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death to chrome grilles

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Old Jun 27, 2006 | 02:45 PM
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death to chrome grilles

i painted my front grille black the other day... the chrome surrounding it was the ONLY chrome on the car and i couldn't stand it. sorry that the pictures are so washed out, the sun was strong today.

the picture of the rear end was just because i had some body work done to fix the mistakes of the previous owner. both the front doors still need touching up thanks to him.
Attached Thumbnails death to chrome grilles-873999767_l.jpg  
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Old Jun 27, 2006 | 02:46 PM
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Looks good.
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Old Jun 27, 2006 | 03:11 PM
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Looks good, i was wondering about what i should do with my grille. Get a better quality picture, im really curious to see how yours turned out.

Because i thought about painting my chrome strip the same yellow as my (our) car.
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Old Jun 27, 2006 | 03:22 PM
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i'll take a better picture once the sun starts to go down. eventually i might replace the grille with one of the "evo" style grilles from RRM. i've seen accolade ones on ebay for like $30-40 cheaper shipped than the RRM one before shipping.
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Old Jun 27, 2006 | 03:30 PM
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Looks good! Watch out for paint chips from rocks and debris on the road :d
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Old Jun 27, 2006 | 04:35 PM
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here's one in 1024x768 up the road. i was letting my girlfriend drive it, she's learning to drive stick. she didn't want to be in the picture though.

i am going to throw some black paint on the OZ centers of the rims if it ever stops raining here. rain rain rain for days on end.

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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 07:04 AM
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Thats sick. Shiney grillz should only be in rappers mouths.
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 07:17 AM
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i wanna do that. is there a "how to" on it? if not you should make one.
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 01:44 PM
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go for the evo styke grill for sure. I have one and they look great.
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 02:55 PM
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crypto: it is as easy as removing the grille from the car by taking out six or so nuts and painting it.

if you want to get crazy there are six screws holding in the black inserts that you can remove so all you are left with to paint is the chrome. i did not notice this and painted the whole thing. the paint ended up getting ruined because i left it out on a humid night and it turned GREY--so i just repainted it.

i definitely want an evo grille... especially since the VII body kit front bumper will fit and match up with my OZ. it's going to be a little while before i can afford that stuff though. it would take significantly less time had i had the car paid off.
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 03:07 PM
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Painting grille

Originally Posted by crypto
i wanna do that. is there a "how to" on it? if not you should make one.
What I did on mine after removing it was :

1. Sand the chrome down with a rough grit sand paper being careful not to sand the diamond

2. Then followup with two more finer grit of sanding to get rid of most of the chrome so that paint would stick to the plastic. If you don't it will come off to easily

3. Applied a few passes of dark grey primer followed by a flat black engine paint. Final coat was a flat clearcoat

4. Using a medium grit sanded the paint off the diamond and then a fine grit sanding against the diamond. Gives us a brushed aluminum look to the diamond only.

5. Also painted the louvers black, but applied a different flat clearcoat that dried with a textured appearance to set it off from the outside grille border

6. Let it dry and mount. Every once in awhile I have to take my black touchup paint and hit a spot or two, but other than that it has been in place for about 6 months now with no problems.


Check out my ride pics for what it looks like.

~Barry
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 05:08 PM
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Ok, im a dumbass... i just went downstairs to get the grill so i can paint it... but i cant figure out how to take it out, i took out all nuts.. but there are 3 plastic pointy things.. i cant figure those out.. i dont want to break them.. what do i do?
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 05:18 PM
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get some pliers and apply gentile pressure to the sides of the clips that can be pushed in. ever remove your rear speaker grilles? the clips work just like those ones do.
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 07:20 PM
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Yeah! as soon as i posted i went downstairs and figured it out... its all nice and painted now. thanks
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Old Jun 28, 2006 | 07:49 PM
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you sanded the chrome off? etch primer will stick to scuffed chrome just as easy if not easier than paint to plastic. i red scotch- brited my chrome and etched and painted it and its been over 2 years and not even a rock chip. i wish i could say that for the hood....ouch
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