Mesh headlight grills

I am using a sort of like a mesh style head light cover that are stainless and very good quality. I like the look they provide.

i got them from Air Cooled accessories and I believe they are in England.

fast shipping. They were $192 if I remember.

Thanks  but that's the bar style, the mesh style has " square screen " holes about 1/2"

Alan, I found mesh headlight grills on The Samba a couple of years ago for (as I recall) $40....I liked them so much I later also sprang for 6" mesh grills and then searched for an inexpensive pair of foglights to fit them to!!! 

Alan, I got the mesh headlight grills from Air Cooled and they are very high quality, but not inexpensive. May not use them on the speedster as I am not sure they are the correct ones. The attachments look different than some I have seen. Not sure if they are for a VW bug or not.

Gary

We have a very high quality version, USA made,  but not cheap.  They have matching thumb screws and you drill the headlight rings to install them.  I prefer this version because it allows your rubber seal to sit properly, unlike the clip on versions.  As always, speak with me and I can get you the "SOC" discount.  :-)

Not sure if this helps, Al-- but I've got the stainless clip-on version that were relatively inexpensive (I think I paid <$100 years ago). From what Carey is describing, I think I'd like a set of his. I'd let what I've got go for a good price, assuming Carey's aren't expensive like shards of the true cross.

chines1 posted:

We have a very high quality version, USA made,  but not cheap.  They have matching thumb screws and you drill the headlight rings to install them.  I prefer this version because it allows your rubber seal to sit properly, unlike the clip on versions.  As always, speak with me and I can get you the "SOC" discount.  :-)

Alan,

I'd second what Carey is saying. I have the mesh grills that "clip" on. The bottom of the grill is attached using the screw for the headlight bucket. The top of the grill has clips that wrap around the headlight buckets and sit between the body and the bucket. I took them off because they don't sit well against the body of the car.

Troy had the thumbscrew type on his outlaw and they were much nicer. 

Here are photos of both types. The top ones are the grill Carey sells and the bottom ones are from Cip1. The top ones are way nicer.

I also have something similar to Carey's thumb-screw version.  I think mine need a knurled thumb-screw to fit properly, which means that there must be a captive nut or something under the headlight chrome rim to screw into.  I didn't have that as a retrofit, so I just put a nut back there and lock-tite everything together.  I would be interested to learn how Carey fastens them to the chrome rim, unless his attach directly to the body as others I've seen.  Mine appear to be NOS Porsche items that I got from TC

Alan:

Here is what I have and they work great. 

The two clips at 10 and 2 reside between the headlight bucket and plastic headlight bucket molding.  Took about 5 minutes per side to install.  I believe that mine came from Sierra Madre Collection in Pasadena, and were purchased from an SOC member on this site.  I've had them on the car for at last 3 years and live by the beach with no sign of rust.  I love the look.

Thanks for the suggestions !

I have same as GTMAN. Bought them from another SOC member.

I guess I'll go with the clip on with the 6 o'clock position screw type, don't want to drill holes...tnx !

These SS one from UK look interesting as the fit under the rim but still allow you to use the glass and rubber seal. $78 USD but suspect shipping and wait time costly.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/cla...etail.php?id=1712066

To me they just don't look right...

Agree, the diagonal grill vs up-down make them look weird.

I like the grills vs,  the noodle strainer thing, so you guys are way off the mark for me.  The UK baskets look pretty cool to me, nice and neat, integrated, whereas the other things will always look added on.  But that is "the look" -- something you added on to your car when you took it to the track and had to protect your headlight glass.  Like running w/ out hubcaps -- something you did on race day.  Ergo, 50 years later without hub caps on, you look like you are just returning from a track day, and so you are especially cool.  Just a matter of perspective.

I laughed at the noodle strainer comment. I thought the same thing. I had to look it up and it's called a Spider Strainer.

I thought I read somewhere a long time back where a guy made his headlight shields out of items (a strainer) he found in the housewares dept.

These sure look like knoodle strainers! Or maybe for the FL Palmetto bugs?

That one, just above, is the first that I've seen with a Tenax holding them onto the body.

Makes a lot of sense.

Something never mentioned before I installed mine is that once they're on there, you lose about 25%-30% of the brightness of your headlights.  No big deal if you're already running H4's or the like (and/or have fog or driving lights, too).  It should have occurred to me that when you put something in front of a light source it might block the little protons from getting out, but there you go.  It's no where near enough attenuation to be concerning.....It is what it is.  

They make her look like one tough Muther, tho.........Especially when everything's lit.

Steven J Spinner posted:

I am using a sort of like a mesh style head light cover that are stainless and very good quality. I like the look they provide.

i got them from Air Cooled accessories and I believe they are in England.

fast shipping. They were $192 if I remember.

I like these the best...