Hi everyone

So, once the Spring time is here, I plan to paint my front grill. It's a non F-Sport...so it's the gray, non-spindle grill. My initial thought was just replace it with the F-Sport grill, but before dropping $800 for one, I'd be curious to see what the base grill would look like in black.
I had first thought about wrapping it, but I don't think it would lend itself well, due to the vertical bars and complex curves around the emblem area.
I'd like to paint it a gloss black or gloss metallic black.
Any suggestions for best aerosol/spray can type paint for this DIY project?

Also, if anyone has painted/wrapped this same grill, I'd luv to see pics of it.

Thanks in advance!

 

So, funny enough, I was in the same boat as you. I had the base model grille, and swapped it for the fsport grille, but i still needed to paint the chrome trim that surrounds it. I had it painted, was good for about a year and a track day before the paint chips became unbareable, and it needed to be resprayed. I'm actually in the process of respraying as I write this. I have found the most success in using a plastic primer/filler aerosol spray. This works best after sanding down the surface youre going to paint. I would suggest using something like 600-800 grit. After this, I did 1 light coat, 1 medium coat, and finally one heavier coat. After this, I let the primer cure for 24 hours, before spraying my base coat. I did about 5 coats of black enamel coating spray paint, first layer being light, following layers being light-moderate. The paint is now curing, getting ready for clear, which I will apply tonight. Last step is the clear coat. I am using some automotive grade clearcoat, in half size spray cans. Always start light, but I would do about 3-4 coats of clear. Before spraying anything aerosol, put the can in warm water, then shake for about a minute. Spray comes out a lot more consistently.

 

Very nice...good luck with your paint job!
Thanks for the information...I'll use that as a quide when I begin.

Any particular brand of aerosol paint that you would recommend to use for that grill?

I'm debating whether or not to remove the grille. I'm sure I can mask & cover the surrounding area well. I guess it depends on how easy(or not ) it is to remove the front bumper. lol

 

My personal 2 cents is to vinyl wrap the chrome. At some point you are going to get rid of this thing and financially it would be advantageous to be able to return the car as back to stock as possible. You can still get a really nice result with vinyl over paint.

 

Wrapping it is the way to go. If you paint it and it chips, it becomes more of a hassle trying to strip/sand that area/piece for repaint. With vinyl, it can be pulled off easily enough and redone or just simply removed if needed.

 

Not sure if I plan to wrap the chrome...for now I'd like to start with the grill itself. I'm not leasing the vehicle, I own it, but at some point, yes I will trade it in for a newer model. Thanks for the advice.

Do you think the Base Grill can easily be wrapped? Have you ever seen or wrapped one?

 

You definitely gotta remove the grille. As far as brands of paint, steer clear of duplicolor color match base coat or clear coat. Ive used aerosol paints lots of times before with success each time, and using duplicolor clearcoat I had failure. The duplicolor clear had a chemical reaction with duplicolor black and destroyed the paint.....