NEWS FLASH! NEWS FLASH!
I got tired of having to rechrome my surround so I bit the bullet and picked up one at the junkyard off a '93 Eldo that was chromed from the factory.
I figure if its 16 years old and still looks good what the hell (o.k. it does have two minor blemishes, but its 16 years old!) The 91-95 surround is a little different from the 96-02 surround. The 93 I picked up has three differences that I've found: a) the edge on the top of the surround is sharper, more angle than curve on the 93; b) there are no support struts behind the grille like on my 96; and c) the sides of the 93 are reinforced with a metal plate riveted to the inside for strength (I guess by 96 they figured that wasn't enough so they added the rear struts). So I gut it out with my trusty hacksaw and then smooth down the inner edges with a sander. Take off my original surround, dismantle the wire mesh insert and guess what. I doesn't fit! The opening on the 93 is wider and more square than my 96, so since I can't reuse my insert its off to eBay to find another.
Unfortunately for me the only CTS-V grilles on eBay for over 9 weeks are cheap, crappy, knock-offs and expensive new OEM replacements. I had to keep telling myself, "Be patient, eBay will provide." And lo and behold, an XLR-V grille gets listed at a ridiculously low starting bid. Now the XLR is much different from the CTS so I had to sneak into my local dealership with my 93 surround to check if the XLR inset would fit. Didn't have much time so I couldn't take measurements, but it looked close: definitely wide enough but the height on both ends was going to be close. So I bought the one off eBay for $52, what the heck.
When I received the XLR-V grille I realized why it was so cheap - it was damaged on one end, but for my purposes it was salvageable.
The rest of the story is pretty much the same as before: cut, cut, test-fit; cut, bend, test-fit; cut, bleed, test-fit; cut, burn, test-fit; bend, bleed, test-fit; bend, bandage, butter, mount. Without the rear supports the XLR inset has to also provide some strength, so I bolted it to the surround with 12 stainless steel screw/bolt (twice as many as the previous build).
So what do you think of the finished product.
I'm torn as to what to do with the other one. The surround is horrid and for $130 I could get it rechromed and just use it for Car Shows. Or I could sell the set for a couple hundre as is or $400 or more when rechromed, but I'd hate to see it end up on some old beatup lowrider or worse. I really prefer the flow of the 96 over the 93, but in time I'm sure I'll get used to it.
