Upgrading the Grille Mount

This is why I love getting feedback from customers. Kaitlin, one of my recent customers, let me know that the standard grille mount was not working on her Crosstrek's grille, as the openings are a bit larger than they are on my Impreza. I set out to redesign the grille mount to be more universal.

I initially planned to just make it larger, but then there was an issue of the upper and lower cross-pieces not lining up with each other, which would make a larger mount sit against them facing upward or downward. I had previously thought of a clamp-type mount that would grab a crosspiece in the rear and bolt to the existing grille mount. But, I had already abandoned a two-piece design months ago, as it was difficult to position the rear piece behind the grille without removing the front bumper and grille.

I settled on adding some fins to the existing grille mount, so it can be mounted on a crosspiece, instead of between them. The main body of the mount still sits in the opening, but it rests on the crosspiece, and is secured using the toggle bolts. I believe this will work on any vehicle that has grille crosspieces of 1/4" or smaller in height. It can also be mounted "upside-down" to position the mount higher or lower than the crosspiece.

I will conduct some field testing and get some more feedback from existing customers, but this mount will probably go into new kits soon. Keep the comments and feedback coming!