Beastlik
Something I've been wondering about - while drooling over some of your grilles...
The factory grille has areas that are blocked off - intentionally reducing airflow. I'm wondering if your fully open grilles may have a negative effect on fuel mileage due to increased aerodynamic drag?
Being a big NASCAR fan, I know that they routinely tape up portions of the grille to improve aerodynamics. They are more worried about increasing the speeds - but a side benefit of being more aerodynamic would be better fuel economy.
Chevy uses a special shutter type grille on lower radiator air intake that can shut completely on the Cruze Eco when extra cooling is not needed. This reportedly increases fuel economy by .5 MPG.
The drag coefficient of the standard Cruze is .31 (really a pretty good number). Meanwhilie the Cruze Eco is .16.
Any thoughts on blocking off the same number of square inches in your custom grilles to mirror the amount of the factory unit? I would think some black plastic behind the grille would work.