Painting the chrome grille

So I got to thinking with my spare grille since I wasn't liking any of the custom materials offered to use with it what else could I do with it that is custom. So the idea donned on me - paint it the same color as the car! Never seen one done like that on a Riv before so it sounds like something cool to do. I've been looking it up online and I know I'm going to have to scratch up the chrome and then apply primer - now my question to you all: Do you think just a can of generic white (Plastic) spray paint applied in two coats and finished off with clearcoat will match the car close enough or will it stand out?

The ideal situation would be if I had the money to blow on the diamond tricoat finish (a white base coat, pearl secondary coat, then clearcoat) but that's looking more like $80+ which is considerably high for something like this. Do you all think this will look good in either case?

Another thing I was hoping for some opinions on are what exactly to paint. First I thought about just painting the areas that are chrome white and leaving the fins alone (PITA masking job though). Then I thought about painting the fins and the chrome white and masking off the piece in the middle with the R on it and leaving it alone. Another idea - paint EVERYTHING white: the chrome, the fins, the plastic piece that holds the R in place AND the R itself (Although I've thought about leaving it chrome, possibly painting the R flat black to contrast). My last idea and one I'm not so sure I like - paint everything flat black, possibly including the R (Doesn't seem like it'd go with the white so well but it would probably work better with a red Riviera or something). So given those options what do you all think would look best?

The only thing I have read are some people saying the paint will chip if stuff hits it but I've seen some people who did it to damn Hummer H2's and said it looks great and that thing is a moving wall so it has to get hit with a lot of rocks and stuff.

EDIT: Here's some from a guy with a Tacoma grille step by step









Funny how his logo disappears then comes back later almost like it's removable without breaking or something - is ours removable in any fashion? It'd be SO much easier to do something like paint the whole grille white and then paint the logo flat black if I could just paint it seperate from the whole grille.

EDIT 2: I found these pictures to show an example of how this all white stuff can look so good

Before:

Spoiler:

After:

Spoiler:

This guy said he paid $100 to get all that done. If you can do ALL that for $100 I can't see how my grille would cost so much to get painted but I suppose the diamond tricoat really screws things up there - damned expensive and complex paint...this seems like something I could maybe get done at a paint shop for maybe a not too horrendous price? But perhaps I'm just being hopeful...

go for it....at a good autobody supply shop you will find an incredible assortment of colors to match including white. ive seen grilles painted white though..and its hit or miss.. depends on the body style whether the white works or not. keep in mind though if the grill gets painted the rear chrome surrounding light bezel might need to be painted also. itl look funny having a painted grill and not doing the back too..... the front r does not come off but the grill does. its a simple job that just takes time. youre not dealing with angles just wide surfaces. might look different. apply some white masking tape to the grill, carefully to match the chrome lines, where you want it painted stand back and take a look. you can even paint the masking tape different colors at a time, and find something thats really different.

What you want probably is a busy enough shop that they are painting somebody else's car diamond tricoat white at the same time as your grille job. then maybe $50 to $100 will get you yours.

Albertj

PS - how's the puppy? I bet he's a pretty big doggy by now?

i can paint it if u want. send the grille and 100 bucks

Well so far these bodyshops are just pissing me off, I ask "Can you paint my chrome grille" and they're like "WTF!? NO!" and I mention using sandpaper, metal etching primer, etc and they are still lost. "No, you can't do that." BS! I just saw irrefutable evidence of that all over the internet, damn stupid autoshops. How do they even get paid to paint shit if they can't paint something? I haven't even gotten anyone to be like "We could do that, what kind of grille/paint?" or any thing I mention painting a chrome grille and they are just totally lost. I might as well have asked "Can you paint the moon?" given some of their reactions.

ha, lol. sorry to hear that, if it was me, i would just get another grille and do it myself. With patience, care, and a little knowledge about painting, im sure you could make it look pretty good yourself.

for such a small job you can do it yourself and save a bucket of dough. preparation is the key. scuff the chrome really well with something like 120 grit, then adhesion promoter , prime,color,clear. it will come out nice. and you can take your time too. car drives fine without the grill:) should be able to do this job for under $50...

True, I'm just afraid it'll look mismatched or like crap. Other car grilles are much easier to paint since they're just flat, but with out grilles the fact it's recessed the way it is makes it more difficult. If I took it to a body shop they'd use the diamond tricoat and it would look awesome guaranteed. Heh, I'm just not so sure how great it'll turn out on my own. Apparently you can order a spray can of the diamond tricoat online for $50 and that includes the base coat and the pearl coat - you just have to buy the adhesion stuff.

Although what is confusing is how much I hear different things from different places. The few Honda forums I saw were like "Dude just order an Si grille and repaint it" or they said "It'll just chip and look like shit if rocks hit it or something, chrome lasts much better". Annoying that so many places took the first approach "Just order the base model grille" (Common one on the truck forums I saw). But let me give you all an example of the methods I have heard people using to paint their chrome grilles:

Method 1: Use sandpaper and scratch up the chrome. Then apply standard auto primer. After that dries, apply your finish and clearcoat. Done.

Method 2: Use sandpaper and scratch up the chrome. Then apply self etching auto primer. After that dries, apply your finish and clearcoat. Done.

Method 3: Use abraxo pad and scratch up the chrome. Then apply bulldog adhesion to the grille in light coats. After that, use Krylon plastic spray paint in the can. Finish with a coat of clearcoat. Done.

Method 4: Use sandpaper to scratch the chrome. Apply standard primer. Then use plastic spray paint in black and allow to dry. After drying, apply your desired color and let dry. Then apply clearcoat. Done.

Method 5: Use sandpaper in rough grits and work up to smoother grits (80, 120, 220, 320, 400). Then spray a light coat of metal etching primer to the grille. After drying it may be necessary to apply a buildable smoothing primer and sand with 600 grit. After this, apply your paint. If using a single stage, use something such as Krylon Premium or Rustoleum. If using a two stage paint, apply a flat black or semi gloss paint and allow to dry, then apply your desired color, allow to dry, then apply clearcoat. First coat tack only, then two medium wet coats, and one heavy coat. All within at least 10 minutes of each other. Done.

And that's not including whatever it would take if I invested in the diamond tricoat paint to make it match the car. That would be all the sanding and stuff, then apply either primer, self etching primer, adhesion material, or plastic spray paint, then use the base coat, then the second pearl coat, then the clearcoat.

To be honest I have never painted anything, I will of course be enlisting my dad who has painted numerous things before. He's really irritating me though, he swears that nice new diamond tricoat on the grille will look SO awful because it's shiny and good looking and my paint is old and crappy. I really think he enjoys shooting down every idea I have that will make my car look better, sound better, or anything (He said the mufflers would make it sound like garbage but they didn't...). Still, I know if I mention these steps to him he'll say it's a pain and it sounds rather complex to me too. I want this to look good, but don't forget I'm doing this all to a spare grille I picked up for $20 - not the grille on my Riviera with the chrome stripping. Basically if I really FUBAR it and it looks god awful I have my original chrome grille I can put back on. That said though, I'm not looking to just ruin a perfectly good Riviera grille (Which it is).

Of the methods I have listed and whatnot, what do you all recommend? I know the diamond tricoat will look the best but it's the most expensive. Some people have done it with generic white paint from the plastic and clearcoat and it looked pretty good but I'm not sure if it would stand out or what. I'm liking this idea as far as paint schemes go the most though: all the chrome and the fins white, paint the thing holding the R white, paint the R logo flat black to contrast the rest of the white. Any other ideas? Totally open to suggestions here, I'm still in the planning stages of this and haven't bought anything yet.

i dont know what "diamond tricoat" is but i can guess? just remove your gas cap couple of 10mm hold it on ,take it to a paint shop and they will match it for free. a pint cost me $14 and you will have some to spare. the paint code for mine is #rsb-4193f i thnk the gm code is wa9753. if you have the same code then we have the same color riv. so........

palermocorey90 wrote:

i can paint it if u want. send the grille and 100 bucks

Do you take paypal?

Since you have a spare grill to work with just get a couple of spray bombs that are close to your car's color. (I think Oreilly's has some that will work) and go for it. Dont tape it up or anything, no prep work...just spray it. Light coats and let it dry for at least twenty minutes between coats. Four coats should be plenty. It will look fine, trust me.

Just shake it well and dont paint while its raining...
You can do it! no need to bother dad, just go for it.

Then mount it on your car and drive it for a while to see how you like it. If you like it then just touch it up with a spray bomb every month or so, it will look fine.
The late model Regals started out with a chrome/black grille then they switched to body color. I like them both.

I say go for it! Just do it!
Dont fret over a bunch of prep work and all that just pick out some paint and spray it! People all over the world are doing the same thing at this very moment and it all works out just fine.

Bert

robotennis61 wrote:

i dont know what "diamond tricoat" is but i can guess? just remove your gas cap couple of 10mm hold it on ,take it to a paint shop and they will match it for free. a pint cost me $14 and you will have some to spare. the paint code for mine is #rsb-4193f i thnk the gm code is wa9753. if you have the same code then we have the same color riv. so........

Well I went to a paint supply shop and they came out and looked under the spare tire cover and whatever the code was (I forgot by now) but they told me it was the diamond tricoat and they would have to sell me two cans (The base and then the pearl coat) as opposed to most cars which could just use a single can (They made a matched spray can for my dad's red F-150 and it looked pretty good - he painted his plastic trim on the bottom front to match and it looks pretty cool).

Still, I know painting is all in the prep work so I'm pretty sure just spraying it all without doing ANY prep work will turn out pretty cheesy. We painted those plastic grilles on the GTP and they kept flaking and looking like crap so we just sprayed them black like original. If I screw up the grille with the paint is it possible to get the paint off or can I just spray over it? I thought surfaces would only allow so much paint before they start orange peeling by having too much on them.

well there is.. doing it right...and... just doing it! u choose.. personally if i was sitting on a spare grill i would have plenty fun with it. do what ibemoses sez..go nuts! have a good time. but I might be inclined to scuff the surface first,then prime her up real good. then just use whatever u have lying around.. this way if she ever chips you can fine sand the piece and repaint the color of the month! just do it and have fun...remember.. its your car!

True, and I suppose it's not quite as critical that I don't ruin it since it's not my only grille but I still paid $20 for it and I don't want to just throw that money away by making the grille look stupid beyond repair. My biggest concern is going to be those little rocks that are going to make it chip - is there anything I can do to make the paint more resistant to that chipping? Also if I'm going to spray some primer should I get some etching primer and if I use that should I just get a can of gloss paint or should I stick with plastic paint and then just clearcoat over either?

youre grill is just as likely to get chiped as is the surrounding body. but the grill is easyer to repair than the fenders and cheaper. see if the paint shop can mix up a pint of acrylic enamel. its cheaper than lacquer and way tougher. do you have a spray gun and compressor? does a friend if not? if you dont have either, a contrasting color is more likely available than a matching color in a spray can. steps to take. 1) clean: 2) sand 120grt: 3) adhession promoter: 4 ) prime 2 coats: 5) color(pick a winner 6) clear...go for it!

I'm guessing it's a challenging piece to paint - you have to get a good spray down inside that opening, kind of a strange angle. I'm guessing the body shops look at it and give it the old WTF?? treatment.

Send it to corey, I bet he'll do an awesome job with it!

I've seen Corey's paint work, it probably would be but that's all quite a bit more involving than I wanted to be. Plus I want to be able to change it later on if I don't like it. I'm still thinking about painting the whole grille flat black in a prep stage and mount it to see how it looks then end up painting it white in the next stage. I guess I'll look into getting this stuff later in the week when I have a chance to go up to the paint shop.

Corey does some very good paint work

palermocorey90 wrote:

Corey does some very good paint work

Self claimed...