wire on Amazon that I'm going to order so that should help out a lot

 

[C-Trink]

Gotta start at the top and work your way down.

So I started at the bottom and found the bottom of the radiator under the first fairing plate. Also realized the skid plate (that I want to wrap) is pushed into the bumper and isn’t removable from this angle (needs whole bumper removal).

From the top though, after removing the ram intake tubing, which goes through the radiator support (good move Kia). Sorry I didn’t feel like getting pics, there are more body screws on every panel than anything I’ve seen. You have enough clearance to get the grille guard in and place JB weld and hold. I was able to fit my hand through the bottom grille (from the engine bay) from the top.

I’m still waiting on my mesh to arrive 😅. I actually wanted to get the emblem/grille off. Discovered a lot along the way.

 

[noshortcuts]

Good work. From those pics it's still hard to see, or imagine, how there's room to reach down to the radiator.

 

[ron1004]

You have enough clearance to get the grille guard in and place JB weld and hold. I was able to fit my hand through the bottom grille (from the engine bay) from the top.

My Elan has square mesh in the locations you plan to install, and the manual calls out Sikaflex to hold them in place.

Amazon.com: Sikaflex-221, Black, Multi-Purpose Sealant/Adhesive, Polyurethane Fast Curing Sealant, 10.1 fl. Oz Cartridge : Automotive

Buy Sikaflex-221, Black, Multi-Purpose Sealant/Adhesive, Polyurethane Fast Curing Sealant, 10.1 fl. Oz Cartridge: Automotive - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[C-Trink]

Good work. From those pics it's still hard to see, or imagine, how there's room to reach down to the radiator.

Laundry basket just to keep it off the ground btw.

When my mesh arrives I’ll get better pics, but straight behind the upper grill reaching through. Have fun getting there though. There were about 765 body screws (22 actual) to get to where I was. The upper body trim actually holds it all in place just fine. Since I’m waiting on my mesh I left all the screws out since they’re also clipped in, so I don’t have to do it all over again.

 

[C-Trink]

Oh yeah; you can actually get the front emblem out while in there. It is screwed and clipped in.

 

[Mr. Wigglesworth]

View attachment 120392

Take the meme with a grain of salt. This actually accomplishes everything it needs to. If it were behind the bumper it would be fine. Did you make those yourself or find them?

🤐

 

[noshortcuts]

View attachment 120399
Oh yeah; you can actually get the front emblem out while in there. It is screwed and clipped in.

It's interesting to see what is over built and under built on a Kia. .... Maybe they need all those fasteners to help the front end handle the weight of the heavy hood slamming down since they didn't bother to add hood struts

 

[C-Trink]

 

[GWH]

View attachment 120417

View attachment 120418

Yeah, I'm not that motivated

 

[C-Trink]

I feel it was worth the disassembly. Hate that it had to be zip ties though. If I ever get motivated enough to remove the entire front bumper I'll make adjustments. I forgot to order two... and the way that I cut them I ended up with a lot of waste. The lower grille needs to be sectioned and you should cut it like the green rectangles below, then you'll have the whole length for the upper and, probably, the middle small grille. Don't cut like I did (red below) and you'll only need one order.

 

[GWH]

I feel it was worth the disassembly. Hate that it had to be zip ties though. If I ever get motivated enough to remove the entire front bumper I'll make adjustments. I forgot to order two... and the way that I cut them I ended up with a lot of waste. The lower grille needs to be sectioned and you should cut it like the green rectangles below, then you'll have the whole length for the upper and, probably, the middle small grille. Don't cut like I did (red below) and you'll only need one order.

View attachment 120437

View attachment 120438

View attachment 120439

Looks clean. I have black wire coming Soon so I'll post Pictures again.

 

[C-Trink]

I did. The issue is attaching the wire. I can get the cover through but if I pre attach the wires it's no longer able to maneuver correctly. Good luck to the person who does it though. But I had to do it in Southern Alabama humidity and heat today and I was not about kill myself. I found black wire on Amazon that I'm going to order so that should help out a lot

Attach the wire before feeding it though flat. Even with the upper access I had I still had to align them, stick unattached zip ties through and the pull it out and prep the zip ties to where they’re going to go.

 

[Mr. Wigglesworth]

I feel it was worth the disassembly. Hate that it had to be zip ties though. If I ever get motivated enough to remove the entire front bumper I'll make adjustments. I forgot to order two... and the way that I cut them I ended up with a lot of waste. The lower grille needs to be sectioned and you should cut it like the green rectangles below, then you'll have the whole length for the upper and, probably, the middle small grille. Don't cut like I did (red below) and you'll only need one order.

View attachment 120437

View attachment 120438

View attachment 120439

Yes! Gonna do that to mine. Kill two birds with one stone; oh wait...well, keep the stones out of the radiator anyway. The other bird I’m referring to is hiding the visual disparity between the intercooler and radiator. Well done!

 

[noshortcuts]

I managed to add screen without dismantling anything. check it out: 2021 Sorento Mods - Share and discuss

 

[HaymakerBaker]

Disregard the wire color, that's all I had available at the moment. With black wire this will look better. There are a couple of small gaps but nothing that a rock will get through. If you wanted to measure the dimensions out perfectly and then get a machine to cut the mesh, it might be slightly better fitting. But for an initial workaround that we are looking for, here it is. Thoughts?

View attachment 120391

In all honesty, I really don't feel the need for these. Obviously it can happen but it's super rare. To each their own but these grill guards either mount up front and looks like crap. Or mount them from behind... which is more work and will look better but now you have created a spot to catch leaves and other small crap that gets kicked up from the road.


That said, my wife has a 2019 Kona with over 50k miles on it and the grill is open as well but never have had an issue. Have had to replace the windshield once and have two stone chips filled but never an issue with anything else from a rock/stone.

 

[C-Trink]

View attachment 120589

In all honesty, I really don't feel the need for these. Obviously it can happen but it's super rare. To each their own but these grill guards either mount up front and looks like crap. Or mount them from behind... which is more work and will look better but now you have created a spot to catch leaves and other small crap that gets kicked up from the road.


That said, my wife has a 2019 Kona with over 50k miles on it and the grill is open as well but never have had an issue. Have had to replace the windshield once and have two stone chips filled but never an issue with anything else from a rock/stone.

View attachment 120590

Did you happen to read the OG post? $1k not under warranty. Adapt, overcome…

Kia/Hyundai know what they’re doing.