My Mom Broke My New Grille. It's All Her Fault And I Hate Her Forever (DAMN YOU Kinja Cropping)

Kinja'd!!! "Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him" (tylerssvtfocushateshim)
11/10/2013 at 10:10 • Filed to: Shit Happens, New Parts

Kinja'd!!!1 Kinja'd!!! 10
Kinja'd!!!

Historically unlucky parent + random accident = sad Tyler :(

After a year and half of looking for the damn thing (availability is almost nonexistent), seven eBay messages convincing a British guy to ship overseas, $80, having the original invoice rejected by the Royal Mail, being refunded, convincing said British guy to re-ship for a few extra monies, re-paying said British guy after we went with a different shipping company, and waiting two and a half weeks, I finally got a European grille to replace the hateful USDM one on my Focus.

It was shipped to my family's house, so my mom threw it in the back of her Honda Pilot with my winter rims and tires (still have yet to put them on, probably should) on the 100-mile drive up from Indianapolis to West Lafayette where I go to college, with the grille surviving among the wheels perfectly intact. Once she got here, I briefly pulled the grille out of its box to examine it before putting it back in its shipping container. It didn't fit back easily, so I left a mounting prong out because, ironically, I didn't want to force it and possibly break it. My mother being the ever-helpful soul she is, saw that the grille didn't fit properly and tried to fit it further into the box as I loaded my tires into my trunk, and ended up snapping off one of the two left-side prongs in the process. D'oh.

I'm not even mad, really, in fact the more I think about it, the funnier I find it. This grille had survived 10 years on a car on the other side of the world, being sold, being shipped 4,000 miles overseas, a two-hour car ride surrounded by 100lbs of steel and rubber, only to break less than 15 feet from its future home, being pushed into a carboard box no less. My poor mom is devastated since she knew how long I looked for this thing and wants to buy me another one, even though the the only place I've found with grilles in stock is via the UK stealership network for $200 or however much it was (I declined, obviously, that's a ridiculous price). Some epoxy should fix everything up just fine, it's no biggie.

Bullshit aside, I can't wait to put this thing on, though. Just have to figure out some wiring issues, since I'll have to get rid of the parking lights on the U.S. grille, and I can't just unplug a fuse because the parking lights and headlights are on the same fuse. Thinking of making engine bay lights out of them, I dunno, I'll post updates the further I get along.

TL;DR Mom broke grille I spent ages looking for. It should be fine, though.

Remember, kids, shit happens, especially with vehicle maintenance. Also women ruin everything, never talk with them or interact with them at all. They're soulless, evil creatures of Satan that will hurt you and crush your dreams. And by dreams I mean grille mounts. Women hate grille mounts. And men, too. So avoid them at all costs.


DISCUSSION (10)


Kinja'd!!! TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him
11/10/2013 at 10:21

Kinja'd!!!1

Remember, kids, shit happens, especially with vehicle maintenance. Also women ruin everything, never talk with them or interact with them at all. They're soulless, evil creatures of Satan that will hurt you and crush your dreams. And by dreams I mean grille mounts. Women hate grille mounts. And men, too. So avoid them at all costs.

Kinja'd!!!


Kinja'd!!! SkarTisu > Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him
11/10/2013 at 10:24

Kinja'd!!!0

Argh. That sucks. Having a part number for the grille doesn't make the search any easier?


Kinja'd!!! oldirtybootz > Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him
11/10/2013 at 10:29

Kinja'd!!!0

That's rough, but it at least makes for a good story. Snap some pics when you finally get it on. I'm an ex-2nd gen Focus owner.


Kinja'd!!! Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him > SkarTisu
11/10/2013 at 10:33

Kinja'd!!!0

Part number helped me locate a grille, but not the person who would sell me one, if that makes sense. The problem is these kinds of grilles are only available in Europe and are extremely rare since Ford stopped making them after the 1st-gen Focus ended. Besides residual dealership stock, they're mostly on secondhand websites like forums and classifieds, but none of them will ship overseas. Besides dealerships, I found maybe 6 total on eBay and forums in a year and a half, and only just now did I find someone who was willing to ship to the U.S. Should've been more clear in my post, sorry.


Kinja'd!!! Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him > oldirtybootz
11/10/2013 at 10:35

Kinja'd!!!0

Will do!


Kinja'd!!! slomaro > Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him
11/10/2013 at 11:40

Kinja'd!!!3

That is frustrating. But hooray:

Kinja'd!!!

Consider giving mom a break. She drove 200 miles to bring you car bits see you.


Kinja'd!!! soto > Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him
11/10/2013 at 12:40

Kinja'd!!!1

Could she do us all a favor and now break this grill?

Kinja'd!!!


Kinja'd!!! Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him > slomaro
11/10/2013 at 17:37

Kinja'd!!!1

Oh I'm not upset in the least like I mentioned, my post was tongue-in-cheek. It's an easy fix, so no harm, no foul. Definitely going to drop by a hardware store to pick up some PlasticWeld, though, that should do the trick.


Kinja'd!!! Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him > soto
11/10/2013 at 17:38

Kinja'd!!!0

Probably break that kid's nose too, she hates Bieber lol.


Kinja'd!!! SkarTisu > Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him
11/11/2013 at 11:51

Kinja'd!!!0

No need to be sorry. I was just trying to understand the difficulty in getting a replacement grille. I used to surf Mercedes forums and noticed that Euro parts for those cars were relatively easy to come by. Looks like that's not the case for Ford parts, which sucks.