Ok in an effort to get more info, and to document this for the future...
I managed to remove the grill itself, and the plastic insert ring on the inside. This left me with a rubber grommet that is mounted inside... I am not sure if this is what people are saying should be pulled out or not. There is that second screw inside of this that holds a plastic mesh. I removed that, and there is a hard plastic tube inside. I don't see that being removed without the rubber part. The rubber is seemingly joined to a hard plastic section via some sort of binding/caulking. It looks like there might be a clip that is forced from the inside to the outside on the top left... I haven't tried pushing that in to get this out. I blindly tried disconnecting the rubber parts and pulling but that doesn't seem to be the way to go. There's a hole in the bottom of the rubber that seems to lead out for some sort of drainage also.
Before I start yanking or damaging anything here, I am wondering if anyone has actually -done- this on a 2003 or newer that looks like this and what they did. Worst case I learned about my car more and was able to really nicely clean my grill..heh.
Here are some pics:
Grill is out, plastic ring still clipped in... note the hole bottom left for drainage:
Grill and the plastic ring removed:
Plastic ring removed, the rubber surround remains...note there are rubber tabs clipping this in, one on top, two on bottom:
The rubber and plastic box are tied together... note the pin sticking in the top left here, I think this may be what is keeping it all "in the car".
Mesh piece unscrewed and removed from inside...
The tube itself is hard plastic, and is seeming a part of this inner box.
This all seems very different from earlier models I have seen documented. I am beginning to think this might not be worth doing?