Removing Chrome Grille Shell

Hello all, I just bought my first Tacoma (used) this past Saturday. It's a 2005 TRD SR5. It's kind of a graduation present to myself for when I graduate as a mechanical engineer in April (I will be driving it as of this upcoming Saturday though).

However, being a fresh graduate I've tied up what extra finances I had in purchasing this truck. I am not a big fan of chrome and would like to get rid of it from the front on my truck. Does anyone know/have an either chrome or black grille shell they would be interesting in parting with for not very much? If not, does anyone have any suggestions on the best method of painting the current chrome shell to black? I figured because it's plastic I could just sand it down and spray paint then clear coat it, but I've been talking to some friends who advise against doing that. Any suggestions?

I would only be looking for a spare chrome grille for if I decide to just go ahead and paint the current one and I mess it up.

 

Sand it down pretty good, get some adhesion promoter and spray a coat of that, then primer, promoter and primer again, a couple coats of paint, a couple thin coats of clear, then a heavy coat of clear

 

Plasti dip.

 

I did this and it worked very well.

 

X3 If you do it right, it will hold up well, and its easy to repair or go back. Cheap fix till you can get something you really like.

 

I dipped mine for two months before I got a color matched one. Looked great

 

Does the use of the plasti dip require sanding all the other work? I'm looking at the product on home depot's site and it doesn't specify.

Is plasti grip also something that could work for coating the skid plates? And the rims while I'm at it?

 

No sanding. Just clean well and light coats. That's the benefit, you can peel it off to return to original. I don't know how well it will hold up on skids. People have had success on wheels though.

 

I did my center caps on my wheels 2 years ago thats been holding up good. I also did the lower part of my front bumper at the same time thats a little beat up but still looks ok. You will get little tears from rocks and bugs hitting it but its very easy to touch up.

 

This
Dip is not impervious to chips scratches Ect but it touches up easy. Helps up on my wheels and bumpers.
I also did my chrome rear bumper about the months ago

 

When you guys did it which Plasti Dip product do you use? I've seen that they carry a whole variety of ways to apply, from spray paint to airbrushing. I would be interested in using the spray paint ( http://www.homedepot.ca/product/plasti-dip-aerosol-black-311-gram/997308 ), is this the product you have experience with?

 

Yep. Rattle can is the way to go.

 

Thanks for the advice guys! I just ordered some plasti dip as Home Depot says they are online order only. Plus I don't pick up my truck till tomorrow morning anyways. I will post some pictures after I get it all painted up. Thanks again!

 

I used the spray cans as well the one thing I liked the most about the dip is that it can come off if you don't like it. I forgot to put that I dipped my rear chrome bumper too. I like the black look so much that I took the rear bumper off over the summer pealed the dip off and bedlinered it black for a stronger finish. I tend to back into bushes alot the dip held up good but had a few tears.

 

Here's mine. Done using the rattle can. Clean it good and it'll last a long time. Had a few stone chips over time and just got the can back out and touched it up. Easy peasy. Good luck!

 

For future reference, you can usually find it at Walmart as well.

I dipped my badges a few weeks ago, looks great. Going to do the rear bumper once it warms up a bit.

 

It's more expensive at Walmart. Like 6 bucks a can at homer and 7.20 at Wally.

 

The plasti dip arrived much faster than I had anticipated. I painted the grill and bumper after I finished my classes for the day. It looks fantastic. I did find however that it works a lot better when it is a warmer environment (5 Deg C in the garage vs 15 Deg C in the basement. I plan on doing the rims and decals as well but probably in the spring if it ever rolls around in Southern Ontario. Not worth cleaning the whole truck up to paint when it's just going to get covered in the salt residue the next time it leaves the driveway.

Grill Before


After

 

I don't get why people hate chrome so much... My chrome grill looks awesome IMO. Fits with chromed headlights.

 

True enough, I intend on installing some projector head lights once I've graduated and start making money (I don't have any student debts so nothing to pay off, and work lined up). I was going to go with the black background projector headlights. The chrome just looks to flashy for me, and the matte black is a little more subtle. To each his own though, if we all did the same things to our trucks they wouldn't be very interesting to look at.