Trucks and deer don't mix

lrymal · June 30, 2003

Well, y'all won't believe it. I certainly had a love-love-hate-love relationship with my Carriage Works Billet Grille insert. I thought its finish was a bit rough and the billet bars didn't line up cleanly as my eye saw them. But, the grille was beautiful to look at and I was complimented for it.

Early this morning, on the way to work, out through the fog a small deer galloped across the canal ditch and kissed the front of my truck. The good news is that nothing bad happened to me, and the fenders, lights, hood were not damaged.

The grille was demolished, though. The billets and plastic grille assembly took the hit and the billets separated from their mounting posts and punctured the radiator and airconditioning condenser.

The bowtie horizontal chrome piece smashed up and cracked on both ends.

Fortunately, the dealer quickly replaced the radiator and condenser and recharged the air conditioner and flushed and replaced the Dexcool.

Insurance took care of everything but the grille assembly. Modified, ya know??!!!!! I'm appealing that one and my dealer had a repainted basic grille assembly which I'm using now until the insurance is resolved. Actually, no one other than an enthusiast nut like all of us would notice that it is just a basic assembly that had pewter paint on it.

So, my love affair with billet stuff lasted just under a month, I think. The deer was not so lucky. And my truck is just fine. I shudder at what could have happened, though. I'll try to get pictures up this evening of the pieces.

lrymal · July 1, 2003

The link below are the bits and pieces of the grille. The lower grille billets are the ones that caught the deer's weight and went into the condensor and radiator.

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL68/917629/...15/28485472.jpg

Tungsten · July 1, 2003

Hey man that really sucks!!!!! We both have bad luck! Nice 03's that arnt mint anymore Oh well, Atleast you made a few payments before you went smashy smashy! So are you going to get another grille?

lrymal · July 1, 2003

No kidding! I just can't explain how sick I am, yet so happy that the fenders and hood are ok. Also happy that the dealer had all the replacement goodies in stock and by the end of the day, I had a somewhat bruised, but intact truck.

Regarding the final replacement grille, not sure what I'm going to do. I want to do something, though!!! But, I'm not in any hurry right now.

greyghost03 · July 1, 2003

D@mn, sorry to hear about that! That grille looked good on your truck. Glad you're ok and good luck w/the insurance!

MarkD · July 1, 2003

Glad to hear everything is ok! Deer suck!

lrymal · July 1, 2003

D@mn, sorry to hear about that! That grille looked good on your truck. Glad you're ok and good luck w/the insurance!

Thanks! Yeah, that grille certainly DID look good. I had the distinction of having the only one in Huntsville, TX and was certainly noticed.

Deer and cattle scare the out of me when encountering them on the road. A cow and sometimes a deer can literally kill someone and total a vehicle. I just KNEW I was running into a herd and braced myself due to the noise. Thank goodness the airbags didn't go off!!!

The negotiations for grille coverage are really iffy. My local agent thinks the appeal will be in my favor since the truck DID have a grille and that grille was indeed totalled. My modificaiton (the CW billet grille) doesn't remove the fact that the truck indeed came with a grille that was hit and the deer's hitting the deer would have destroyed the grille, modified or not.

Anyway, I hope to know something in a few days.

lrymal · July 1, 2003

Say, y'all, speaking of grilles.... I'm at work and can't get the part number now, but on the GM parts CD, there is a part number listing of all the different colored '03 grilles. There's Pewter, black, blue, etc. (I thik), with corresponding part numbers and PartsDirect does indeed have these.

However, there is one grille that is is marked as CHROME and is actually cheaper that the others.

I wonder what that grille is? Does anyone have a clue?

greyghost03 · July 2, 2003

However, there is one grille that is is marked as CHROME and is actually cheaper that the others.

I wonder what that grille is? Does anyone have a clue?

I don't have a clue. If this is the x-grill (or egg crate) you mentioned in a previous post that is the factory grille but in a chrome finish I would be interested in getting one. Let us (me) know what you find out about it!

lrymal · July 2, 2003

Well, I dunno.... wish I knew. Here are part numbers of the grilles:

http://www.esc6.net/~lrymal/grillechrome.jpg

The parts number for the chrome grill is: 15182294. Enter that at partsdirect and you get a price of $180.42. The non-Chrome ones which are colored $224.00.

Kind of a mystery part, at least to me.