Hey There:

I'm looking into the Cloud Rider grille inserts. I'm trying to decide on the type to get based on no information. I see the winter ones have very little air vents and suits our Canadian friends well. I'm in New England, Connecticut to be more precise. I like the idea of having them in all year, not that I'm lazy, its just I have so much to do around the house, by the time I got to the grilles, summer would be half over, I havn't even gotten to the snow blower yet and its August.

Any way, Temps can get into the teens F, but rarely, It mostly hovers anywhere from 42 to 25 degrees here out in the sticks of northern CT.

I noticed a message about leaving the bottom one in and removing the two upper ones which might be a good idea as well, its easier to pop the hood and remove something, then getting under the car to remove the bottom one, but I don't know.

I wonder if Cloud riders mix and match, I wonder if thats a good idea as well. Anyway I'm looking for some ideas if the winter grille set is over kill for the type of winter weather in CT, will maybe one of the summer type do as well, or perhaps a mixing of winter on the bottom and summer on the top?

Any ideas?

Thanks
-paul

 

The cloud rider site says to remove the winter inserts if the temp gets above 30F, to avoid over heating.

I have the "spector mesh", which is one of the two recommended for towing, and that supposedly allow a lot of air through. Here in LA it gets up to 100F, and I have noticed that my FEH reaches EV a bit faster than without the inserts. I was worried about over heating in summer, and I mostly got the inserts to protect the radiator.

I would not want to remove and reinstall the inserts! It was a major pain in the neck except for the top ones. Removal would not be a problem, but the install can be tricky.

Depending on how hot it gets up there in the summer, you might go with the "in between" inserts rather than the winter (blocks the most air) or the mesh (blocks the least air). They have two models in this category.

http://www.cloudrider.ca/market/index/page/grills

 

The FIA Winter Guards--see the photo section---have two areas that can be opened and closed just by pressing the material tab onto the velcro. These work wonderful for the winter season. One can add a cardboard panel to cover some of the lower opening and attach it with quick attach zip ties. One could use 1/8 inch painted wood on the lower grille opening for the same purpose.

Another option:
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Find a cheaper billet grille cover like shown above and use insulated water pipe coverings (Home Depot) shoved over and between a selected piece of metal to act as a wind guard. This is what some Prius owners do. These methods do not look as good as the Cloud Rider method but are certainly cheaper.

 

I didn't find it that bad... the trick is to back the screw out completely so the hook is slightly jammed against the lock nut. Remember that the lock nuts are only supposed to be screwed on until one thread is exposed. If you back the hook off against the lock screw it will stay in its position against gravity if you turn the screw around... Then you turn it so that the hook is hooked behind the FEH grill.... PULL on the screw head as you turn it so the hook is engaged all the time while you are tightening it... The hook stays in place... its a bit inconvenient to twist and pull the screw head at the same time... but it works.

If you do it this way you'll find the assembly doens't "flop" around and make itself difficult to line up.

 

Paul,

I have the full winter inserts and I kept them in just about all summer. (I'm like you - if I don't have to do it I probably won't because there's other things to get to.)

I DID TAKE THEM OUT ... when the temperature was hitting about 30C (86F) to 36C (96F) for a sustained period. What made me realize that it needed to be done was that the reading of the outside temp started to go up for no reason. My thought was that the engine was starting produce excessive heat - probably not a good thing. So I took out the top two inserts and drove that way. Problem solved.

After this experience I'm pretty comfortable with having them in year-round .... except for when the temps are going to be above 30C (86F) . Then I'll just pop out the top two.

I did notice that with the top two out and since the temps have cooled my fuel economy has gone down noticeably. I'll be putting them back in right away.

 

Just my summer update.

I have the same ones as Valiant Indecision & left all three in until mid-June when I noticed the outside temperature reading going up when I drove. So, like him I pulled the top two out & left the third one (the lowest) in until we hit 30+ temperatures in July.

 

Since it's winter, I thought I'd give this post a bump.

I have the same grill inserts on my '09 and also have a summer version with more slots. It takes a while to install them due to the clips on the back having to be aligned just right to catch, but they do a nice job of keeping bugs out of the radiator as well.