Painting chrome bits on grille

[chris_szybiak]

Hi Guys,

Ok, this is what I want to achieve. I want to paint/spray the chrome parts (excluding badge), and make it look like chrome black?

Any ideas of what paint I could use to get that effect?

Thanks!

Chris

[Digital]

i dunno how successful you would be in getting it to look like chrome black without getting it professionally done but i know when i was looking for paint to spray my grill they had a few options for black as in 'matte black' and 'glossy black'. but i dunno if the glossy one will give u the effect u're after... as i did mine matte black.

make sure you use a primer as well in ur prep work.

ppl say to sand off all the chrome but i didn't on mine. i just scuffed it a bit with sandpaper (in some parts of the grill i didn't even bother) and then sprayed a few layers of primer over the top. left it to dry overnight and then applied the coats of paint... its been months and still no sign of chipping or fading...

[Digital]

edit: just realised you wanted the 'chrome black' look..... so ignore my comments about sanding the chrome off......... dunno how ur gonna make the paint stick though....

good luck

[chris_szybiak]

Thanks for your reply

I sprayed the rest Matt black, I'm curious to
know what it all looks like Matt. Do u have a
photo?

[Digital]

What grill is urs? Mine might be a bit different.............

Before:


After:

[fg1972]

I am no expert on this, but will give some suggestions.
You could try to lightly scuff the crome with steel wool so the paint will stick. Mix a little black paint into clear gloss, (need to experiment with the ratio) and spray over the chrome. If you don't want to stuff around mixing paint, using spray gun ect, try it with lense tinting paint in a spray can, then a final coat of automotive clear gloss in a can.

[teK--]

I would think Chrome black could be achieved by adequately preparing and priming the chrome surfaces, then applying a tinted clear coat? Again I am not sure how well the paint would take to the chrome finish.

IMHO chrome black would look fantastic, and if you figure out a way to do it I would consider it!

[chris_szybiak]

Hey guys,

Managed to get the look I was trying to do, but not chrome black. What I did was I sprayed the majority of the grill a matt black, and just the two little chrome 'wings' and acrylic black. Will try put up a decent photo to show u!

[smythie]

Looks good

[Arith]

Looks good, Chris! Post a shot of the entire car when you can.

[Digital]

nice work mate! thumbs up

[mikee]

Chris that looks awesome! if you can get a sti lip too!

can you tell me which exact spraypaint you used to achieve the matt black look?? As i have the sti lip on the front... a matt black grill would look dope! really wanna get this done as an alternative to spending $300 plus for a sports grille or corazon grille.... for now at least =)

Also.. maybe its just me.. but i was semi-struggling to take off the grille... got the 4 screw insert thingys off... and then tried to get some of the connectors off and i ended up breaking one of them. any idea on the best ways to take the grill off for the painting process?

Cheers
mikee

[talev788]

im doing this to my gen3 tommorow

[chris_szybiak]

hey dude,

With the paints, what i used was the septone automative spray paint range. I used the "acrylic gloss black" for the chrome bits and the "heat proof" one for the rest (achieved the matt black look). They also have a 'matt black' one available and it should achieve the same result.

Make sure you sand down the surface and then use some primer. I got the "holts dupli-color auto spray" plastic trim primer. The guy at the paint shop will know what you want.

The chrome part took ages, word of advice. Thin coats until you get the look you want, and spray a coat of primer between each coat.

With the screws, those things are all over the car, and some are easy and some are a b*tch to take off. its just the luck of the draw i guess.

Oh and the sti lip, been dying for one for ages.

The only thing i gotta do black now is the bottom part of the front bumper, ive got some silver mesh in that gap. need to spray it black now. just havent had time to take the bumper off. once complete, ill post some photos up for you guys.

Enjoy and post some pics up when your done!

[mikee]

Thanks for the reply Chris.

Will go out to look and make it a little project once I get a good weekend of weather! ALso thinking about doing the bonet scoop of the sti. BUT... may do some photoshopping and get some opinions from everyone else before doing so!

Just another question.. you took off the whole front grille part right? And then took of each chrome wing (screwed off) and then sprayed?

Cheers again!
mikee