Why Does Your Car Have Grilles?

When you were shopping for your car odds are you made sure your car looked good? The exterior of a car matters to owners as well as the performance. One of the things most buyers look at is the car’s front grille. The market is flooded with many different types of grills. Many cars even have signature grille designs that have become iconic. The fact is many of us don’t even know why cars have grills in the first place. The following discussion is a dive into the phenomenon of this intriguing exterior car accessory.

Purpose Of Car Grills

Even though most of us think that grills are mainly an exterior auto car par part it’s not entirely true. Your car’s front grille is a cooling mechanism for combustion engine based cars. This car part helps cool down your car’s engine especially the radiator. Air flow through to the engine compartment is mandatory as the engine might overheat otherwise.

In modern cars, the cooling systems have been updated and enough air goes in through the vents and the liquid cooling system has also been upgraded. This may mean that cars can do without the front grille. But the most efficient way to deliver air and to maintain great airflow is through the front. This is why manufacturers didn’t remove it. Having said all that manufacturers found out very early that the car’s front grille defines the style of the car and they have played to it perfectly.

Grille Evolution

Grilles come in all shapes and sizes. Some are too bizarre to even talk about. But one thing is for sure, the evolution of the simple car auto part has been nothing short of amazing. The earliest cars looked a lot like horse carriages. When car technology evolved and performance along with it people needed to find a way to keep the engine cool. Hence, the grilles were introduced.

The VW Bug or Beetle didn’t have a grille at the front even though almost all other cars did at the time. One of the main types of car that used grilles to the fullest was American muscle cars. Their high-performance engines would overheat and breakdown if it were not for the grille designs improving air flow.

Modern cars though are utilizing aerodynamic technology that will close some of the gratings on the grilles. This idea means that when the car moves at very high speeds the drag and friction will be reduced significantly providing a much smoother driving experience. Other cars have taken a different approach to the grille. Cars like the Chevy Camaro has specialized grills and airflow slits that make the car more dynamic while still retaining its functionality. These trims make sure that the car stays on track with control while also making sure the radiator doesn’t overheat.

So you see that the grills are still an important car auto part and very much a part of the automotive collective. Besides, they look cool and are getting cooler every year.