BAMF 3rd Gen Recessed Raptor Style Grille

Question for BAMF owners or BAMF itself.

Is anyone having rust issues? It's been raining here in MD for a few days straight now and I went outside today and realized there was running rust coming from every one of the bolt holes. It is very unsightly and I certainly didn't expect any rust issues from a 500 dollar product within a few months of owning it. What gives here? What can be done to remedy the situation? Taking the grill back out and anti-rusting the bolt holes is something I shouldn't have to do and do not want to have to deal with.

 

I am sorry to hear it, but you are not the first to report the problem where the bolts go through. Exactly why I went with the TRD PRO Grill man (not hating on the BAMF grill, its the best design). My advice would be to strip the grill and the rust. Then coat the hoes with a rust prevention paint. When reinstalling the bolts take caution to try and not let the bolts rub against the holes liner. Also if the bolts are not stainless, then replace them with it and paint them black.

That's what I would do.

 

Pictures?

 

Well thats not good. Is the rust from the grill or the screws?

 

I think it's either;
1) inner lip of the screw hole that did not get covered during powdercoating (resulting in exposed bare metal)
Or
2) tightening down the torx screw too tight which caused the screw head to chip off the powdercoat underneath.(resulting in bare metal)
I don't think the screws are rusting themselves?

 

Sad to see this is a common issue. For a product as expensive as this, the coating should be up to par. Looks like I'll be taking the grill off and seeing what I can do about it. Wish I had gone with the Pro grill. Mine is on every hole and way worse than pictured above

 

This has me on the borider feeling buyers remorse and I haven't even received the grill yet. Hope these are isolated issues. Plus I live in a borderline desert area.

 

Wait what happen to the guy that posted pictures showing the rust? Why were those taken down?

 

Yeah I was wondering the same thing. Zachfeen do you have any pictures? I'd like to get an idea of what it looks like.

 

Not sure why the other member's pictures were taken down, that is interesting. Here are mine for reference through, they are quite bad and I am not a happy camper. I'll be contacting BAMF for recourse

 

For what ever reason they were taken down, Zach leave yours up. People need to make big purchasing decisions based on real reviews. Again I am sorry yours is rusting and I hope you are taken care of.

 

Here is the deal, just to be clear to everyone early on. I am not trying to smear the company, I think JLEE and BAMF have a great product here. Issues like this come up in custom products like these, so looking forward to hearing from JLEE on the way ahead here. The only thing that I think may complicate is I bought the grill used from a member in SOCAL, so we will see.

 

I'll get you a pro grill and we can trade

 

The coating on the holes is compromised the bolts themselves are stainless steel you need to make sure when installing it that you don't cut into the coating. All you need to do is put a little black rtv on the hole to cover up the bare steel that was exposed during the install.

 

Was this from the first batch of grilles? The first 10 that went out had smaller holes causing the coating to be chipped away when installing. I contacted every customer that were in the first 10 and they were aware of it. If that's the case they should of told you about the under sized holes.

 

Are the bolts not pre-installed on the grill? Is this just if you notice signs of rust?

 

No they are not they are in a bag the grille has holes for the bolts.

 

Oh ok, thanks! I've got some rtv already so no biggie

 

After a (brief) conversation with JLEE over PM, the official answer seems to be "put some RTV or clear coat on it". I don't believe that is an acceptable answer once again given the vast cost of the product. But to each their own, I will do my best to contain the rust utilizing touch up paint and some type of method to prevent contact of the hole edge as I am bolting the grill down (it is asinine this is required IMO.)

In the end I cannot recommend buying this grille, especially if you live in a wet climate at all. I don't know what I expected support wise but in the end, I am not happy. I'll leave the photos up so people can make their own decisions.

 

I'm sorry you feel that way but the person you bought it from or you compromised the coating on the holes when installing it that is the reason it's rusting on the holes. So touching it up Is your only option it's the same thing as if you had a rock chip it would need to be touched up just like the paint on your truck.