Painting a Grill?

Well the chrome grill on my 05 tacoma has started to bother me. I want to get it painted black, but do not know whether i should take it to a professional, or give it a go by myself with rattle cans. I have seen alot of people complain about chipping when using regular rattle cans. Have any of you had luck with rattle cans. Using an adhesion promoter, multiple primer coats, then multiple paint coats?

Also, does the chrome need to come off totally, and what should i use to remove it (i do not have a pressure washer) will aircraft stripper work, or would that ruin the plastic?

 

i did this project. i would recomend buying a new unpainted grille from partsgeek.com and the paint supplies from automotivetouchup.com. the paint won't adhere very well to the "chromed" surface even though it is not real chrome. automotive touchup.com has complete directions on what you need.....plastic adhesion promoter, primer, paint, clearcoat and all the other odds and ends sandpaper ect. the grille from parts geek comes in two pieces so you can prep and paint the shell without having to mask anything. when you are done you just mate the two pieces together and melt the tabs in the locked position with a solder iron or something similar.

 

yeah, i am oing about it in the cheap and easy way, sanded down the "chrome" coating with 400 grit, did 3 coats of AP, three coats of primer, and waiting for the third coat of the dupli color color match to dry before adding the duplicolor clear coat, i will see how it hold up and if it doesnt i will buy a pre painted one. The worse that could happen is it starts to chip, and if so i can get another grill so far this stuff seems o look really good and match well. Just need to see how well it holds up

 

I'm curious. How is it doing? Going to do the same thing tomorrow on mine.

 

What Spray Cans are you using, color..etc I would like to attempt this as well

 

I just did this last weeekend. Pulled the sourround off the grill and sanded the chrome. Used adhesive promotor, with a good base of primer, then several coats of color.

from plastic dipped


to painted...

 

I would like to color match the black portion of my 2012 grill. Any suggestion. Rattle can, Powder coat or something else that will live of to moderate abuse from kicked up stones and insects. If anyone has done this please post a pic. Thanks

 

anything wrong with plasti dip.
i rattle canned with flat black here.

my sig is plasti dip

 

Looks damn good. What brand of red did you use to match the Radiant Red?

 

yeah man that looks pretty damn close to original i mean my truck is 5 years old, i think my paint has oxidized a little bit. so idk what color to go with

 

I color matched my chrome grill surround about a month ago and it's held up great. I sanded with 340 grit until it had a brushed aluminum look, sprayed with duplicolor adhesion promoter, duplicolor perfect match paint, and finished up with duplicolor perfect match clear coat. Just make sure you clean your grill with a wax and grease remover before and after you sand and you shouldn't have any problems.Although it wasn't absolutely necessary I also wet sanded with 2000 grit,polished with Meguairs ultimate polish, and waxed a week after painting.

The day I painted



After wet sand,polish,wax and BHLM

 

For those wanting to DIY: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/117163-painting-grille.html

 

I have the chrome I am in the same boat just picked up a 2012 double cab. I think the stock grill is hideous.

 

Yeah it worked out great, and for some reason its hard to find radiant red color match paint localy, so I went the Ebay route.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25076720192...22&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT&vxp=mtr

 

I have a 2010 same color. Yours is clean as hell man. I'll try the same, I want mine all grey and black. if it worked for the grille do you think you could do the same on the rear bumper chrome?

 

Thanks man. I was actually going to do my rear bumper this weekend, but the parts store only had 2 cans of MGM paint and I'm afraid that might not be enough so I'm going to do my door handles and mirrors instead. My buddy painted the chrome bumper on his F150 using the same steps and it turned out great. You just use self etching primer in place of the adhesion promoter. He did say it was a pain sanding it though.

 

That MGM and Radiant Red looks really clean guys! might have to do this on the weekend!!

 

We have the same color truck. I just went to autozone and picked up the paint but ended up purchasing the scratch filler primer instead of the adhesion promoter. Do you think I should go and get it aslo or will the primer filler be ok?
Thanks

 

I wouldn't try it without adhesion promoter. With out some sort of chemical promotion the primer won't adhere to the plastic and will flake.

 

Ok thanks and for $7 why not. I will post some pictures when done.