I'm Skeptical of These New Grille Cooling Claims

[Lunentucker]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know.
"If it's on the Internet, it's true" - Abraham Lincoln

Facebook dude claims his coolant temps are down considerably after he paid $900 (yeah - $900) on Ebay for the newly designed grille.
I'm thinking he timed his pics with his thermostat cycles, because his other temps are higher.

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[Y-Guy]

 

[Kevin_D]

Different locations...
Different altitudes...
Moving or stopped?
And you can't verify outside temperature (or other weather conditions.)

So yeah,

Kevin

 

[Stormtroopin]

Honestly have been laughing at all these new post claiming it significantly cools when in reality it’s just an updated face look

 

[Renegade]

Don’t most engines these days have a 195 degree thermostat? How would you get oil temps like that with 186 degree coolant temp unless you swapped to a different thermostat?

 

[Dougstdig]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know.
"If it's on the Internet, it's true" - Abraham Lincoln

Facebook dude claims his coolant temps are down considerably after he paid $900 (yeah - $900) on Ebay for the newly designed grille.
I'm thinking he timed his pics with his thermostat cycles, because his other temps are higher.

…and it makes the head on view look like the vehicle has a body lift

What’s the factory thermostat threshold??? 195° I think?

Tapping into his music selection?

 

[bleda2002]

The new grille is indeed a significant cooling upgrade. It's just flowing a lot more air than the old one. The old grille was so restrictive that they had to switch the mesh to open up more space in the JT. Is the new grille going to drop your coolant temp 15 degrees, I doubt it, but its not hard to see how it's just better flowing.

 

[NotSo Bright White]

We need the guy who did the comparison of the pizza cutter tires to the wide tires perform an analysis! He seems like he would figure this out!

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

Yeah, the JT grille already flowed more air than the JL grille and since this debuted on the JL I’m betting the “real world” numbers are closer to that of the current JT grille. Any time I’ve seen the side by side comparisons they look like they have the same open area anyways.

 

[AmishMike]

Funny how making bigger holes doesn’t always equal more flow.
One of the biggest problems with the JT is cooling and they know that. Engineers worked like crazy to improve flow. I find it hard to believe that this eBay grille helps at all. Directing more air into the grill, yes, making bigger holes and disturbing airflow patterns not so much.
Look at the available ‘functional’ Rubicon hood vents. Yep they are big holes in the hood which should vent hot air, nobody can substantiate their effectiveness. There have been several reviews of them here.
Save your money. If you really want, add some ‘Wetter Water’ that improves the heat transfer of your coolant, by changing its specific gravity.

 

[Reddog]

The new grille is indeed a significant cooling upgrade. It's just flowing a lot more air than the old one. The old grille was so restrictive that they had to switch the mesh to open up more space in the JT. Is the new grille going to drop your coolant temp 15 degrees, I doubt it, but its not hard to see how it's just better flowing.

I tend to agree with your comment here. I have a JT now after having a ZR2 and before that, a JK with LS3 and 6L80 trans. When I had the JK, the car had an aftermarket radiator that did not cool well. I did a lot of research on my own to figure out what was going on and why the car would not cool correctly. I did airflow tests at different speeds among other testing. What I found was, no suprise here, that Jeeps are about as aerodynamic as a shipping crate. The airflow thru the grille isn't too bad until you go above 60 mph and then lots of stuff starts happening. I found that the air piles up in front of the vehicle so much that it starts to curl backwards and at that point airflow thru the grille really suffers. Eventually, CG&J Radiators in Alabama built me a radiator that solved my problems and gave the JK a consistent 200 degree running temp. So, if Jeep can help the airflow a bit by opening up the grille a bit more that is good news. One of the things people forget about the airflow issue is in order for the air to flow well thru the grille/radiator, it has to be able to exit the engine compartment at a similar or faster rate. Skid plates, extra equipment in the engine compartment, etc, deter the air from exiting quickly and hurt colling to some extent. Newer engines are designed to run at hotter temps than older model engines but part of that is due to the fact that vehicles are getting packed with more and more equipment and given reduced frontal profiles to make them more aerodynamic and help with fuel economy so there are lots of reasons for the higher numbers. One thing I see over and over again are the Jeeps with big winch sitting high over the bumper, right in the middle of the grille. If people realized how much this disrupts the airflow thru the grille at different speeds, they would opt for a winch mounting design that placed the winch low behind the front bumper. Even the bull bars on many Jeeps affect the airflow negatively at speed. Sorry for rambling here but the Jeep running temp issue is complex and much more than just grille opening size although that is a major factor for sure.

 

[JTenn]

I checked my wife's 20 JT yesterday. Hers has one of those mesh painted grill inserts (more restrictive) and it was 97 degrees out, had the ac running and stopped in a parking lot. Coolant temp was 186 degrees. Although I do like the new look, I have doubts about the improved cooling abilities. It's not as if these radiators are mounted in a sealed chamber. There's plenty of open area to pull in air. The fan will cycle as the demand calls for especially while not moving. The new grill definitely does nothing for performance while sitting still.

 

[tampahoosier]

The new grille is indeed a significant cooling upgrade. It's just flowing a lot more air than the old one. The old grille was so restrictive that they had to switch the mesh to open up more space in the JT. Is the new grille going to drop your coolant temp 15 degrees, I doubt it, but its not hard to see how it's just better flowing.

This ^^^
@Lunentucker if you legit think the new grille was a mere facelift/mid-cycle update then I’d get your head checked. Each vertical slate blocked more airflow over the radiator. Now their gone and the entire grille is essentially all mesh.
I can see the type of guy you are, your first comment was making fun of the guy for spending $900. Frankly I don’t understand why folks like you are so judgemental over what some else is doing with THEIR money for THEIR rig.

All that aside, I don’t think the cooling differences will be drastic but I do think the Jeep (ESPECIALLY the diesel) will benefit. I have one on order for $750 and I’m sure it’ll help my Jeep in my FL weather, how much I don’t know but any improvement is still an improvement.

Go ahead, make fun of me too for spending $750, show everyone how narrow minded and judgemental you are. Most of us will see through it.

 

[Sandevino]

If you want a true test, you need a control. Take the grill off and run a 10 mile circuit - city and highway at varying speeds. Record the high and low temps.

Install the old grill and run the same circuit. Record high and low temps.

Install the new grill and run the same circuit. Record high and low temps.

Compare and determine which is better or worse compared to the control.

I’ve got the diesel grill on mine which is significantly more “open” than the old grill in the photo above and closely resembles the grill insert of the new one.

 

[Lunentucker]

This ^^^
@Lunentucker if you legit think the new grille was a mere facelift/mid-cycle update then I’d get your head checked. Each vertical slate blocked more airflow over the radiator. Now their gone and the entire grille is essentially all mesh.
I can see the type of guy you are, your first comment was making fun of the guy for spending $900. Frankly I don’t understand why folks like you are so judgemental over what some else is doing with THEIR money for THEIR rig.

All that aside, I don’t think the cooling differences will be drastic but I do think the Jeep (ESPECIALLY the diesel) will benefit. I have one on order for $750 and I’m sure it’ll help my Jeep in my FL weather, how much I don’t know but any improvement is still an improvement.

Go ahead, make fun of me too for spending $750, show everyone how narrow minded and judgemental you are. Most of us will see through it.

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