Grill Surround: Paint or purchae?

I see alot of guys have colour matched grill surrounds and got rid of the chrome. Are people buying these or painting to match?

 

paint

 

Paint only because Impulse Red did not come in factory option.
I did not paint over the chrome, but bought a cheap painted one $60, took off the surround & had the toyota dealer paint only that for $90. I kept the chrome just in case the other one gets messed up or want a change.
If Toyota had made a factory impulse red, I would have certainly not gone to this trouble.
Doesn't advance edit allow you to fix the subject? That or mod can definitely fix it for ya.

 

Purchase & sell your chrome one on here or ebay for $60+

Color matched GRILLE SURROUND OEM $171.94
http://www.trdparts4u.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=-8302

 

cdn bacon

These guys have a repacement for $117 which is better than the OEM price and people on here have used them. You still have to paint it to match. But if yours is "chrome' it is a bit of work to get some 'tooth" on the chrome to get the paint to stick and keep it from chipping on the front of your truck. I have one that will be here tommorow. I got mine a lot cheaper I guess because it is a 04, got it for 64 delivered. discount body parts sells on ebay and they have a good rating 99+%

http://www.discountbodyparts.com/catalog/?N=4294962563+1725+11782&ymmsearch=true&Ntt=grille

 

Depends on your skills. I know what mine are so I bought a color-match for $220 shipped, and sold the chrome one for $115 shipped. Cost netted out to about $120.

 

I work at a body shop and painting chrome isent all that easy. it needs to be etched since its such a smooth surface and doesnt have much material to "bite" too. I would get a painted one. Or get a painted one and match it to your color if need be. just fyi. maybe someones had better results than me...

 

X2

I have painted over the plastic chrome. It is a very hard material to get paint to stick. Especially on the front of a truck exposed to gravel. Chips are very likely. It can be done but its a lot of work and a lot of surface to prep.

Thats why I am buying a new black plastic grill.

 

purchase.

I bought mine from some random dealer I found on the net for 130 shipped.

still have my stock chrome one... might feel like making up some project one day.

 

purchased.
i didn't want to take a chance on messing it up.

 

thats what im doing. too many threads showing off paint jobs that dont really look like they perfectly match.

 

found mine on ebay for 100 dollars with shipping couldn't pass that one up

 

just hit the chrome with a 180 grit and go a good job priming

 

that is because our trucks use pearl, mica and metallic paints that dont distribute well from a rattle can. Spray guns give a much better pattern for the metals in the paint.

 

I have the base model grey grill and I'm putting in a grill craft soon in a few weeks, What do you think the most a body shop will charge me to color match the grill?

 

Ask around the local car scene. Hopefully you know someone thats a ricer. I have friends that are ricers and they always find good deals. Especially on paint since they are always replacing their bodykits due to damage from them being so low. I got my chrome grill painted by the guy they use for $70 and that was him charging more since it was chrome. He works at the body shop of a very large dealership and does it "on the side" usually before or after work. Colormatched paint using the paint code and professional equipment. I'm sure you could find something similar where you are. People are always down to make money on the side... Especially right now...

 

Bought mine from trdparts4u.com.

 

have you ever personally purchased factory color matched paint?

 

Cant say that I have. Why?

 

then you would know that most retail distributors of factory color matched paint costs for than $45 per pint and $80 per quart.