ysong00

im going to paint the chrome edge of my front grill black, but not sure whether to do it matte black, or matching brilliant black. any opinions?

also, anyone ever have trouble popping the grill out of the hood? im having trouble squeezing all of the clips to get the grill out. Is this normal, or is there a trick to it? Thanks.

jguthrie

it matches the rest of the plastic grill.

SnowZach

I painted mine semi-gloss black. I personally think it looks bad ***. I like a more low profile look though. Most girls I've asked say they like the chrome, all the guys say the black is much better. Girls do like shiny things though. I could give a ****. Maybe that's why I don't have a girlfriend. :-)

I'd post a pic but my webserver is busted at the moment.

Be sure to sand it good, get a good coat of some zinc-chromate primer and some nice semi-gloss or flat black. I didn't prime it and it had chips in a week. Primed it and it's been good for 6 months.

ysong00

so i need to sand all the way through the chrome first, prime, sand again, paint right?

1.8mike

I used a sand blaster to get the chrome off. When using a sand blaster the chrome will start to bubble then it can be pealed off very easily. Some small sections stuck pretty good, I didnt want to keep blasting that spot woried that the plastic would start to get eaten away. I just used a razor blade and carefully pealed it off.

Sanded it down good and I used the Krylon Fusion paint, flat black. I then used a semi gloss clear coat. It has been about 75k and still no chips or pealing.

MyaLover

I broke a couple of the clips on my OEM grill when I took it out. El Cheapo!

ysong00

so no primer?

Skizsam

Once you painting it, you will always be painting it

1.8mike

The fusion paint works really good.

I just sanded with a light grit sandpaper after all the chrome was off, and used alcohol to wipe it clean. I also used latex gloves when cleaning with alcohol so not to get any finger smudges on it. The paint probably wont stick too good to those spots that were touched by bare hands.

Like I mentioned before I have 75k miles since I did this and havent had to touch it up or do anything to it. I forget how many but I did use at least 5 coats of paint. There are a few pits/dents from stones and stuff but it doesnt go through the paint, no plastic showing. My bumper actually looks worse.

ysong00

I remember the caliper paint I used didn't need primer because it pre mixed with some kind of primer or something