YOUR OPINION RIGHT HERE...SUGEST A GOOD SPRAY PAINT FOR MY 09TACO GRILL.

I wana do a freshen up on my 09 Taco grille and need some opinions with regard to paint type/brand preferably from someone whos spray painted *their grill ( im on a budget ) with a good qaulity rattle can its grey matching now but Im thinking a low gloss black treatment would look fn cool. Also what kind of prep work before hand. The grille has got typical small scratch n smudge here and there 5 year old job site truck. If theres already a recipe posted let me know. Thanks

 

You can rough the surface up and do a skim coat of body filler to remove any scratch imperfections (low spots), if you have a high spot for some reason that can be sanded down a bit. If you want just regular black, use a good brand. Duplicolor is pretty good and you can find it at most auto parts stores. Or you could shoot it with some plasti-dip and leave it more or less as is unless there's deep scratches, it's $6-7 a can and removable.

Either way, wash the grill with water and soap to remove road dirt, dust, etc,. and before you paint, wipe it down GOOD with alcohol. Make sure it has plenty of time to dry in between those times also. Poor prep will ruin any paint job. Plasti-dip is more forgiving of poor prep, but you still want the surface clean.

 

You are painting over existing paint that is well adhered, right? No chips, peeling, etc. Wash with detergent and rinse then wipe down with wax and grease remover before sanding to prevent contaminants (oil, silicone, etc) from being forced into the substrate. Sand/scuff with 600 grit sandpaper or a green automotive Scotchbrite pad to remove every last bit of gloss. That will give the substrate "tooth" so the new paint will stick. Pay extra attention to the edges, nooks, and crannies. That's where most prep jobs fail. Wash it again. Once it's dry and right before painting go over it with a tack cloth. The first coat of paint should be very light. That creates a tack coat. Once it flashes give it three medium coats letting the paint flash between coats.

 

scrub it, clean and prep it as stated above. Duplicolor has colormatched that is really good. I did my grill with it. Not quite as glossy in direct sunlight, otherwise cant really tell a difference.

 

Will baking in the oven net better results if so what temp/time ?

 

I used paint from automotive touchup.com.

They always have a perfect match, follow it with 2 part hardened clear coat and you're good to go. Remove all of the chrome by using bleach or oven cleaner and scuff it good so the paint sticks. I didn't scuff it enough the first time, a rock chipped it and when I sprayed it with a hose it all flaked right off. I also didn't use a hardened clearcoat.


This time it's got a few rock chips in it but no flaking!







I was very impressed with this for rattle can!

before


after

 

Baking it in an oven at any temp will net you a warped and destroyed grill. Its plastic dude. If you are looking at low gloss black then just derp that fukkah. Its cheap easy and reversible.

 

Looks good Yankee Man.....so did you dry it over a few days or bake it ?

 

This is what I need to know surely dont want melted cheese. Reason I mention it is Ive painted and baked hard plastic AK parts with exellent results however the grille is somewhat thiner. Muchos Natchos

 

If you take it all the way down to plastic use an adhesion promoter before top coating. Always make sure adhesion promoters, primers, color coats, and clear coats are compatible. And be sure to follow recoat time specs when going from one product to another. Too short a time and you end up with a crappy job. Too long and you need to sand again or it will peel.

 

first thing i did when i got my truck was paint grill surround, wheels, and skid-plate



its all still there 3 years later and looks good.

all parts were lightly sanded with 300 grit, wiped with lacquer thinner, and given two even coats of rustoleum flat black