OEM Open Fog Light Grills

[rdfcpete]

For my 1000th post, I'll go for an easy one  

Considering fitting the open fog grills simply to enhance air flow. I've a few concerns though. I did compose a search, however all the threads seemed to be around price and not the pros and cons of them.

• Do they actually increase air flow to the engine (a bit like the Carbonio does or in theory does)?
• Will I need to fit some fine mesh behind them to prevent unwanted objects passing into the I/C?
• Are they an essential for any remapped or stage >x car - reason I ask is lots of you who've stage 1 &2 'ed + and more don't have these, are they simply a cosmetic mod?

Thanks guys  

[h4rdy]

Purely cosmetic but do look good.

Maybe increase airflow but when you get them one is blocked off while the other has an air duct.

The IC is nowhere near and it sits behind the Radiator anyway.

You wouldn't get items passing into the IC anyway as its closed but if it was near an item passing through the grill could damage the cooling fins.

Not essential but I read somewhere that they aided cooling for DSG but I think thats Bollocks to be fair.

[Richn83]

They were standard fitment in warmer climates for cooling, the DSG small radiator thingy is down on the right hand side, if you look at your lower splitter/undertray you will see a cut out vent to direct air up in this location, so I believe they will provide some beneit to cooling but not in a way that promotes performance.  So mainly a cosmetic mod, although im sure you could direct the air-flow up into the right hand corner of the engine bay for use with a twintake etc.


vent is mid right in this image.  HTH

[Richn83]

Oh and I thought I was on here alot Pete, do you ever leave? 

[GTIjames]

all depends on what mods you are running

- itg maxogen/forge (twintake)  intakes will benefit from 'fully' open fog grills where by you remove the plastic bits which comes attached behind the open fog grills as this will allow more air to enter the void behind the headlight where the itg foam is positioned 
if its just a craponio/dbilas/bsh etc then dont bother

- if you have a forge twintercooler (upgraded intercooler) then the open fog grills will not fit unless you remove the plastic bits which come with it, due to the additional pipe work on the forge ic

i ran mine fully open over the winter months as I had both the twintercooler and itg intake, I did notice more muck in the engine bay but Im not really bothered by that. one thing which did catch my eye was when driving in heavy rain with 'fully' open fog grills was that the foam on the itg intake was often wet after a long drive, it shouldnt be too much of an issue with the foam been oiled but i would be a little concerned with a dry filter like the backdraft (itg copy)

i did swap back to the normal fog grills for a bit and i am sure my butt dyno noticed the lack of air reaching the itg intake so went back to open again

[rdfcpete]

Oh and I thought I was on here alot Pete, do you ever leave? 

Ta for the info Rich.  Believe it or not, I do. 1000 posts and I wasn't even planning on modding the GTI more than some Monza II's... 

all depends on what mods you are running

- itg maxogen/forge (twintake)  intakes will benefit from 'fully' open fog grills where by you remove the plastic bits which comes attached behind the open fog grills as this will allow more air to enter the void behind the headlight where the itg foam is positioned 
if its just a craponio/dbilas/bsh etc then dont bother

- if you have a forge twintercooler (upgraded intercooler) then the open fog grills will not fit unless you remove the plastic bits which come with it, due to the additional pipe work on the forge ic

i ran mine fully open over the winter months as I had both the twintercooler and itg intake, I did notice more muck in the engine bay but Im not really bothered by that. one thing which did catch my eye was when driving in heavy rain with 'fully' open fog grills was that the foam on the itg intake was often wet after a long drive, it shouldnt be too much of an issue with the foam been oiled but i would be a little concerned with a dry filter like the backdraft (itg copy)

i did swap back to the normal fog grills for a bit and i am sure my butt dyno noticed the lack of air reaching the itg intake so went back to open again

'Craponio' 
Unfortunately, I currently have the aforementioned intake but it's soon to go. I'm not sure what I'll replace it with, but the Maxogen looks a strong candidate at this moment in time.

Interesting results you had James - thanks for the feedback. There's nothing you can really put around the foam to prevent it from soaking is there? 

[GTIjames]

no i never bothered looking for a fix for it, as I crashed it not long after  but you could always swap back to the enclosed fog grills on wet days as it didnt take long to change them..

as for intakes stay clear of the dbollocks and as for the bsh i think every member on this forum who purchased one has subsequently changed it

so itg or twintake