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Ford F150 Front Grills, F150 Front Grills, F150 Vertical Grills, F150 Mesh Grills, Aftermarket Grilles, Replacement Grills at TunersDepot
Ford F150 Front Grills (whether they be replacements of overlays) are the most common exterior appearance upgrade that F150 owners will do. That’s because compared to other exterior appearance upgrades like body kits and spoilers, replacing a F150’s grille is usually quick, painless, and doesn’t require painting. Also, the simple upgrade usually leaves the vehicle with a completely different look.
Our line of Ford F150 Front Grills carry thru 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 or 99, 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08 models.
04-08 F150 Front Grills
F150 Front Grills: What do they do?
The Front Hood Grill on your Ford F150 is not just for looks. The grill allows for ventilation into the front part of your F150 to allow for better cooling for your radiator and engine bay. If your F150 had no grill, you would suffocate your engine bay and significantly raise the amount of heat in your engine’s environment, leading to decreased performance. The factory Ford grille is there to let air in while keeping larger debris out to prevent damage to the relatively fragile radiator.
While most Aftermarket Ford F150 Replacement Grills can increase performance a bit by allowing even more airflow, they are not generally considered a high performance upgrade. Basically it’s just a looks thing. Change the look of the grill and your entire front end is transformed into a different vehicle, setting it apart from the thousands of other F150s out on the road.
Types of Ford F150 Front Grilles
While there are plenty of companies out there that make grills for Ford F150s, they generally can fall within a few categories of fitment and look.
Replacement Type F150 Front Grills
Replacement F150 Grills are the most common type of grill and require you to completely remove the Ford grille from your F150. These types of grills can be the hardest type to install since they require undoing several tabs and/or screws, and then fitting the new grill in. They usually have the advantage of being more securely attached and having more of a stock flush look to them.
In some very rare occasions where the stock grill is physically a part of the rest of the bumper, you may have to make modifications by cutting out a proper install area. You could usually tell by looking at your stock grill whether cutting would be required or not (if the grill is not a separate independent piece, then you probably need to cut). While such grills exist, we try not to carry cutting type grills due to the amount of labor and permanent modification involved.
F150 Front Grill Overlay
For a small amount of vehicles, grill overlays are available. In this case, you would leave your stock F150 alone, and the grill overlay would fit over the existing grill. The grille overlay would then snap in or have hidden screws to attach somewhere around the edge of the stock grill. The overwhelming majority of overlay type grills are billet type.
Usually, installing a F150 Grille overlay is simple, but due to the nature of the grill, it may sit out further than your stock Ford Grill, which may or may not look right depending on your tastes. Also, if it is a snap on type (which is also pretty rare), it might pop off in the event of a hard collision... which would probably be the least of your worries if your F150 hit something that hard.
Ford F150 Front Mesh Grills, F150 Mesh Grills
Mesh F150 Grills are the second most popular type of grill. The prototypical mesh consists of a crisscrossed metal design, the thinnest of which might resemble chicken wire. Designs can also include the honeycomb type mesh seen on larger speaker grills, or even plastic materials.
F150 Mesh Front Grilles typically have an outer shell made of painted or flat black ABS plastic. Installation for mesh grills USUALLY requires moving the original grill and then replacing the whole thing with the new mesh grill. Color wise, the mesh is usually either black or the natural metal color (typically chrome, stainless steel, or aluminum).
Most people do not paint the mesh itself, but will instead paint the outer shell. This is easily accomplished on mesh grills with removable mesh (typically, the thinner type of mesh grills), which allows for removal of the mesh by unscrewing a few phillips screws that hold them in.
Protection wise, larger holed mesh offers less protection from larger debris, but make up for it by offering the best ventilation possible short of driving your Ford F150 with no grill. Thinner mesh grills look nice on light or bright colored vehicles as they tend to detract attention from the grill area to the rest of the car. Thicker mesh grills with a heavy chrome look would work best for larger and darker vehicles.
Ford F150 Front Mesh Grilles are the favorite of the sport compact, drift, and drag racing enthusiasts.
Ford F150 Front Vertical Grills, F150 Vertical Grills
Vertical F150 Grills refer to the newest type of grill style available on the market; those with thick vertical bars across the grill... basically the opposite of traditional billet grilles. Materials are almost always ABS plastic, even in cases where the vertical grill appears chrome, in which case, the chrome would be just painted plastic.
Installation wise, F150 Vertical Front Grills usually replace the entire grill, thus, installation is expected to be a bit more difficult than overlay billet grills. Color wise, they are almost always black or chrome, with the intention that they stay that way. Most people do NOT paint vertical grilles.
Designs with more vertical bars tend to look nicer on bigger, beefier vehicles, while designs with only a few bars come out nice on performance vehicles with short and long grills. Vertical grills tend to be a favorite with the Truck and “Dub” type of crowd, and in sport compact applications, with the JDM import crowd. As with all other grills, chrome “pops” better on darker vehicles (especially with chrome wheels and other chrome accents), while black vertical grills look best on light vehicles.
