JATLIFE

Hi there, I just took my 06 IS to the shop today (wife got backed into on the one day she was drove it... ugh). Front end damange, needs a new hood, grille, bumper, etc. I am desperately trying to black out the chrome grille area around the Lexus badge. I've seen it on some IS's on here but can't, for the life of me, figure out how they did it... whether they ordered it online or not.

I talked to the body shop guy and he told me even if he sanded it down and painted it, it would eventually chip and possibly start bubbling. Any ideas?

I have a black IS250, black leather, spoiler, navi, black mrr gt1 19's w polished lip, tint, lowered... I wanted to black out the grille and then the lexus badge up front... and if i do that I'd probably black out the rear badges as well... but i dont want them turning to **** after a while... I drive a lot (95K)... Anyway, any/all advice/feedback is greatly appreciated... just need to get some answers since i just dropped it off today... THANKS IN ADVANCE!

trixxx519

iTrader: (14)

it does chip off, but according to other members they just repaint it and never had a problem since
or you go vinyl wrap it, matte blk, you can order some wrapping from aerotect

xuningshen

iTrader: (1)

it'd be really really hard to vinly wrap the actual slits on the grill, but you can vinyl wrap the chrome surround. and then same thing with the emblem, don't think you'll want to try and vinyl that so you can either paint it yourself for 20 bucks or you can buy the black pearl emblems for 300 bucks.

yea it eventually chips from being in front of your car and **** hitting it, but i've had mine for a good 8 months and its finally starting to chip noticably, so i'm going to repaint mine soon

mxis350

i been wanting to do this too.. I know theres a grill removal DIY so i got that covered. But is painting the grill this easy???


1:remove
2:sand
3: primer
4: paint

Step 4 is were i get more confused. What paint do i use? duplicolor?? and how do i know if i need a clear coat??

plusone

Usually if you are going to rattle can it. you wouln't need clear coat bc the paint is acrylic. but if you desire to have more of a glossier finish and protection then you can spray a couple coats of clear.

mxis350

hmm i think i might try this weekend...

JATLIFE

Can you give me the link for the DIY? Thanks.

I'm thinking I'm just going to bite the bullet and get it done... I'm leaning towards removing the LEXUS and IS250 from the rear... since it's black I'm hoping those tiny little holes are not noticeable... might keep the L in the back chrome though...

I was also going to change the DRL's since I hate the yellowish look... sounds like I have to go LED (I heard regular bulbs will still look yellow but not as much as stock), and I don't want to deal with flickering and all that... plus I don't have HID's so it might look odd next to it... anyway, I think I should stick to blacking out the grille/badges and going from there. Thanks for the tips.

mxis350

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...-56k-nooo.html


here see if it works. Theres a "diy paint grill" if you search too

This is a noob question.. do i need to sand only the chrome parts or also the slits???

ernestfyu

iTrader: (6)

i added a layer of clear coat after the paint. =P

HeartmyIS

iTrader: (18)

Wrap it =)

JATLIFE

Do they sell a pre-painted black grille for the IS? Since mine is cracked and I need a new one anyway, I would much rather buy it pre-painted rather than deal with sanding it down and repainting it... any ideas?

JATLIFE

http://www.sewellpartsonline.com/par....asp?id=197414

Can I just purchase this? All I need is the grille surround because that's all that cracked... can I purchase this surround and use the existing grille that I have (ie, just take out the cracked chrome surround and replace it with this)... thoughts? again, i have to buy a new one anyway because mine is cracked... THANKS!!!

HeartmyIS

iTrader: (18)

I wouldn't pay $250 for that....I know with BMW they sell the plastic kidney grills and it's about $60. $250 you can have it painted or wrapped for half that cost. Either way would look nice, I personally went with wrapping because I don't want to deal with touching up the chips.

amoney805

iTrader: (1)

The sewell grille surrounds sounds like a good option but its pricey.

JATLIFE

I'm almost definitely going to go with the Vinyl Wrap. I don't want it chipping with all the miles I drive and the Sewell one seems too pricey.

I put in another claim for a bunch of rock chips I have on the car. They are doing a ton of construction near my house and my car got nailed one day (it had chips before too though). Insurance actually covered it! Going to get most of the car re-painted. They're going to have the car around 4 damn weeks though. Ugh.