does a grille guard mess up your gas mileage?

Grill Guard affect headlights?

I am in the heart of deer country, so a grill guard is a must. I looked at all that are available for the Element and each seems to have pros & cons. My question is do the bars that cover the headlights affect the output from the lights? I looked at a Manik this morning that was installed on a Rover. The bars that covered the lights were held in place by four bolts and were removable. Do any other guards have this feature or are they welded in place?

The second photo shows a Manik on an Element w/o the bars in front of the lights.

MikeQBF said:

Uhhhhh... you do realize that these so-called "grille guards" are cosmetic, don't you? That the only conceivable protection they offer is possibly deflecting small branches and twigs away from the nose, which is plastic, anyway?

They are not structural in any way, shape or form, and do not have the strength to withstand the mildest parking lot tap, much less at-speed contact with large wildlife. If you are expecting an extra layer of "protection", you're going to be disappointed. In actuality, the brush guard will add to any damage by turning blunt impacts into penetrating wounds by virtue of the attachment hardware and the flimsy nature of the guard.

Click to expand...

You may very well be correct, however I still have 50 pounds of venison in the freezer that would probably argue that point, except he is deader than a beaver hat.

150 lb. buck + landrover + Manik Grill Guard = lunch.

The guard was pushed into the hood, denting the hood, and the plastic bumper cracked. The buck was DOA.

Now, back to my original question....

The effect on mpg is infinitesimal if at all.
I have the Aries Off Road one piece and the headlight sections are also removable.
The guard is not "flimsy" as it is over 50 lbs of welded together thick walled DOM tubing and is quite capable of launching shopping carts over curbs and also does a nice job disemboweling rabbits and red fox.
Unfortunately the mounting location is the same location as the bottom of the radiator so a hard enough hit would be fatal to the E regardless of the level of cosmetic damage evaded.
The other major drawback is losing 3" of approach angle clearance. I have dug in pretty hard on a few whoops on four wheeler trails and chipped a couple parking barriers with nothing more than scuffed paint as a negative result so far. I make sure to carry a come-a-long or "poor man's winch" with me when I'm out on the hunting trails alone just in case the brush guard turns into a brush anchor.
Don't expect to go smashing through 150 lb whitetails at 65 mph with the Element with a brush guard but it will, amazing I know, do what it was designed for and keep the trail scrub from wrecking expensive lights and AC condensers along with the butter soft front plastic.

My thoughts on brush guards

Hi all,

New to this forum, and have owned my E for only 2 weeks.

The seller was very upfront about a recent encounter the E had with a deer, I have the invoice from the body shop.
In Canadian dollars, in Jan 2010, approx $ 2500 in parts, mostly plastic and trim, and the rad and condenser, and about $1500, labour, extra for special paint work. The E just tagged, the hind quarters of the deer as it crossed the highway, so I can't say how fast the E was going.

So, I personally doubt any full contact with any large animal will be offset by any kind of bars, but, if I can avoid the nightmare of an accident/autobody shop/increased insurance premiums for a smaller assault by the local wildlife, it is worth it to consider some kind of bars. Got too many dogs loose on the roads, racoons, porcupine, wild turkeys ( you voted some of them into office) and of course, the dreaded parking lot.

I have one ( perhaps dumb) question, and that is, why is there no possible bracing of a brush bar closer to the hood? Seems that there are 4x 10 mm bolts mounting all grille/brush guards to the lower frame. Having upper and lower mount points would add to the rigidity of this device, no?

Just asking

Ditto, mine has upper mounting brackets and it is very solid. I weigh 200 lbs and I can jump up and down on it.