I've spent a great deal of time searching this forum for the merits of having the rear Challenge Grill on a 360. It's clear most people are in favor of the enhanced engine bay cooling the Grill provides. However, I've not seen any data supporting the differential temperatures with and without the Grill and to what extent those differentials would impact the engine longevity. Excess heat is bad, I get that. The closest thing I saw to "data" was someone reporting a pre and post Grill install when tracking their car -- noting under similar driving conditions the time it took for the ECU to reduce power & inform of excess heat (or something like that). I'm not tracking my car, but I do try to keep the RPMs up... I'm also installing an aftermarket exhaust which may (or may not) increase the heat. I love the stock look of my car without the Grill, but I'd put one on if I *had* to.
I had a stock grill on my silver 360 until I moved to FL in 2004 and I liked the stock look. Down here I found right away that it was trapping too much heat...I don't have any specs but I can say that I had a hard time touching anything on the back part of my car including the rear lid to open/close it, so based on that alone I wanted to change it out. I lived in Colorado before that and it was never an issue. I'd say if you live in a cooler climate you may have no reason to change out the grill if you don't want to. I actually put on the Tubi carbon fiber grill and it really changed the look of my car.
Another advantage with the challenge grill is that when backing up to park you Can see thru the holes and thereby gauge your proximity To the car behind a bit better.
I do appreciate all replies. I'm particularly interested in data, however, wrt heat differential and impact on engine wear. I prefer the stock look so the Grill would be strictly for a significant de-risking on engine wear.
My .02... If you prefer the look of the stock grill, leave it alone and save yourself the $2k. You absolutely don't HAVE to install one. Realistically no one is going to have data showing that the solid factory panel roasted their engine. Heat is an enemy of belts/hoses of course, but again, empirical evidence of how the grill affects their longevity doesn't exist. That said, I prefer the challenge grill. I think it provides a nice contrast and absolutely must lower engine bay temps, regardless of how much or little it preserves the engine and related components.
Nice wheels but I'll stick with the standards for now. Yes, I read about painting the grill. It's a good idea but not quite the look of stock that I really admire. I can't believe not having the Grill will hurt anything unless I'm tracking - and the ECU will warn me of heat anyways. Therefore I think I'll just pass on the Grill for now.
I have no data but I prefer the standard grill over challenge on any car except black. If the car is black I'd prefer the challenge. A dealer once told me that a Challenge can be painted body color to kind of give the best of both worlds. He showed me one they had in stock that was silver but allegedly was a factory race set up and not painted by the owner.
I have seen one 360 with a painted challenge rear grill. It looked awesome. I have made several inquiries since about color-matching for powder coating a rear grill in rosso corsa. I haven't spoken to anyone yet that can say they will match it perfectly. I am leaning towards a painted grill. I believe the only car that looks good with a black Challenge Grill is a Challenge Stradale. Probably because of the mirrors being black.
