Painting your Grille, how do they hold up?

[Yukonboy03]

I am debating on replacing the plastic "chrome" grille on my Yukon with either a paintable one, to match it, or a new chrome one. If painted ones do well with chips and all, I would prefer to go that route. Anyone with personal experience, please chime in

thanks,
John

 

[thehoe92]

here's my process that has worked so far with no chips and flakes what so ever

take a sander and just start sanding away at the chrome
you aren't necessarily sanding off the chrome as you are making the surface smooth
get some grease and tar remover and spray it all over the grille and let it drip off.. it evaporates so there is no need to wipe it and risk getting dirt on the grille

now take a can of Bulldog Adhesion Promotor and spray the grille, do a light coat first then wait about 15 minutes and come back and do a heavier coat

after the second coat has time to tack up get a can of self-etching primer and spray that
this is the most important step to getting the paint to stick so do as many coats as you feel necessary

it also is a good base because it will fill any imperfections you may have on your grille

then after that dries get some ordinary automotive primer and spray that down as this will be the base for your paint to stick to

then grab your body color (I prefer the clear coat to be mixed in with the body color just so I can skip a step) and start spraying


there is my grille before and after

only problem is the body color turned out a little bit darker because I have 7 year old paint

I just need to do my bumper next.. the tricky part will be the textured plastic

 

[highrollin113]

kasey, just the person i was looking for, i am in the process of painting my grill right now so this thread is perfect, but i have the same rims as you and i am painting them too is it similar process? also is the bumper the same as grill?


john i will be taking pics and letting you know how it turns out

 

[Tahoewhat]

kasey, in that pic looks like your bumper is painted, the textured? is it? Ive got everything painted, except the lower valance, friend that owns body shop, said he wont paint my valnace??? said it will just chip and look bad and leave it gray, but it stands out to much now being all black... Ive seen many threads about painting it yourself. I dont mind the textured, think it might help deflect chips, but whats a good process for doing that? or anyone thats done it.


Sorry op, dont mean to hi jack.... maybe this will help also.. idk

 

[puckhead]

Give it a go and see how you like it! I did mine, no where near as good kasey, in red. Not sure if I like it so when I get around to it I am doing it how Kasey did. Probably in black

 

[highrollin113]

ya sorry,i didn't mean to jack either, i think kasey's process should work on the textured part aswell though, im lucky being spirral grey i dont think mine will stick out as much
its my rims i am worried about chipping on

 

[killer20072001]

I did mine like Kasey.

Scuffed it up with some 600 grit, sprayed adhesion promoter, self etching primer, sand primer, paint and clear. Mine has eaten plenty of rocks and i use the brush at the car wash all the time.

---------- Post added at 02:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:05 AM ----------

http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16948

 

[thehoe92]

the way I am going to try the textured paint is an experiment so if you want me to be a guinea pig wait for me to do it

first I'll start by stripping all the cheap ass rattle can paint off then I will lightly sand the plastic
the trick is to not sand too much and get it smooth just with sanding because then the plastic will become to thin and its really easy to sand more in one area so it won't look good

just make sure to sand evenly

next, and I forgot to add in my last post, I think the most important step that I used to always over look is cleaning the surface
my paint supply shop carries grease and tar remover in a bottle and I just poured it in a spray bottle so it was easier than using with a towel

use it heavily, if you just lightly spray it on the dirt will just sit on the surface, if you spray a lot then the dirt will drip off as the tar remover does

next after it dries/evaporates I'll put the adhesion promotor on
then after that I'm going to try filler primer which will be the key in getting it smooth

a couple light coats then let it dry for a while
wet sand with 1000-2000 to get a smoother look

then some heavier coats to fill in any imperfections then wet sand again after it dries

after that regular automotive primer and the base coat then clear coat

I'm thinking that process will work the best because from experience if you just start spraying the plastic it WILL chip and it will show the textured plastic underneath

now the bumper.. it should be the same process as the grille just sand it down with a high grit to get it smooth.. and also I forgot to add, like I said you aren't sanding the chrome off but you are dulling it so that the surface is blemished so the paint can stick

around next week some time I'll be getting a nice little check and I'll go pick up some more paint so my front end can finally be painted legit

I remember when I first painted my grill in body color I wondered why I waited so long to do it because it looks SO much better!!

found some better pictures

and yes I know the turn signals look like shit in those pictures but they got cleaned up real nice

 

[Yukonboy03]

thanks for the replies fellas.

ain't scared now

 

[Danny_c]

Hey Kasey,

I am in the process of painting my front bumper and lower valance as well. The bumper i am going to be painting came off a Z71 tahoe the the bumper cap is already painted for me. It seems like both of us are going to be using the same process (layers and layers of high build primer). What kind of primer are you using? I am going to be using the Omni mpm 828? I should start on it this weekend. Will post try to post pics of the step by step process. The bad thing is that both of my guns are equipped with small tips (1.4 and 1.3). So im hoping i can get a 1.8 tip by the end of the week or my project will be cancelled.

 

[anthonyc]

painted grill here, no problems what so ever

 

[highrollin113]

well i am on the self etching primer step right now of painting my grill, got to let it sit 2 hours then sand afew spots and then reg primer then paint and clear, so far kasey's steps have been very productive, cant wait to do my rims and bumpers next. i will post pics ehn im done each part

 

[Yukonboy03]

painted grill here, no problems what so ever

that looks great man. It was just that I saw a late model Tahoe with chips all over the color matched grille and it had me a bit apprehensive. I guess it was a rattle can job or a lack of clear

 

[Max]

Mine is holding up pretty well, the shell has some chips but that is to be expected in colorado without a clearbra. I have to say my grill hasn't had any issues and was absolutely worth the extra loot over the standard billet or mesh.

 

[thehoe92]

clear goes a LONG way trust me
if you don't clear and bugs get on it especially with black paint and then you let them bake in the sun forget about getting them off

 

[highrollin113]

so for those interested heres the pics from my painting my grill
the degreaser and cleaner

The adhesion promoter and self etching primer

then reg primer, paint, and clear coat

so i cleaned it sanded it with 400 then followed the rest of the steps
self etching

primer

paint

then some pics of it installed

 

[killer20072001]

That is one clean grill on a dirty yukon.lol thats how mine was. looks good

 

[Big Tap]

I went and bought a Z71 grill and just had it painted to match. I wanna say I was able to get it for under $100. I had mine professionally painted, but had him put a thicker clear coat on this and my SS bumper. So far the grill has held up pretty descent.

 

[warrlac]

Painted Valance

I used Krylon FLEX to paint the grey valance on my Tahoe. Used alcohol to clean off the wax and grease.

I Just painted it.

 

[highrollin113]

looks good! did you paint your bumper too?