Check out the attached picture belowfirst and tell me what you see.

[IMG]local://upfiles/11641/7165ECC1CE454C899D9FFF5BFE14A85E.jpg[/IMG]

An Outie, right? Ok, fine. But now, look below the "Outlander" frontal plate. Look to the right.... do you see that metallic "thing" in front of the radiator?Can you see (even in this small pic) the open grill showing the ATF cooler line(or the A/C line - cannot recall which one that is)?

Does it bother you that, this line is completely exposed and vulnerable to a rock flying off behind a truck could bust this? I had this happen in a Miata and it was $600 to replace the radiator and $75 for the additional part!!

I already have a small dent on my lower part of the radiator, clearly from a flying rock. [:-]Should I risk another one that could hit the line and bust it?

So, Igot some hardware cloth (1/4" and galvanized) and cut it to fit and am working onputting it in the area to enable airflow and offer protection against the rocks, but only until the aftermarket part comes out. What would you do to fix this problem? How would you handle it?

Have you seen any aftermarket (or manufacturer's part) to cover this grill and protect it from flying rocks and yet still let enough air flow through?? When I say "cover" I don't mean block airflow. I mean kinda like a "net" which enables air to pass through.

 

Seriously dude, I feel sorry for your dealership! What if you were to run over a nail and burst an exposed tire, what if a rock hit your brake line somewhere underneath or burst your fuel tank!

 

Exactly Z....wow dood seriously.

 

you're really picking the fly crap out of the pepper with this one.

im not sure if you realize it, but ALL cars have their radiators or a/c condensors exposed.
you may as well complain about the fact that your windowshield could be chipped by a rock, because its located up front.

 

Had the Lancer Ralliart since it came out, pretty much the same setup(lower right lines exposed), I drove a lot on the highway, making long trips from NC to Miami FL. The radiator had signs of bombardment from small rocks and I'm sure at some point those lines got hit... and gues what? nothing happened. I'm sure they had this in mind when they put that honeycomb grill in there, since anything that makes it through it is not likely to do any serious damage, but anything large enough to will be stoped by it. Of course theres always the once in a blue moon situations were anything can happen, but hey thats life.

 

Hahahaha....

 

HAHAHAHAHA I think he just said picking fly crap out of pepper!!!!

Also if lines that need air flow to cool them down are hidden and wrapped in some kind of protectant then how would they cool down? These lines are designed to be in the direct flow of the air. Have you ever driven or owned a car that caught a rock to any line on your car and broke it?

 

LOL, that is the funniest thing I have ever read.
No seriously, christian, You worry to much, go to your doctor, and get put on some zoloft dude.
It will come you down, and help with the free-floating anxiety thing you have going on. Its a non-issue. The canches of you ever hitting that piece are slim to none, and just to go a step further, I went outside, and checked my own, the only part of it showing is the huge thick machined aluminum connector, the chance of that getting puntured is about a zillion to one.
Also, your all worried about the a/c line, and havent said a word about all those holes in the grill that are just open. I mean damn, the radiator is right behind that, what ifa rock comes through there and punctures your radiator. Or worse, right behind that is the motor, what if a rock flies through there at mach 9, shatters the radiator in a million pieces, splits the fan blade in half, and goes right into the oil filter thats on the front of the block, holy ****.
MITSU, MITSUBISHI.... GOD-DAM-NIT, WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY,GOD-DAM-NIT KYLE YOU FUC-KIN JEW. MITSUBISHI, IS JEOPARDIZING THE FATE OF THE WORLD. THEY HAVE TO FIX THIS RADIATOR THING NOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

 

Speaking of worries, I dont wana start a new thread for this so I'll go a bit off topic on this one. Has any one noticed the steering to be abit harder on our vehicles thanmost? I mean like when you turn the steering weel it feels a bit harder to turn than lets say my oldlancer RA, I know its a bigger car, but is this normal? or should I have it cheked?

 

I did notice the steering was different than the first gen outlander..but I really like that's it's stiff when you turn.