painted the grill on my truck today

I painted the grill on my dc/lb/or today. I like the black with a little chrome against the red truck much better than the factory solid chrome grill.

 

The black accents makes for a great looking truck nice

 

Been deciding what to do with mine. I have the same truck. I was thinking on painting the chrome ring to match the body color while the middle black. Not a fan of chrome but the little accent isnt too bad.

 

I traded off my chrome grill for an SR5 grill. I kept the chrome bezel though, it's just enough chrome to make it different. I just need to get rid of the rear bumper and I'll be set.

 

Looks great.. How did you paint it? How many coats? Prep work? Any detail would be appreciated

 

I painted the grill with Dupli-Color customwrap. The color was matte carbon black and a gloss clear coat. The paint is similar to plasti dip. When it dries it is still pliable like a soft vinyl and if you do not like it , it will peel off easily. I removed my grill and then removed the painted shroud and I also removed the chrome ring that surrounds the grill and the center toyota emblem. I painted one tack coat of black followed by three medium to heavy coats of black and then followed that up with three coats of the gloss clear. I waited about 5 minutes between each coat. The grill is very easy to remove there are 2 10mm cap screws and 2 plastic lock pins , you can see the screws and plastic pins easily enough by looking down at the grill from above it , the screws and pins are near the top of the grill the plastic pins have a small circle in the center of the pin that you will need to pop strait up and that will release the pins and then you can remove them and they will still be in good shape when you go to reinstall the grill. There is 2 alignment tabs that are on the bottom of the grill that will require you to pull the grill strait forward to the front area in front of the truck and at that time you should have the entire grill in your hands attached to the grill will also be the painted surround piece you will have the entire grill. If you place a blanket on the ground to protect the grill you can then place the grill face down so that you can view the back of the grill. There is "about" twenty small Phillips screws that go around the back of the grill that you will need to remove. There is numerous tabs that also hold the painted grill surround , and the chrome ring and the center Toyota emblem in place that have a small lock tab that you will need to squeeze so that you can push the tabs out releasing the tabs and the grill components. leaving just the chrome part of the grill that you wish to paint attached to the grill black plastic support , I then tapped off the black plastic support that I did not want to paint and proceeded to paint the chrome part of the grill that I wanted to paint. There is a simpler way that I have seen done by a few people That after you have the entire grill removed from the truck instead of removing all of the individual grill components you tape off and cover with paper the colored surround piece and then paint the entire chrome parts of the grill and wait about 5 or ten minutes then you carefully peel the paint off of the pieces that you want to remain chromed. Whitch ever way you prefer will work. The way I chose will allow the surfaces of the main black plastic grill support that lie behind the chrome pieces that you do not want to be painted to also be painted giving the painted area a little more integrity to last longer. I hope this helps if you have any more questions I would be glad to try and answer them.

 

I am going to order the 2017 Pro grill for mine

 

Op

Are you going to paint the wheels as well ?

 

Did you paint both sides of the grille?

 

Have you tried pressure washing the front end since the grill was painted? Curious if it will stand up to that.

 

Where is the before pic?

 

No I have not. When I painted the grill I was not sure if I would like it. As it turned out I really like the look that it gave the truck and doubt that I will replace the grill now , But this paint was not designed to be permanent and will probably only be good for about a year. I do not know how well it would hold up to a pressure washer I have never used a pressure washer on my truck and do not plan on using one. The advantage of this paint is that it is not permanent and can be pilled off and the underlying surface will be the way it was before you painted it there is very little prep work to apply it no sanding to damage what you are painting. If you know that you want to make it permanent ahead of time there is better more permanent paints and methods of applying them like using steel wool and sand paper to prep the surface before applying a permanent paint. When this paint starts to look tired I will remove the grill and apply a permanent paint. The grill is quite easy to remove.

 

I did not take one but the grill was a stock chrome TRD OR grill as you can now see it is the stock grill that has been painted the only option to buy this grill that I am aware of is fully chromed.

 

No I personally like the stock TRD OR wheels but a close friend of mine that has a TRD Sport has painted his wheels with plasti-dip and they are holding up well at this time.

 

Yes

 

Looks waaaay better, I don't know why toyota did the entire grill chrome, wasn't the biggest fan personally

 

I had planed on replacing my grill with a 2017 pro grill also but have since decided that I like the look of the stock grill with the insert painted black. I also like the uniqueness that this grill configuration can not be bought but has to be made.