Climate control radiator protector

An i3 owner reported in the Facebook i3 group that her dealer had diagnosed the cause of climate control failure as the loss of refrigerant through a hole in the front radiator, likely caused by road debris. The repair estimate was $1,900. Volt drivers reported similar failures that are so common that a climate control radiator protector is sold for the Volt. It appears to be not much more than a window or gutter screen cut to fit over the radiator.

Have you created a similar screen to protect the i3's climate control radiator protector? If so, please report what you did.

All recent model year vehicles that I have examined have no protection in front of the A/C condenser (heat exchanger). Rocks, etc. can easily hit them and any damage, even if it does not puncture the core, will reduce its efficiency. That is why I always put a protective screen in front of the A/C condenser on any car I buy. Apparently, car manufactures don't care about damage to the fragile aluminum fins since damage is not covered under warranty and it makes money for the service department.

For the i3 I used what is called hardware cloth (1/4" square steel galvanized steel mesh) in a strip behind the grill. I removed the "frunk" plastic bin to get access to the front of the condenser. There is no access from the bottom side of the vehicle without removing the front facia. You can cut the cloth to size and then put a flexible border around the grid before installing it. The border adds some rigidity to it and keeps the sharp spines around the hardware cloth from scrapping against stuff during the install. I held the grid in place with a couple of black plastic wire ties. The grid sits back from the front grill several inches so it is not easy to see.

DickLarimore said:

"For the i3 I used what is called hardware cloth (1/4" square steel galvanized steel mesh) in a strip behind the grill. I removed the "frunk" plastic bin to get access to the front of the condenser."

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Mr. Larimore: Can you please tell us what the overall size of the steel mesh that was used? Width and length?

weajd said:

Can you please tell us what the overall size of the steel mesh that was used? Width and length?

Click to expand...

I bought 12" X 24" (30 cm X 60 cm) of 304 stainless steel woven wire #5 mesh because galvanized steel rusts eventually in our salty, humid climate near the ocean. I could have made 2 radiator protectors with this mesh. I cut this mesh into 3 pieces so that the mesh could be fed through the grill easily. I used small zip ties to attach the mesh to the vertical parts of the grill and to connect the 3 pieces. This has worked well.

Stainless steel mesh is more difficult to cut and work with than plastic or even aluminum mesh, so if I was doing it again, I might not have chosen stainless steel.

Most highly recommend installing a "guard" as described by Art. Based on his experience, I installed one with 1/8'' holes several years ago. It did not inhibit cooling at all, even in our warm Hawaiian climate. And I found a rock stuck in mine about six months ago that probably would have done damage to the evaporator had it not met the "guard" first.