The stickers are peeling off the rear grill location on my Aero Kit, so I want to cut open the rear grill (sticker area) and add a steel mesh grill. However, I am not sure the best way to go about cutting the plastic aero kit bumper cover. My thoughts are:
1. Remove the bumper cover.
2. Carefully cutout the plastic, in the grill area, with a hand held scroll saw. This seems like it will be the tricky part. I plan to cut from the back side.
3. Touch up the paint around the cut.
4. Cut steel mesh (probably will use expanded metal) a little bigger than the cutout.
5. Paint or Powder Coat the mesh, black.
6. Epoxy or JB Weld the mesh onto the back of the bumper cover.
7. Reattach the bumber.

Does anyone have thoughts on the best way (tool and blade tooth size) to cut the bumber cover without cracking or chipping the plastic and also being able to make smooth/straight cuts?

I would like to add the mesh grill to the back of the bumper cover so I would like to have a clean and straight cut in the plastic because it will be showing.

I was thinking I might need to make a wood template to use as a guide for the scroll saw when cutting the plastic bumber cover. Maybe a roto-rip tool would be better for cutting the plastic.

I know that cutting open the rear aero grill has been a topic within the NAM forum and I see that a few people have cut the rear aero kit grill openings but I could not find information on how they performed the cut or how clean was the resulting cut.

Any help would be appreaciate since I do not want to screw up the bumper cover.

 

I would drill a hole in the aero grill (sticker area) mark the outline of the mesh you are about to fit ,and use a jig saw .cutting from the sticker side ,this will let all the rough cuts be at the back side , cut slightly under your marked line to allow for a snug fit .It will vibrate like hell so you'd need a hand to steady it ...Ive seen custom made SS mesh grills for aero kits ....
http://www.racemeshgrilles.com/ others must be around if you look Inet i guess.Hope this helps
Angus

 

Angus,
Thanks for the thoughts and the link to racemeshgrills. Their grills look nice and at a reasonable price.