DIY blacked-out grille w/ pics

[lexusk8]

It was an unseasonably warm day here in Orlando (80 deg temps) so I decided to black out my stock grille. I went to Autozone and purchased $19 in paint supplies, including small can of Duplicolor primer spray in gray, Duplicolor acrylic enamel color spray in flat black, Duplicolor clearcoat spray and a pack of 400 grit sandpaper.





Here's the grille sanded down real good to ensure the surface stays smooth and paint-ready clean:



After 3 coats of primer (10 min drying time per coat), I did 5 coats of flat black:



I then proceeded with 3 coats of clearcoat:



After allowing the grille to dry for a good 30 minutes (the Duplicolor products are quick drying), I snapped on the Fuji emblem:





Finally I went downstairs to my condo parking space and installed the grille back on. Wow, what an amazing difference compared to what it looked before



Now:





Big thanks to ScubaSteve312 for providing the step-by-step of the prep/paint process (link here), as well as clinthammer for the instructions to remove the grille (link here). I must say that removing the grille is not as easy as it looks as the two side black clips holding the grille to the bumper are on there real tight. Fortunately I found some needle nose pliers to help me with that part, then the rest was easy. If you have any further questions or comments, post up or PM me

[CandlestickPark]

Very nice DIY. Lookin' good.

[ernie18]

i like the engine cover painted, howd you do that?

[ScubaSteve312]

looks great, whos clinthammer? i think that link is to my instructions :P

Originally Posted by ernie18

i like the engine cover painted, howd you do that?

thats how the stock sedan 03-04 cover looks

[O HELLA JDM]

nice nice

[O HELLA OEM]

Sweet

[MixturePinoy]

clean job... time to open up the headlights and put in work!

[jserman]

Sorry I totaly stole your idea......

[g35nzv]

Man!!! The CB looks really good with a black grille good job.

[louieallthetime]

daaaamn that was the first thing I did to my grille, now it's completely different custom job...good write up though

[VenomGx]

hey for those who painted there grille, did u guys have any problems with paint chipping off?

[BlueDevilBAMF]

I found some spray paint that says it bonds well to plastic... I have an extra grill and I'm lazy so I was going to try to paint without sanding or priming, just doing this one paint. Any idea if this would be viable? --- I would have no problem removing the grill to repaint it every so often.

[donricouga]

Any pictures of this done on a Black G35? I'm worried it would look too Black!

[RandomHer0]

Originally Posted by VenomGx

hey for those who painted there grille, did u guys have any problems with paint chipping off?

Yes I did this last year, I couldn't find black primer anywhere, had to use Grey. Anyways give it some time and it looks pretty ****ty...

I found this though http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip and am going to re-doit.

It's almost rubbery, hopefully more resilient than paint itself. I did a test on a piece of plastic I had, dries to a nice matte finish. The VW guys use it for their grills...

before:


after:

[68_GT]

Originally Posted by RandomHer0

I found this though http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip and am going to re-doit.

cool I may actually do this now with that product

didn't want mine to get all chipped up and continually have to re do it

also considered having it powdercoated black for the same reasons.

car done on black for whoever was asking....