Who will be grill blocking soon?

Given that temperatures in the San Francisco Bay Area only occasionally get below the mid 40s, how would grill blocking help? Further inland, it often drops into the 30s in the winter: maybe grill blocking would be useful there? All I know is that I had never heard of the concept until it was mentioned in this forum.

 

I stop grill blocking any time I'm likely to use Air Conditioning. That is, for cooling, not just for dispelling fog up. I can't see blocking the grill when I'm trying to cool the cabin.

 

Does PIP not cool the AC fluid via a big front radiator? Just seems to me if you block front grill while requesting cabin cooling the AC system is going to struggle.

 

Blocking works for me, heats up the engine a whole lot faster!

 

I tried using the foam insulation and it looked like hell. The first couple of days it was fine, after about a week, the outside ends came loose. As stated it looked bad, so I removed it. I've been thinking of a alternative solution, and I found it. I was at Wal*Mart on Sunday and checked out their tape supply. What I chose, was black Gorilla Tape, Tough & Wide (2.88" x 30 yards). It's thicker than normal duct tape, has a nice smooth finish, and fantastic glue ($14.xx). I used two strips to cover the bottom area. One long bottom strip, and two pieces on the top area. I removed my lowered license plate holder to make the job easier. Started with approximately 1/4" piece on bottom flat surface and the same at the top, with the two pieces overlapping in the middle. Bottom section is completely blocked. Overall, it looks decent and factory from about three feet away. It was cool yesterday when I put it on. Would have been easier and more pliable in warmer weather. Looked good this morning after arriving at work. I think it will be durable and last the winter. Here's a few pics. I'll update if I have problems with it.

 

Hmm? In the spring, I have to pull hard enough to tear mine to get it to budge. The squeeze method with this 1/2" foam hasn't ever come loose...


As for looks, it appears really nice if you notch the back to fit into each vertical support.

Of course, that's a non-issue for those of us who experience real winter... the messy kind, where the Prius is coated with a layer of grim most of the time throughout the cold season.

 

Unless you're driving in temperatures way too warm (quite a bit above freezing), nothing.

At 50°F outside while cruising at high speed, the coolant stays at a steady 195°F on mine with the lower grille entirely blocked.

 

I have been grill blocking for eight years, never have had a piece of foam come loose yet and have been to drive thru car washes with no problems, freeway driving no problems. I don't think it looks so bad and nobody notices unless you tell them. but YMMV.

 

Not a thing. I do not think they even notice!

 

I couldn't find any black foam, only lighter-coloured stuff, but it'll do I guess. It only usually gets down to just on freezing where I am, with snow sometimes. I do quite a bit of highway driving, up to about 190 miles a week, but also quite a bit cruising at low speeds through the suburbs (25 mph and below) -- enough lately that I've had the engine switch on by itself quite a few times obviously from being too cold. I'm going to see how it goes with the foam in place in both grills of my 2011 Prius.

 

^ Be careful about blocking the upper grill, the smaller upper opening, above bumper. Block 50% at most, or safer, just leave the upper open. The inverter coolant circuit radiator is exclusively behind the upper grill.

 

I added blocking last fall, except the top opening for the oil cooler, and left it on for all summer. No noticable problem.

 

Back in the day I used to put cardboard behind the grilles of my old cars, right in front of the radiator. Is this possible with the PIP? I have pipe wrap in place, but it does try to come loose and does look less than optimum.