BBP color keyed Grille mod

So I figured if I screwed this up, I would just plasti-dip it and probably get an after-market grille down the road. I am no paint expert, but have quite a bit of shop experience, so I wasn't too worried and wanted to do it right. I think it ran about $70-ish with factory paint and clear being the high dollar items.


Here is what I used and why.

Denatured alcohol to clean any surface before painting.
Adhesion promoter to make the stuff stick to the chrome.
Flat black paint and flat clear coat for the gridwork part.
BBP spray from automotivetouchup.com
Some badass clearcoat. This is expensive 2 part, but worth it.

First : De-gloss

I spent quite a bit of time on this part really getting into the gridwork.

Next, clean up with alcohol, spray adhesion promoter then flat black.

FYI, mask first then spray the adhesion promoter. If you mask over this stuff, your tape will stick and leave a ton of residue for you to clean up .

Next, flat clear coat a bunch of coats. I did 3 flat black and about 5 clear flat.

Next. mask and spray BBP....after cleaning up a bunch of tape residue. I did 3 coats base and 2 clear. I would have done 3 clear, but I nailed the finish on the second coat and didn't want to risk a third since I wasn't sure how much was left in the can.

Clearcoat then let it cure. USE a respirator mask with this stuff if you don't bother with anything else. IT is really nasty stuff. I ran a razor blade lightly around my masking before taking it off so I wouldn't get any pull-up.

Final product back in the shroud.



I think it turned out really nice. In retrospect, I probably would have painted the whole thing with the flat black and then masked it off. Also, I busted the clips on the emblem, but just epoxied it back on at the tab locations.

Definitely better than the braces.


Edit: Another user asked about removing the grill, so here is a brief description.

There are two screws and two-reusable pop-out pins that hold the shroud in (all on top). The reusable pins come out by prying up the center with a small screwdriver which releases the pin. There are several wide unbarbed tabs that hold in the bottom of the shroud. Once the 2 screws and pins are removed, you kind of have to work the bottom shroud tabs out with a bit of wiggle/pulling. They are pretty durable and easy get out.

The outer trim ring is screwed on with about 8 screws and also has barbed tabs. Remove the screws, and it has about 5 or 6 tabs that have to pop out (they are a bit more chrome than the others). They will want to snap back in until you get a couple started, then the rest come out easier with the help of gravity. You could also stuff a piece of cardboard in once you get one out to keep it from snapping back.

The grill itself has several barbed tabs that need to be carefully popped out. Just be careful and use fingers rather than tools. I overbent one tab on the trim ring, but between the screws and other tabs, it literally didn't matter. I just bent the barb back for looks

Thought I'd include a few from down the thread--some colored, some just paint:

Great job all!

 

awesome job cant wait to see it on.
I have an extra emblem if you need it. I planned on crystaling it but went a different route. I don't need it.
I just bought an aftermarket blacked out grille with cube lights in it.

 

What is crystalizing? Bedazzling?

 

Nice job.

 

...DAMN! OP, that is some mighty-fine detailing and work there!..........Turned out Very Impressive!...and looks Great!.........

 

Thanks Waldo. It has a few minor mishaps, but from a couple feet away, I think it looks very good.

 

such win

 

....Funny?.....that's how I feel when I look in the mirror!............( the farther away...the better I start to look...especially if I close my good eye and squint with the other!....LOL )........

 

Awesome job.

 

Looks amazing!!!

 

Great job there Db - very nice write up to reps to you.

I'm getting grey wheels with a black bead lock - Fuel Trophys and and thinking about leaving the braces smoked chrome and get rid of the regular chrome like you did and black the chrome out. That way the black trim ring will match my black bead locks and the grey chrome will match the wheel color and my truck color. Color scheme - MGM truck - grey wheels with black trim, black trim on grill with grey chrome braces... I think that will look good on my truck.

Thanks for the write up you did great and it turned out perfect.

 

Now that's how a grill should look. Awesome job bro!!!

Can I send you mine to do??

 

Incredible job OP. That's how Toyota should've done that grill to begin with.

 

Infucking credible...I wish I had your patience and skills. I would bet you can sell those for $500 done up with a core return.

You didn't even have to wet sand the finish!

 

Did mine today. A little different.


Here is before.

 

Really nice!. I was going to post an interim pic so people could see what this would look like, but since I had de-glossed the chrome it looked pretty bad, lol. Yours looks great.

 

Thanks. I would bet a body shop would do it in the $300-500 range (just guessing). Patience is the key. Lots of time prepping and masking. Skills are pretty minimal if you can spray something like a bicycle without dripping (keep moving and always begin and end your pass off of the piece).
My only real screw-up was I bumped it before everything cured and made a little spot near the left of the emblem. There are a couple of pieces of dust in there as well, but not enough for anyone but me and a paint guy to notice or bother with.

Edit: Added this pic of grille in the truck to the OP.

 

I love the look, Inferno will be here in a few weeks, would love to do that, was wondering if they have paint match for the Inferno

 

Nice love the look