Do most people remove the grill from the bumper and paint it away from the vehicle? If so, how do you remove the grill? In addition, what's the most popular paint used to paint the grill. Finally, I read that the emblem pops out of the grill to make it easier for paint. Can anyone confirm this and if so, how does it pop out?

Thanks for the help with my vacation project!

 

The grille isnt that hard to remove its like 4 pins on the top and the i think 6 clips that attach it to the bumper cover . The bottom ones can be a little bit of a pain but you just push the clip down and start to pull it then move on to the next and so on dont be afraid touse a little umph.

 

I took the grille off, sanded down the shiny bits, primer, paint, clear, wetsand with 1500/2000, used my DA to buff and then polish.

 

Konsole, what kind of paint did you use?

 

I used the Dupli-Color sandable primer, dupli color engine enamel (but you can use the normal kind, i just had some sitting around) and Duplicolor clear coat (of the same type as the color coat, so in my case i used engine enamel clear)


Spray on decently thick coats if you use spray cans. You will still get some texture. The only way I could make it look really good, flat and shiny was by using my 7424 (DA) and some medium cut compound after wetsanding. I then finished it off by hand using some polish.


I was looking at this DIY (https://g35driver.com/forums/body-interior-exterior-lighting-diy/140421-budget-modding-101-diy-photoshoot-inside-painting-oem-wheels.html) which is about painting wheels.. well... I tried painting a set of stock 17" oem rims like this. The color came out ok after wetsanding but the clear looked like ***. I think it was too cold.

It would be a pain to get them really flat (no orange peel) using spray cans. This DIY doesnt talk about wetsanding or polishing.. i think they just put the paint on thick and left it.. but that looks like *** IMO.

I am having a body shop re-paint them for me. Ive spent like 10 hours at the shop doing prep work and its a pain.


The grille however, turned out well.

 

just for kicks, here is another shot:

 

Thanks for the tips and the link. I hope to have mine looking that good by week's end. I'll keep you posted.

 

marty let me know how it comes out i think im going to do it too. im doint it black i did my center consule but i wasnt really happy with it..... going to try one more time before i take everything to a body shop..... and just pay for it... if it doesnt come out good this time...

 

Taking the G on a road trip tomorrow through Saturday. Should be able to knock out the project either on Sunday or Wednesday. I'll be sure to take pics and post them up once I'm done.

 

ok that guide posted above (the screenshot) is what I tried to use when removing my stock grill for the ebay grill. Wrong - the guide didn't work much

1. Remove the 4 black pins on top.
2. Next there are two more black pins holding the grill onto the bumper - remove them.

3. Once you removed all 6 clips, you can pull the grill forward a bit and see on the top left and right two black squarish clips holding the grill. You have to stick a screw driver (flat head) in the clip, twist the screw driver and with some force pull the grill out. You are successful when you remove the clip completely and it doesn't go back in unless you push it. Remove both clips.

4. You have to squeeze your hand behind the grill and look for 4 (2 on left, 2 on right) slots which have a clip. What I did was pinch these clips and pull the grill. It will hurt your finger a bit but I removed all 4.

It took me approx 45mins to figure all this out.

If you need pics of the clips on the old grill let me know - I will take some in the morning.

Note: You DO NOT need to break the clips. I was going to resort to this out of frustration but took a break and came back and figured it out.

 

You are correct, the service manual isnt correct for some reason.

That screen shot is from the 2006 sedan manual.

 

actually that screenshot (service guide) is from the 2005 manual.

 

could you please put some pics up... thanks!