so would it be better to paint to top of the emblem? or is leaving the emblem as is not that bad? I was trying to find pics so I could compare and see but haven't had much luck finding pics.

 

^^ i say leave the emblem chrome. it gives the grill a nice contrast. Painting the emblem black along with the grill is too much and you lose a nice little touch in the center IMO

 

I was referring to the top part of the emblem, as part of it "becomes" part of the grill once you snap it back in. I would definitely leave the front face and edges of it as-is, to give it that contrast. I didn't know if by leaving it chrome is would create an odd looking gap where the grill is all black and then you have a break where its chrome because that part of the grill is really a piece from the emblem.

Hopefully I made sense.

 

Ohh. LOL. My bad. I misunderstood ya. Yeah a lot of people paint that part, myself being lazy to tape it off didn't and i really can't tell. Might go back later and do it who knows. lol.
Mine doesn't look any better or worse though without it painted IMO. Others may beg to differ.

 

i like leaving the whole emblem chrome imo. ill take pics of it tomorrow when theres light o.O lol

if you want it?

 

yeah post up! I'd like to see pics to get an idea. of how it looks! I agree that it might not make a difference but was curious to see one done. Im working on dimounting my grill as we speak and then ill begin prepping it. Thanks for the input!

 

i left the front chrome and painted the sides... i thought it looked a little funny leaving the sides chrome when the grille is black..

i used lacquer paint... about 2 coats primer, 5coats paint with 3 coats clear.. i sanded between coats so i'm estimating the actual number of layers.. it looked pretty good but i got caught behind a truck carrying some gravel and my whole grille is all pitted now. funny thing is that infiniti paint didn't really take as much of a beating as the lacquer spray paint.. i'm considering using enamel in the spring when i repaint the grille..

 

got my grill off and sanded down a bit. Used some aircraft remover and some light sanding and got it pretty smooth. Bought some rustoleum primer and gloss paint. And going to try the duplicolor vehicle clear coats, since this seems to be a good clear to use according to other posts Ive read on painting with a spray can. If the weather is good tomorrow ill get to work on priming/painting. We'll see how it goes!

 

Hmm... the black grill on OB looks pretty sick. I really wanna do this to my G, but I only plan on keeping the car for another year or so... do you guys think painting the grill will hurt the car's resale value?

 

I don't think it would. As long as you do a good job with it then it should look like it came stock. I'm sure someone would trade you a stock grill when it comes time to sell.

 

Alright, I didn't feel like creating a whole other thread for this, so I'll just post it here.

Im going to start from the removal process and cover as much as I can of what I did up 'till installation. You can click the images to enlarge. This was for an '06 Coupe. Main work was done in my garage.


My Supplies
1) Primer, paint, clearcoat. Pics of what I used below.
2) Sandpaper (I used 150, 400, 800 and 1500 grit)
3) Rags and cleaning solution (I used denatured alcohol and a couple old t-shirts since they are great about not leaving any lint around). Acetone would work for the initial cleaning but not later as it could remove paint or primer.
4) Disposable gloves (optional but very helpful to not get your hands a mess)
5) A fan (Also optional but it helps reduce drying times a bit)

I had a small climate reader laying around so I used it to let me know approximate temps and humidity level. Being winter I didn't want to paint if it was too cold or too humid. I tried to paint with temps over 65°F and with humidity under 60-65%.


Removal
1) Pop the hood.
2) Remove the emblem. This is super easy just put the 2 tabs behind and push out towards you (I left the emblem intact as it comes).
3) There are 4 black clips on the top of the grill. Use a small flat head to pop them off.
4) There is another "clip" on the top right and left of the grill. See pic below. Using a small flat head you can turn the clips until the clip's shape lines up with the cutout in the grill (I best describe it as fitting the diamond into a square), then pull lightly. The left one turns CCW and the right one turns CW.


5) Along the bottom of the grill there are 4 tabs. See pic below. You have to push UP on the middle of the clip and push the grill out towards you. I started from the left and worked my way accross the grill. If your hands are too big and your finger doesn't fit down to push up on the clip, you can use a screw driver to get in there. Don't be too rough because I get the feeling the clips are somewhat flimpsy and could break with excessive pressure. I was able to do it with my hands and didn't need to use too much force.



Prep-Work
I had some aircraft remover laying around so I applied it to the grill using a brush to remove the top layer of paint/material from the grill. I applied it and let it sit for about 20 minutes, then washed it out thoroughly with water.

If you don't have aircraft remover it's fine you can begin right away with sanding the grill. I used 150 grit sandpaper I had laying around. You could probably get away with anything from 100-150(maybe even 220) to be effective and not take a too long. I tried the 320 grit but I don't think I was making much progress so I went down a few levels.

I sanded enough to scuff up the grill really well but not enough to get to the gray portion as some pics Ive seen on here. I didn't feel it was necessary since primer sticks to whatever paint is on there. DO NOT apply aircraft remover if you've already sanded down the grill, I applied to a small piece as a test on a hidden area of the grill and the remover was deforming/eating the plastic, that's very strong stuff! So if you're going to use it ONLY apply it at the very beginning.

After the sanding was complete I washed the grill with water, and after drying thoroughly I used a rag(old t-shirt) and denatured alcohol to clean it and get all the grease off of it.


Painting Process
You can setup a spot on the floor but be sure that dust cant be kicked onto it and/or if you're using a fan (I used one all throughout), the fan won't sweep dust from the floor onto the grill. I had a small foldable table I covered up and sat my grill on in order to paint and be able to apply a fan on it.

I began by applying 2 coats of primer waiting about 8-10 minutes between coats(using a fan to help). My intention was to apply 4 coats, but after #2 I decided to do some light wetsanding. I used 400 grit (800 could work too). Before sanding, I let the primer dry for about an hour and a half to ensure it was dry and had stuck. I almost didn't sand but it actually ended up being a pretty clever move as it allowed me to see where I had left some edges and corners without initial prep-sanding(or maybe primer hadn't dried there). The primer came right off as I started sanding on those places, so then I went in and sanded those areas well and reapplied primer there. Luckily they were very minor areas I had missed.

Tip: If you happen to lose some primer when sanding, and you now have a hole, don't take the approach of just priming to cover it up, because it really isn't going to make the hole go away since you're filling up the whole and at the same time adding more layers of primer to its surroundings. What you have to do is prime the area a bit focusing on the hole, then when it dries, sand the area focusing on the surroundings of the hole. Then repeat this process as many times as you feel necessary and you will see the primer even itself out and the hole dissappear!

After sanding I washed, dried, and again went over the grill with the alcohol and rag to clean the grill from oil, etc.

I then applied 2 more coats of primer and again let it sit for about an hour.

After drying, I wetsanded(800 grit this time) to get it ready to apply the color coats. Sand, wash, dry, clean. Primed grill below.



The color paint process was very similar to the priming process. I started by applying 3 medium coats of black and waiting about 10-15 minutes in between each application. After the 3 applications, I let it dry for about 2 hours and wetsanded(1500 grit) the grill to even out what was already there.
Then I washed, dried, cleaned, and applied 3 more lighter coats, again waiting about 10-15 minutes between coats.

Tip: If you spray too much in one area and your paint runs(you'll know), just finish up your coat, wait till it dries, and sand down the area to even it out, and continue with your other coats. Painted grill below.



For the clearcoat, I wanted to make extra sure that the paint was dry, so after my last coat of paint, I let it sit overnight and picked back up the next morning/noon. I first cleaned it with the alcohol and rag just in case any lint or oil had gotten on it, and then began applying the clearcoat. I applied 5 coats, waiting about 6-8 minutes between coats. I then let it dry about 2 hours.

At this point you can install the grill back on the car if you'd like, but that's not what I did. After drying, you may feel some small roughness as you run your hand through parts of the grill. This will come out with polishing compound, but be sure the clear has COMPLETELY cured before applying it.

After letting the grill completely cure for about 36 hours, I had some turtle wax polishing compound (available at any auto parts store) and applied it to the grill. It smoothened it out very well. Then I followed it up with some wax for protection (I used Nu Finish).


Installation
Installation is almost the exact same process in reverse of the removal with one difference that makes it easier. The clips that were removed in step 4 should have been left dangling on the car. Remove them from the car and install them on the grill. Then the grill should just snap right back into place.
Below are pics of my finished product.

I can say the color doesn't match exactly but from a standard viewing angle you can't tell AT ALL. You would have to be about a 10-12 inches within distance to be able to kinda tell, so im happy as it is. I'll try to post a real close up pic later on. You could always search around or call the dealership to ask for the paint code of OB, then get the exact paint, but I didn't bother with that.


I have done minor paint jobs before and consider myself a total noob when it comes to it since I don't do this everyday. The above may be right or may be wrong, but it was my way of doing it, so Im sharing it. I think it's quite easy if you take your time and do everything correctly in order to save you extra rework time later on. Hope this helps. I'll post after a while on the progress/condition of my grill.

 

^^ Nice job!

 

nice - thanks!

 

Nice work!

For people that have tried this already, if your paint looks very close to the OB, what make of paint did you use?

 

Does anyone have a picture of there DG coupe with a blacked out grill? Just wondering if I hould attempt to paint my grill.