SteveL1

Well, I tried to redo my stock '06 front grill by using the DupliColor Metalcast Smoke paint to make it look like black chrome, but ended up getting some crazzing in the top coat in a couple of spots. Waited seven days per instructions to reapply and sanded everything smooth. Applied another coat and got the same problem. Well, this is where it gets really ugly......I have a sand blast cabinet and used glass beads to remove all of the Duplicolor to start over, only to have the chrome start to peal in a couple of spots. Now I have a huge mess on my hands and don't know of any way to save it. The chrome finish is fairly thick and brittle so there is no way to completly stip it.

I really don't want to buy a whole new grill assembly as I only need the outter chrome piece but can not find anything on line for a part #. Anyone got an extra '06 or newer grill laying around that they would like to part with or know of a place to get just the chrome tim part?

Sometimes the simpilst projects end up being the hardest!

BlackLiquorish8

i wanted to paint my grill black but i think you have to strip off all the chrome by sanding or else the paint doesnt stick.. with the black chrome my guess is you would have to get a special paint. i would try to look in the classified or post in there, or go to fmm.com to try to find a grill or ebay. not sure how to take the paint off... why dont u try to sand it??? diff grids of sand paper

g luck

rlee02135

don;t think they sell just the chrome part, but you can try to give it a few coats of primer then paint it.

SteveL1

The chrome finish is waaaaay thicker than any primer caould make up. I would have to use bondo to fill the voids. Much easier and will end up better if I just replace it. Trying to sand or grind off the chrome finish would take countless hours to get it right.

FrankW

at this point it is pretty obvious you won't save the grille if you want to save the chrome.

since you are already down this path I'd say blast it some more, sand it, bondo it, sand it some more and primer it and then paint.

Rick

use walnut shell instead of glass bead media in your blaster...it's less abrasive to the plastic, but it'll flake the chrome off without too much trouble

BlackLiquorish8

or you can just buy my OEM grill that i will be taking off the car in a week or so

PM me if your interested

SteveL1

I don't think that your '03 grill is the same as the '06. I may be wrong as I have not seen one up close, but that is what I've seen writen here by others. My uderstanding is that there is an updated grill used on the '05 and newer cars.

If you can verify that it is the same as the '06, I'm interested.

BlackLiquorish8

its different the 06 grill has 3 chrome pieces compared to the older style grill with 4 chrome pieces

powa

you should've done lots of lots of research before painting black chrome. However when i painted my grille "black chrome", i realise dupicolor product isn't what i want, especially those paint i THINK it doesn't work on plastic material.

I bought my "black chrome" paint for $120 USD around, which i think the quality would be way more satisfy then dupicolor product.

mad_vtak

Check around to see if you can buy a used one. So that if you mess up it wouldn't have been that expensivie.

SteveL1

Been looking every where for a used one, but so far no luck!