Well, going through a touchless car was ended up costing me!
The hood louver flew right off the hood. Luckily, very little damage was done. Just some spots to touch up & there were already scratches. At least this happened there & at not on the interstate! I'm happy for that.




By the looks of it, I guess this was GMs fix? The recall failed me!


I have two questions:
1. Should all of the adhesive (if feels like tar) be removed, or should I just clean everything up & pop a new louver into place?

2. There's a lot of aftermarket louvers (mostly chrome).
2a. Do most of these attach by using the same clips or are these a drill job?
2b. How long would plasti-dip last a solution? I don't want chrome, but the designs are nice, especially handles.

 

Yes, clean the adhesive off for new stuff to stick, unless you just hope the new adhesive will adhere to the old?

Most of those aftermarket chrome kits are lay overs, they just stick over the top of the stock louver.... junk IMHO.

Hood handles can be added independently, some guys have through bolted those (through the hood), and the handles then hold the entire louver in place. They all use the same mounting holes with various versions of the clips.

 

That's the same route that i will be doing, got a pair of H2 hood handles and i'm going to bolted it through there.

 

Wow I've never seen anything like this before! So there are no any bolts to hold it just adhesive? it's ridiculous how GM stick this grill to the hood!

 

Not even adhesive. Just clips.

 

Replaced mine with a h1 armor grill

 

some are actual hood pieces with clips and others are 3m taped like the one I have. Putco and others make a full replacement .

 

Man removing mine to add handles, even in the 110 so cal heat was a PITA! They must not have applied this stuff very well to yours.

 

I added my handles by just drilling thru the louver and hood. Never removed the louver.
Bolted from the underside. Nothing is ever going to knock it off now.

Mine were also triple chrome plated billet aluminum. Painted them black using Rustoleum truck bed liner. It's held up great for over 4 years.

 

What is a good adhesive remover for this application?
I really don't want to take a knife anywhere near the paint, even if it's under the louver.



Tell me more! Have a pic of it installed? It fits w/o modification?

This was all I could find.


I noticed that. 3M tape worries me. My H3 sits outside 24/7 right now & it's already been in the mid 80s here. I'm worried the adhesive might fail.

Take a look at my photo. It appears that there were no clips on the top. I have a hard time believing all 5 broke off cleanly. One of the five bottom slots still has the clip lodged there. I'm thinking it wasn't held on by more than the crappy adhesive & 5 clips. It also failed at the position where there were 5 clips, so that makes the whole GM "fix" a failure.

I won't even deal w/ the recall as this probably was recalled already & I can't stand stealerships.

They look great!

As much as I hate having to take a drill to the hood, that might be the only option. I am not sure I trust the clips. I'll have to see what goes on from here.