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Pulled the grill assembly out of my 2005 LS430 last weekend. I buffed and polished the chrome, buffed the grill emblem (pre-collision sensor), and painted the grill insert. I was going to go with matte black, but realized the emblem has silver stripes molded in. So, I opted for matte silver. Adds just a little more bling to the stock color pattern. Looks good with the Flint Mica color scheme.
silver grill - front view silver grill - another view
Wow, looks really sharp! Dress those tires up and you'll be in business!
Those tires were dressed a few days ago! The Santa Ana winds here in SoCal have been wreaking havoc with car care. The dust collects faster than you can blink.
I have a fully chromed grill on my 04 LS430. Bought it years ago. It is an exact copy of the OEM, except it has been chrome plated. Just bolted the OEM center logo on the grill. Looks nice on my silver car with OEM chrome wheels.
I concur with everyone with the compliments! The grill looks great!
My grill looks TERRIBLE. It has many chips on the horizontal lines of the grill 'insert'. I'm thinking I want to do something similar to what you are showing off. Care to share exactly what brand/color you used? How did you get the horizontal lines perfectly smooth if the existing paint was chipped? (Are your horizontal lines perfectly smooth?) I read you buffed the chrome surround, but what about the horizontal 'insert' lines of the grill? What about the vertical 'spacers' between the horizontal lines?...did you paint them the same with the same silver paint? Chances you could post some close-up pictures to the thread?
FYI----I thought about simply purchasing a brand new OEM grill, but the cheapest (w/o the pre-collision sensor) I could find is about $264!
Last edited by LS430inDE.; Oct 29, 2017 at 06:01 PM.
I dug the paint out. It is technically not silver, it is a satin nickel. It's a Krylon paint, from their Brushed Metallic series. I am pretty sure I got it at Ace Hardware. I painted the front surfaces of the grill insert completely (including the vertical spacer bars), with no masking. I did some light sanding before painting, to smooth out the chips. Then, wipe it down with lacquer thinner to clean the dust and etch the existing the paint for better adhesion. Also, one technique I use is to spray very lighty, several coats, with each coat basically being a mist. This way the paint dries with more of a texture, instead of flowing into a smooth coat.
For the grill emblem, I did not paint it at all. I removed it before painting the grill, and then buffed the front face with a buffing wheel. There are still some pits here and there, but much better looking than before. The inner face of the emblem has the silver horizontal lines molded in (actually in two-tone, with a bit of a shadow), so I couldn't paint those over.
I should point out that this is a low mileage car (54K miles - with the first 53K in Florida, the last 1K in San Diego) so the grill hasn't been subject to the kind of road debris seen in other parts of the country.
grill emblem detail
Last edited by designdude; Oct 31, 2017 at 03:37 PM.
Reason: correct some details
In hindsight, the only thing I might do different next time would be to experiment with a different metallic color. There are lots of metallic paints these days: satin nickel, stainless, titanium, chrome - at Ace Hardware / Home Depot / Lowes, etc, to say nothing of the specialty paints at an auto parts store, or model hobbyist specialty store. The plastic on the grill emblem is not clear, it has a smoke tint to it, which affects the color of the stripes in it. It could be hot to have the color of the grill insert match that smokey metallic. (and it might dance well with the hyperblack satin finish on the 5-spoke rims).
Last edited by designdude; Oct 31, 2017 at 03:34 PM.
Here is an angled view of the grill emblem. It shows te smokey tint, and the two tones of the silver lines that are molded in on the back surface.
grill emblem - angled view
I dug the paint out. It is technically not silver, it is a satin nickel. It's a Krylon paint, from their Brushed Metallic series. I am pretty sure I got it at Ace Hardware. I painted the front surfaces of the grill insert completely (including the vertical spacer bars), with no masking. I did some light sanding before painting, to smooth out the chips. Then, wipe it down with lacquer thinner to clean the dust and etch the existing the paint for better adhesion. Also, one technique I use is to spray very lighty, several coats, with each coat basically being a mist. This way the paint dries with more of a texture, instead of flowing into a smooth coat.
For the grill emblem, I did not paint it at all. I removed it before painting the grill, and then buffed the front face with a buffing wheel. There are still some pits here and there, but much better looking than before. The inner face of the emblem has the silver horizontal lines molded in (actually in two-tone, with a bit of a shadow), so I couldn't paint those over.
I should point out that this is a low mileage car (54K miles - with the first 53K in Florida, the last 1K in San Diego) so the grill hasn't been subject to the kind of road debris seen in other parts of the country.
grill emblem detail
Holy cow, now that's the info I'm talking about! Detailed enough instructions for an idiot like me to understand, who failed fingerpainting in kindergarten!!! Aweseome write-up! Next time I'm in HD, I'm going to spend some time in their spray paint aisle!!! Thanks for the motivation to do this myself!!!!!!!!! I'll post before and after pics, but I'm afraid they'll be sub-par to your awesome paint job!!! (It's going to be a while before I do this, it's getting cold in the northeast!) Thanks again for the awesome details!!!
Last edited by LS430inDE.; Oct 31, 2017 at 06:05 PM.
Reason: forgot to close parenthesis
May I ask how did you clean the chrome part? I know steel wool is too rough did you just use polish and by hand or machine, like a DA? Thanks, your grill looks great !
I have a small bench top motor with various buffing wheels. I used that with some buffing paste, and also a little hand polishing using a product called never dull.
Very cool! I need to do the same. I've seen others on here go with satin black but I like the silver for this model LS better. I need to do this to my car soon. Guess I need to start looking for some paint colors.
painted my grill - silver!
Aweseome write-up! Next time I'm in HD, I'm going to spend some time in their spray paint aisle!!! Thanks for the motivation to do this myself!!!!!!!!! I'll post before and after pics, but I'm afraid they'll be sub-par to your awesome paint job!!! (It's going to be a while before I do this, it's getting cold in the northeast!) 
