Best option for my '00 SI lower grill?

[Nickeleye]

Here's a before picture of my car:

I've since removed the blue fogs from the car (and made other changes too, but that's another story), but unfortunately that left some pretty hideous, to me anyway, gaps in the front grill. The guy I bought the car from had these installed and when they did it they had to hack up the lower grill. My gameplan is to install OEM JDM fogs, but that still leaves the issue of the horrible looking lower front grill. I was thinking about finding a nice mesh for it and painting it black. The thing is that I don't want it to look like garbage. I've seen the ebay meshes and have read the horror stories. I don't want to become another statistic. I also don't want to spend a crap-load of money. Buying a new bumper would be an expensive venture and I'm trying to avoid it at all costs. I also found a Grill Craft mesh kit for the lower bumper, but it's over $100... Can anybody give me any advice?

Here's the aftermath of the fog removal:

 

[zville00SI]

I think it looks fine, its not noticeable i dont think...............

Or you can just remove the remaining rods.

 

[Nickeleye]

Maybe I'm just being picky... any other thoughts or ideas?

 

[rei]

Id just remove everything else.. at least do that first, some black mesh wouldnt be too bad.. or you could just boost it and put a nice fmic then itll look way better..

 

[x007den]

imo any and all mesh in the lower grill looks cheap. the way it is right now doesn't look all that bad.

 

[MORENO67]

why dont u just leave it that way for now cuz i dont think u could tell
they cut some of.
then in the future get a new bumper cuz them grills dont work dude trust me..

 

[96greencivic]

I agree with most, leave it the way it is. It looks fine.

 

[EJ's Rule!]

just cut all the bars and mount a fake intercooler there....

 

[Nickeleye]

just cut all the bars and mount a fake intercooler there....

I think I'll leave things the way they are. I'm pretty sure you were kidding about the intercooler... but let me just say that I'd never do that. IMO, do it right or not at all. Adding a fake intercooler would be lame. Most people probably wouldn't know the difference, but I would and that would drive me crazy.

 

[2GCIVI]

I think I'll leave things the way they are. I'm pretty sure you were kidding about the intercooler... but let me just say that I'd never do that. IMO, do it right or not at all. Adding a fake intercooler would be lame. Most people probably wouldn't know the difference, but I would and that would drive me crazy.

My guess is that with the smiley face at the end of his post indicated that he was joking

 

[Genuine Rolla]

Id just remove everything else.. at least do that first, some black mesh wouldnt be too bad.. or you could just boost it and put a nice fmic then itll look way better..

that'll make it look a whole lot better!!! 8)

 

[Nickeleye]

I do plan to boost, but don't have the money right now. Probably will be several months to a year out.

 

[EJ's Rule!]

My guess is that with the smiley face at the end of his post indicated that he was joking

exactly....

 

[krayziejcs]

leave it the way it is, but if it bothers you then y dont u consider buyin another bumper?

 

[ruff_ridaz99]

it's black..it's not that noticeable...just go with the foggies

 

[Nickeleye]

leave it the way it is, but if it bothers you then y dont u consider buyin another bumper?

To buy a new bumper and have it painted won't be exactly cheap. That's why.

 

[ct00si]

that wouldn bug the s**t out of me but oh well

 

[greenlx777]

just match the grill you have in your upper slot, it'll look fine, cuz if you paint the grill black you wont notice, its the fastest and cheapest way to solve ur problem.

 

[fir3water]

looks good the way it is

 

[Nickeleye]

I'll just leave it. I guess sometimes I just get overly-obsessed about details. Thanks for all the opinions.