I read somewhere that early HHR's had no protection on the radiator and the radiator was prone to holes from road objects and then BLAMO!!! overheating. I took delivery of my car today and thats the first area i looked at only to notice that the only "protection" is a peice of plastic that still exposes the fins of the radiator to plastic as it is a cover with holes in it more or less.. Guess I was looking for like a Plate or something covering it. Is that really all there is? Or am i missing a peice?

 

Nope you got all there is.. The plastic was an afterthought & only started coming in IIRC ? 08 & newer.

I added some gutter guard mesh..
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/show...er+guard+grill

 

wow.. That just doesnt seem like it would totally take out that potential disaster.. Hope im wrong

 

Most of the problems I remember reading about on here were the A/C compressor housing getting damaged and not the radiator. I don't recall any threads where anyone with the piece of plastic installed had the compressor hit with a rock and damaged.

 

Would have been nice if they gave us a free lower billet grill, but the piece of plastic is all they went with. Minimum cost, minimum protection.

 

Pit is right. It is the AC compressor that is at risk.

The best mod for your buck is the gutter guard that sleeper has linked.

 

Haven't had any issues with mine, and I drive mine daily working in a railyard with a dirt/gravel access road

 

It would be a good idea to add the "gutter guard"..... I haven't yet but will

 

Apparently, you can add either the plastic guard, or a lower billet grille. I opted for the grille. From what I have heard (and I admit my ignorance), doing both is redundant.

 

Installed the gutter mesh on mine. Judging my the massive amount of bugs and debris that I routinely clean off of it, I would say it's definitely good at protecting the exposed parts. Cheap to do, actually looks pretty good and does the job.