so im thinking about painting my grill(s). perhaps maybe a gloss black instead of the stock dull looking black color they are. my car is sport tint red

just wondering what people think of this idea. think it'll look good?

also, i know some people have done it. does anyone know what kind of prep work might be involved in this. its not a very smooth surface to start with so i was kind of worried about the paint chipping off if i don't do a great prep job on it. any ideas?

 

I've already done it. Looks Much better and not that cheap gray plastic look.

bad pic, I have a better one with the SLR (plus the car is kinda dirty):

 

gloss black would def look sweet. i plan on doing mine sometime when i get unlazy. as far as prep i'd say probably just clean them well with soap and water, then give it some adhesion promoter, then paint, and clear. that should do the trick.

 

I sand blasted mine then used a plastic promoter for paint. professional spray gun and then clear.

 

ive been trying to get around to this too. are they easy to take out? should i worry about breaking any clips or anything?

why sand blast plastic? haha

 

it was done on light pressure, just to get rid of all excess "gloss" on the plastic and create a rougher surface for the paint.

I would recommend taking off the bumper to take it out for ease of access to the grill tabs. Take literally 10 minutes to take off by yourself..

 

thanks for the advice and pics. i think im gonna do it. i agree with all of you, i think it will look a lot better

 

taking the bumper off is a pain in the ass, just mask off the whole front of the car

 

yea listen to wanted, i painted mine twice, i just used some 600 grit sandpaper, and a red scotch bright to scuff it up, plastic adhesion promotor, then base/clear, but do the same steps n rattle can it if thats what you gotta do. And I would take it out, you can take it out with the bumper attached pretty easily though, remove the bowtie, then reach behind it and use common sense to remove it

 

thanks man. im gonna do it. i might hit u up when i do if i have any questions if thats ok. you helped my big time with my bov and im sure u will be able to help with this. thanks again. btw, i really want that DP you are selling. just don't know what i'd be able to offer right now. good luck with it

 

good then we can do mine too and remove my lower grill also. you gunna do the back ones too?

 

yea man let me know i can help ya out no prob, n right now theres no offers on the downpipe but id like to make 160 from it, i feel its worth that much

 

you think? 2 screws on each fender, a couple clips holding the grille to the crash bar and some screws for the splash shield down below (max of 6). Takes 10 mins!

 

the under the headlight bolts are a PITA to remove, i hate those suckers, even from the fender they still **** me off

 

are you talking about the bolts to the fender or the bolts to the headlight bracket>

I've never removed the bracket itself when taking off the bumper as it's not blocking anything.

Now if you're talking about getting to the fender bolt from inside the bumper through the headlight opening, then yes, that's a PITA sometimes. That's when I use my swivel sockets!

 

the bolts to the fender, n yea i use swivels too but GAH i hate the way our bumper mounts to the fender up there, plus i need to organzie my tool box cuz it takes me 15 minutes just to track down my 3/8" swivel n a 10m socket

 

You know you only need to remove 1 bolt though per fender. the rest of the bumper just slips in place!

 

oh **** i didnt know that, i take off both brackets n all. i fail

 

Yup, just remove the middle bolt. that tightens down the whole bracket to keep the bumper attached to the fenders when you slide it back into place and loosens it for removal. It's the bigger silver bolt.

I realized that after the first time I removed the bumper! look on my face and then bc I made the job so much harder than what it needed to be.