I hears about some problems with rust. I live in Texas so I am not too worried about bad winters and salt from the ice. In normal conditions with the occasional rain will I have to worry about rust? Kloogy, your opinion would be welcomed as well since your car is the one on ebay advertising them. Thanks!

 

I have the lower insert on my 2k1 and I like it, no rust yet and it has been a pretty wet winter here in Pittsburgh.

 

Mine rusted very bad. I had to repaint it

 

Did you get the black or silver? What kind of climate are you in?

 

Not really satisfied. It's completely rusted now after 6 months It was the silver race style one..is repainting the only way to get rid of the rust?

 

I have the lower silver race style grille-tech inserts for my 2002 and it rusted as well. I am looking to sell them because i have a new set on the way. Is anyone interested in buying them from me and then possibly painting them? If so, PM or email me. I'll sell them for half the price of new ones. I think they sell for like $60. Let me know. If you want to see what it looks like go to my homepage.

 

I have the silver ones and they are rusted. I put them on last fall so they have gone thru one upstate NY winter.

 

I've had mine on since Christmas with no rust. I live in Birmingham, AL and got the black grille.

 

Any inputs on how to prevent the rusting? Maybe spray a clear coat before installing. I planed on getting one and don't want it if it's going to rust in a couple of months.

 

According to Chris @ Grille-tech, they are using a different coating for the grilles , than the one they were using before. I live in Southern Cali, so rain is not an issue for me. I have the upper and lower right now, but I am aware that there has been a problem.

 

Installed silver inserts last October...they're rusted/corroded after a few months in Wis. I'll try to re-paint them soon.

It would be great if that new coating is better, but I'm not sure if I would buy another set.

 

I have had them on for about 9-10 months now with no rust at all. I live in the south and we had a pretty wet winter. I love the look of them and have not seen another max in my area with them on

 

...why are they rusting? $60 for a lower grill that rusts is just not worth it.

 

get the lower grill from http://www.jmsproductsinc.com it looks much much better.

 

Here is the response I got from Grille-tech.

We understand concerns about rust and we do offer a 90-day Rust-Proof Warranty period. We do value rust concerns but please understand that while we, as a company, do our best to double-powdercoat our grille inserts, they are still made of metal. Thus, environmental factors such as acidic rain, snow, sleet, salt, sand, etc. can contribute to rust. For this reason, we suggest in our
Installation Instructions that you keep the grille insert waxed with car wax and/or WD40 frequently to protect the finish of your grille.

I am still debating it. Since I only drive in rain, I might go ahead and do it. I think they look sweet.

 

Which style do you guys think would look better on a Sterling Mist Maxima for the lower grille?

Race or Diamond cut?