We were driving south from central California this weekend and while on the 5 Fwy there were very strong cross winds while passing several miles of farm land which included fruit trees and many tumbleweeds.
About two months before, I had installed diamond shaped plastic gutter guard behind the engire grill area to provide some level of protection from stones hitting the A/C condenser .
As a result of driving on the freeway with very strong crosswinds there were several unavoidable very large tumbleweeds that impacted the front of the NX and I had to puill over to dislodge them. Since this is the fall season, there were many miles of leaves blowing across the highway, many of those leaves were lodged on my grill.
After I pulled over to get gasoline, I was able to pluck out all of the remnants of tumbleweeds and leaves which were stuck on the diamond mesh but did not pass thru to the condenser....
Side note: I had PPF installed on the front of the car last year and this did protect my front bumper paint from getting scratched by the large tumbleweeds.
In the pix below, i had finished installing the mesh protection but had not cut off the zip ties yet.
Brand of mesh is Frost King, Gutter guard 6"x20' can be purchased at a hardware store. I used 2 sets of long forcepts to position the material behind the grill and secure the zip ties. It took several hours to do, but was well worth the effort.

 

This is an excellent idea!!

As any owner will concede this style grill is massive and has huge openings which lead to very expensive and very fragile cooling items like radiators and AC condensers being ruined in an instant. Highway debris from previous car crashes (all that shattered plastic etc left on the road because local authorities don't give a damn that probably several more vehicles will travel over the garbage and be damaged as well, (oh well not our problem, just do some evasive maneuvering if at all possible to avoid the crap). Then there's metal parts like pieces of brakes that have fallen off another car too (plastic grills and underbellies of cars are no match for metal debris).

Just the other day I had to take action quickly in order to not run over someone's metal tonneau cover that had become detached from their truck bed.

I've noticed some manufacturers will 'add' this kind of secondary protection mesh behind their 'design grill' so you get the 'look' but also some well needed protection too. Others as with these Lexus models, not so much.

I too have PPF'd my whole front facia as much as possible including headlights, fog lights, complete body coloured front facia plus 16 inches of leading edge of hood and front fenders, and the radar / Lexus logo, lower lip and bottom of the grey grill.

 

Thanks for the photos and the explanations.
Aren't you concerned that the leaf guard is plastic and may melt from the heat of the engine ( especially if idling in the summer)?
Should I consider an aluminum leaf guard? ( something like this - )

 

I wouldn't think so. If the car is running, then it is drawing air across the grill from the outside of the car, keeping the plastic stuff cool.

 

Zip ties will rub your grill paint off right down to plastic. You might want to rethink that application. Maybe there is some structure to tie behind the grill? Keep in mind the mesh does not have to seat on the grill and can be moved back to say crash bar location etc.

 

Check your Lexus....does your grill have paint ? Mine does not....
Evaluate how you are gonna get into the compartment to mount any A/C condenser protection.... easier said than done...... once your protection screen is far back and hugging the condenser, how easy will it be to dislodge leaves and debris.?

 

I think OP may have labeled the thread wrong. He is talking about a Grille Guard or Brush Guard instead of a rain gutter guard. Probably confused a lot of forum members.

I usually drive on normal streets and highways and don't need additional front end protection.

YMMV,
MidCow3

 

It is your ride Lexicon1. Do what you want with it. And yes my 350 F Sport grill has gloss plastic finish rather than flat stock found on first gen NX which makes it prone to scratching and scuffing even if there is no paint. Anything rubbing on that will make a mark. I was trying to recommend more elegant and Lexus quality worthy solution rather than having $0.01 zip tie application on very face of $60,000 vehicle. I'm sorry if that offends you. If you want honest opinion and posting on the forum - you will get one occasionally. "Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters" Albert Einstein

 

Well Maxim, once the zip ties are cut, the black plastic screen is not easily seen, . Driving on ANY road or street is a vulnerability w stones impacting the front end of the grill. Its not like one is placing fuzzy dice on your rear view mirror of your worried about aesthetics..... if one drives on the street or highway..... the grill opening is vulnerable....just as is the hood or the windshield to stones/pebbles impact.. If one chooses to minimize the potential damage...why not ?

....In the words of a great philosopher
from a Saturday Night Live (SNL) sketch called “Fernando's Hideaway”. In the sketch, Billy Crystal says, “You look marvelous!” and Fernando replies, “It's better to look good than to feel good”.

 

Hi Lexicon1 - I've been following the "condenser damage" threads on ClubLexus for quite a while and I like your input.
The Frost King, Gutter guard 6"x20' you installed seems like a good approach and you have had success with it preventing condenser damage to your vehicles.
I would appreciate your installation procedure, any of your experience that you can share.
I'm guessing that I could roll the plastic gutter guard to a size that could fit down from the top under the hood,
possible unbolting & removing the hood safety catch for more clearance, then unrolling the gutter guard in front of the condenser.
Am I on the right track ?

 

Regarding getting it done
Well, i happened to have two sizes of forceps...easily found on Amazon...they come in handy for accessing small places... 5.5" and 10" sizes.. helped w the operation...Buy high quality black UV safe zip ties, don't by thin cheap ones....
Pretty straight forward. measure from left to right the sizes you want w some additional for overlap .
Access the top part of the grill using a trim removal tool...also from Amazon , remove top plastic cladding
Access the bottom part of the grill removing the bottom plastic cladding w a 10 mm socket.
The rest is just getting your plastic guard material in place making sure you cut enough to stretch the distance , overlap appropriately for the next plastic guard and use the forceps to bend or curve the zip ties to hook them thru the grill for access...
Yes, its a little time consuming, but quite doable...
There was a comment about driving on the streets in a previous post and not worrying about stones being kicked up.... hey, it only takes one condenser mishap and the few hours doing this procedure pays off.....
By the way.... I just went back to check my grill guard to refresh my memory and plucked off a dead butterfly... just think of the havoc that he could have caused on the condenser !!!

And, in my original post I mentioned the tumbleweeds , the point was that PPF film has protected the paint from minor scratches and pebble contact....

Tresalto Auto Trim Removal Tool Kit - 5 Piece Set for Dash, Door Panel, Clip Remover - Scratch-Resist Nylon Pry Tools for Interior Car Trims Work

 

Thanks Lexicon1,
I appreciate your help and experience.
Access at the top is easy but I note you also took access for the bottom part of the grill by removing the bottom cladding.
I did removed the bottom cladding I’m my post:

“Condenser Stone Damage & Template” to make a template.

I won’t get to installing the mesh guard soon (priorities) . As you said: “ it’s time consuming “
but preventive maintenance is always worth the effort to me.