so, 4 weeks of ownership. done maybe 50km total on hwy. rest is all <70km/h city driving. how did my fins get dented so badly? i just made chicken souvlaki for dinner last night so i'm gonna use those wooden sticks (already sharpened them lol) and poke around tonight...gonna be tough through that mesh though.

dunno how to remove bumper nor do i want to. major PITA!

 

Yeh my car has taken some damage on the fins as well. Not much you can do about it either as a tighter mesh or screen will look bad and still won't stop bugs from impacting on the intercooler.

 

when i took mine off i had the same thing no idea how they got there

 

yeah the oem intercooler gets destroyed easily. it's not exactly the most sturdy. aftermarket ftw.

 

heard aftermarket ones are much heavier...

 

i took a trip to austin and came back and noticed i had dents..but then again i went about 80-100 most of the way

 

Bugs will rape the FMIC. I had an old fin comb used to clean the fins lying around. That did a decent job at straightening them out.

 

Other than looks, there is little point in worrying about it. It isn't going to do much to the overall picture of performance. You could've gotten a car with a top mount though, mine has hardly any dings But really, my VIII's FMIC was dented pretty badly like that, and it had no problems keeping the air cool.

 

i know, but the car was brand new 4 weeks ago

 

I put i mesh screen in front of my intercooler. Sure it decrease the air flow, but who cares i am not racing.

 

of course they are. ICs are made like so - there's no "light" aftermarket IC that can outperform. sure you gain about 10 pounds depending on what brand you choose, but the performance difference is well worth the penalty.

 

The only aftermarket FMIC I am aware of for the X that is lighter then stock and performs better is ARC. But it isn't cheap!

 

it's not lighter, just not as heavy as the competition. but somehow i doubt it's worth the money they're asking.

 

Mine was SUPER BEAT when I changed mine out

I had a area that went across 2 rows even

 

I left my stock one in my friend's car...and he put it in his closet. Needless to say there are a lot of bent fins now.