Painting Billet Grille?

Well my plan to buy a different truck fell through and now I have an itch to do something to the one I have. The grille on the 1st gens had grown on me but recently every time I look at it closely I want to get rid of it.

I found a few cheap billet grilles on eBay for around $40 but they're all chrome. I've been working on getting rid of all the chrome on my truck so it would look fugly with a chrome grille on the front. Has anybody ever painted one of these black and had it turn out OK? I really want to try this but have a feeling it would be hard to paint these grilles.

 

i seen a pic of a 2nd gen on here that had a painted billet grille, it looked good to. i would imagine it would be a PITA to sand down all the chrome out of a billet grille

 

I get out of school in 3 weeks and will have plenty of free time over the summer. The time it will take to sand and prep doesn't really bother me. I just want to know if anyones tried this with good results.

 

I have painted one and it came out good. But the paint may chip over time. But easy to touch up with paint. And sanding isnt to bad just get it scuffed up real good and clean it of with alcohol. Its not hard.

 

I have a 2nd gen with a billet grill I painted black. It was actually really easy, I just washed it off real well then went over it with primer then gloss black. It turned pretty good, but recently I noticed a few chips where rocks had taken the paint off so I washed it real well again then went over it with 3M Rubberized Undercoating in black. Now I don't have to worry about the rock chip problem.

 

X2 about the undercoat spray! And nice Taco.

 

oh, well perfect then lol

 

When I painted my chrome bumpers black I did the usual sanding, then hit it with adhesion promoter: http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray-paint/adhesion-promoter.aspx before the black paint.

Got it at Advance Auto, not the same brand (think it was by 3M) but same idea. It's holding up pretty well, even managed to push the bumper in an inch hitting one of those damn concrete / steel posts used to keep someone from driving through a liquor store window, and it only scuffed the black but didn't scratch it off.

 

Just get it powder coated then you wont have to worry about rock chips.

 

Whats the texture like on the undercoating? Its hard to tell from your pic. That sounds like it might be a better alternative since the finish would be flat.

 

I wanted a little more black on my truck so I lightly sanded the grill (didn't spend that much time) and painted it black. I get little chips now and then, but use a black marker to touch it up.
Matt

 

Do it it took 5 minutes

 

It feels rough and has a rough look up close.

 

I'm thinking I might try some undercoating on it. I think it would look better with the flat finish. Would just sanding to rough it up and then wiping down with alcohol be good enough or should i try to prime it?

 

MINE WAS ALLL CHROME. sanded it down reallly good, primed and painted it flat black along with all the badges

 

I just painted mine black as well. It looked good up until the rock chips came. But at least you can only see them close up.

 

I didnt prime it. You can if you want but I dont think you really have to.

 

I just washed mine. I sprayed a couple coats of black primer and then black enamel. No chips so far.

 

I plastidipped mine and it came out really nice. It's lasted me a long time and if you mess up you can always remove it. Its a suggestion I mean... I had a chrome billet and didnt like it so plastidipped it black