Color matched grill

Hey guys. Just color matched my grill from chrome to silver and thought I’d leave this here incase anyone wanted to follow. Think it turned out pretty good but the color is very so slightly lighter. Still looks pretty nice imo.


Paint wise I used dupli color toyota silver, and dupli color clear coat.


Sanding I used 60 grit-> 120 grit-> wet sanding with 160


Let the first coat dry for about a day and then the next coats i let dry 20 minutes in between. With 40 minutes between the paint and clear.


For the silver paint I did 4-5 coats and for the clear I did 2.


I will also just ordered some mesh so the stock black will be gone. The mesh is a 11x25mm hexagon. Lmk if y’all have any questions about to painting.

 

looks way better with matching grill

 

I was going to do that, but after posting some questions about it here on the forum, I found out I could just buy one. Looks so much better than that ugly chrome grille.

 

here’s all the different stages my grill has had. reminder it’s also getting changed tomorrow. So far color match is definitely my favorite.

 

It sure does man. Color match for me would’ve bee bc too much money. I did mine for around $50 and I couldn’t find one for very cheap. Ideally I would want the silver 2011 sport grill. They’re hard to find though.

 

The color matched grille was expensive, but a guy on the forum that was reading my thread said he wanted my old grille if I wanted to sell it to him, so I did. It helped defray the cost of the color matched grille. When the new grille arrived, I put the old one in the box the new one arrived in and shipped if off.

 

how difficult was it to sand the chrome off given it's not real chrome?

 

Desert Dog. G2G here.
I'm a retired aircraft painter of 28 years.
The grill is plastic.
Wash it first.
Use a RED SCOTCHBRITE to " degloss" the finish. Take away it's shine.

The red scotchbrite can be found at auto painter stores. The red has a classified grit rating it also will help manage the contours grill when de-glossing.

Blowoff the tailngs from your Scotchbrite work, clean with alcohol and lont free clothes.

use a tack rack " gentley". Dont press the tack cloth reall hard.

Prime it with a very light coat. A gentle light coat.
Top coat it in light coats.

Your initial question was how hard was it to sand. Scuff, de-gloss. It's easy.

 

It's me G2G the painter dude.
RedScotchbrite is totally sufficient to pre- de-gloss thepkastic chrome.
Take the shine away.

I'm continuing my initial reply because I want to share a aspect of my years of painting.
Using a RedScotch Brite to do the job, we use magnification loupes. At 10x if you view your scuffing through the magnification loupe it would look like the depths of the Grand Canyon. Hence, you have created " tooth"
Paint will follow those valleys it will bite.

You do not need sand l paper. Red ScotchBrite. Gentle pressure you ain't got to scrub the shit out of it.

G2G

 

Color matched looks so much better than chrome I replaced mine with a 2011 grille and the paint doesn’t match perfectly. Its going to be like that with plastic parts. Bumper is slightly off to but im happy with it. And as long ad you like it that’s all that matters

 

Dog. I left you 2 posts on prepping the plastic grill. It solid guidance.

Now you want to Lightly prime and paint it right?
When using lay out your prepped grill to paint. Put a segment of masking tape along an edge of the grill.

Put your first easy coat of color on. Make sure you spray onto the masking tape as well.

How do you know when to apply the next coat?

Let's give the first coat let's say 15 minutes.
Now touch the tape.
If the paint smears it's still too wet..
If you paint is sticky and wants to grab your glove, it tacky. It's called TackTime.
Repeat this to your 3rd coat.always applying the next coat at Tack Time.

The paint will stay. TACK TIME.

G2G

 

I actually didn’t sand it off, just roughed it up good. Since it’s not real chrome it doesn’t need to be removed

 

It looks good man! where’d you find that grill?

 

I got it off ebay. And if you want to paint the emblem black. You definitely need to get rid of the chrome. Because it will chip off. I soaked the emblem in bleach for about a week putting new bleach in every other day. Then when it was mostly gone i used a scotch pad and razor blade and got the rest of it off. Then used adhesive promoter and three to four coats of dupliccolor gloss black . It’s been holding up for awhile now with no chips

 

Nice job. It's me the aircraft/auto painter dude. You bring up a good point - not having to remove the chrome....

Having said this. You guys that work on your rigs, other cars....
It is best practice to never remove the original primer in any of your projects.
Nothing will ever be as tight and bonded as factory primer.

But.... New fenders for example. The black.
Some are a lacquer material.... Lacquer thinner will remove it. In that case IT ALL MUST COME OFF.

The parts that go through an electro process, try wiling with lacquer thinner. If it stays, your back to doing a thorough job wit RED SCOTCHBRITE - deglossing, taking out EVERYBIT of shine.

Like the plastic chrome degloss it the SCOTCHBRITE will profile it with tooth and your finish will stick.

Good job with your grills guys/gals.

G2G

 

mind if I ask how much it costed?

 

Using finesse. Plastic emblems.
A model paint brush dipped in Acetone.
Let the excess fall off the brush.
A smooth stroke of the brush on the plastic emblem.
It will eat the plastic. Perhaps a bit of 320 grit sand paper to smooth areas a tad.
It's ready.

Dip, let it fall off the brush. Smooth swipe. Fine sand.

28 years.... of practice.

Enjoy your builds your Mods.
Make it nice, or do it twice.

G2G

 

My mistake it was Amazon

 

Tanner. You did a great job. Remember I am a 28 year Vet of spraying paint.

Silver(s)....The term " iridescence "
Silvers are simply prone "distance ". The distance from the substrate and the tip of you nozzle. The farther you are the lighter it will be...
In the painters world - ones that have done this for a while understand that. To help us dail in a match we pay attention to air pressure, speed and DISTANCE.
What we do is create a swatch panel.
Stripes painted at different PSI and distance.
There are Micro details of course, but if you air OUT on silver from a distance you will OPEN the liquid material UP. You simply cause the "mica" ( sparkle) to land, ride on top. In turn drowns out the BASE material - the black and gray.

Bro silver is tough. You did a very nice job
If, if, it bugs you. Do it again, but get closer.

It's solid advice... Not sure I can give it on this forum. If they monitor every word...

 

Thanks G2G, Really great advice here. Me -many years of rattle can experience and learning to live with drips and splatter.

I got an 07 so have been experiencing the peeling clear coat and been putting off repainting them. fenders are on the paint to-do list after the grille.