What are my options as far as the grille of my '98 mustang? Before someone hit my bumper I had one of the Billet grilles with the emblem cutout, but the cheaply made thing broke and now I'm grille-less.

I was looking around and I love the grille deletes on the 99+ models, but I couldn't find any for the '98.

I definitely don't want to drive around without a grille, but what are my options aside from the billet ones?

 

homemade...it's always an option. Be an innovator, think outside of the box. What is the general look you want to achieve?

 

I'm looking for an aggressive look that matches the rest of my car. I have the black headlights and smoked taillights, so I was going for the darker look, which is why I don't want the chrome billet grille.

I guess I could try to make a homemade one like the Mach 1 delete for the '99+ models. It just looks plain bad without a grille on there.

 

Any suggestions as far as what materials to use?

 

Honestly I have seen a lot of options of the SN95's and they're all bad except for stock. The only two that really look right are the stock floating pony and deleted. It takes a special kind of car to be able to pull off the billet grill and everything else.. Well. Just doesn't look all that great IMO.

 

By deleted do you mean a grille delete kit or just stock without the pony or bracket?

I cant find any grill delete kits for the SN95's.

 

The SN's bumper was shaped differently than the New Edge, there was no need for a "grill delete" per-se. I just mean taking the bracket & pony off.

 

Sorry for all the questions, but what is the "new edge" bumper? Are you talkin the post '98 style?

I never tried to see what it looked like without the pony or anything. But I had to take the pony off the bracket for the billet grill, so I'm left pony-less and bracketless.

Is that normal to have no grille or pony/bracket? I hope it looks okay.

 

Don't worry about asking questions. It's a good way to learn, trust me, I ask a ton.

SN-95 = '94-98..... SN-95 "New Edge" = '99-04. Same "chassis" different body style.

Going with no pony/ bracket looks decent. Your car being dark could pull it off, but honestly, it looks better stock. Are you just missing the emblem? Why not just order a new one?

 

new edge is the body style on 99-04 mustangs.

edit: WN beat me to it.lol

 

Well I'm actually missing both the bracket and the pony.

When I got the billet grille, I basically destroyed the bracket getting the pony off of it (trying to save money so i didn't have to order a new pony). So now that the billet grille is broken from the person hitting my car, I have nothing grille-wise. And the insurance wont cover the aftermarket parts either.

So its either I leave the grille area empty or order a new bracket w/ the pony (If anyone has an extra for a reasonable price lemme know).

 

Wait, someone hit your car and their insurance is refusing to fix the car back the way it was before? Umm, you need to stand up to their company and let them know who is the boss in that situation. Insurance is not "make your car stock again" it is in place to put your car back the way it was before the accident. If they are telling you that they won't fix the car and make it 100% back the way it was before the accident, threaten a lawsuit, I'm betting they'll get your car fixxed better than it was before.

BTW: I sell personal lines (auto/home/life/health) insurance, so I deal with this crap every day.

 

Sorry I didn't describe the situation completely. I didn't mean to throw you off. What happened was I parked my car out front of my house after school (Had to shower and get ready for work), and when I went back outside I saw damage to my bumper. After looking even closer, then taking it to someone I know who works at the auto body place down the street, I figured out that there were other problems too. The impact caused something under the hood to bend, which pushed the hood closer to the right side than the left, causing there to be a noticeable gap on the left side of the hood, and a really small gap on the right side of the hood.

The person who did it was ignorant and did not leave a note or knock on my door, but drove away instead. Now I'm stuck paying a $500 deductible.

I can look on the bright side, though. I wanted to get the hood and bumper repainted anyway (the front bumper was really bad), which probably would have cost more than the $500 anyway.

I'm no expert with cars yet, but from what the body shop said, I get a new bumper cover (from the impression i got this is the whole front part), a new hood, and a new fender (which it had uncorrectable oxidation on it). It really would have been nice if the person grew some and admitted to hitting my car though.

But no, the person at the body shop said they couldn't replace the grille because it was aftermarket. Is this untrue?

 

Yea it really blows when people do that ****. I have tons of marks on the rear of my car where people seem to barely hit it just enough to take off the paint. To fix all the scratches/marks on my car im gunna be spending a good hour ATLEAST on paint. And for the grille i really dont know, id try taking it up with your insurance company.

 

I talked to the insurance adjuster and he said I couldn't get a new grille : /

But I'm really excited to get the car back with new paint.

 

Yea ill bet thats fun. Did u make sure to take it to a decent quality shop or are you going through stealership?

 

Since I knew I only had to pay the deductible I went to a shop near me that has a really really good reputation. An expensive one too, but I'm only paying the deductible, so I could care less about that part

 

Thats good, would blow to have a year later your paint chippin off or somethin.

 

$500 deductible?? You better make sure that they are not claiming that one your "Collision" coverage. That accident should be covered under "Uninsured Motorist" which is usually a $200 deductible. If they charge it under collision your insurance premiums will go up..

Also, I wouldn't take no for an answer. Your insurance company is required to repair your car back to the condition that it was prior to the accident, there are limitations on stereo equipment and things like that. That's like saying if a tornado came through and tore my house down that they would rebuild a generic house, just to give me a house again.. Doesn't work that way.

 

I understand what you mean. I'm going to give them a call on Monday to figure out what my Uninsured Motorist deductible is and make sure that's what the claim is filed under. And I'll talk to them about the grille as well..

Since its an aftermarket grille, do they order a new one from somewhere like AM, or do they give me the difference in what it costs, or what?

 

Theyll probably give you money for what it costs, slightly reduced of course..