ok so my grill is pretty worn, along with the plastic molding around the front lights, so im gonna paint em up in preparation for selling the truck...gotta make it look good

so my three choices
1-black
2-stainless steel, looks like gray, but metallic
3-keep it fake chrome look

so far im leaning toward black, i think that will make it look the best...

and yes i will do the small trim eventually around the outside of the side blinkers...

 

I did mine black.

Make sure you scuff up the chrome really good, or the paint will not hold up. I used a palm sander and wire wheel, two coats of primer to fill in small stuff and then two or three coats of black.

Side markers i just taped em off and did the same thing.

 

whatever you do, take your time. sand/scratch the plastichrome and take your time with the paint. say, full coverage by the 3rd coat

on a red truck, i'd personally go with a light silver or dark gray. the black would look good, but it might make it look cheap.

 

yea i was gonna hand sand the hell outa of em with like 150, then 200, the 400. then clean em down real good with acetone, wash em, dry em and spray em...

did you use plastic paint or just rust oleum? i havent yet decided what i wanna do...

 

i hear ya, im pretty darn good with prep/paint work tho so im not too worried, im more worried about what color i should paint it...i can picture both in my head, but i dont know what would look better...

 

i did my toyota emblem with 200. i'm not sure what to call the link, so here's the finished product.

 

heres another question, semi gloss, or gloss? i dont think that flat would look good at all for a whole grill, light trim, etc...

 

gloss on anything newer than '79...IMO

semi-gloss takes a special cleaner to make it look right, anyway

 

special cleaner, please elaborate...

 

ok so heres my decision...black semi gloss...but plastic paint, or just regular ole rustoleum?

 

here is what i would do... i would scuff up the chrome really good with some 400 on a DA and hand sand the rest.. then for that semi gloss look i would buy some ppg DP 90 epoxy sealer and spray it with that ( this stuff bites into chrome very well, but its expensive) if you want something cheaper, scuff the chrome with 400.... get some etch primer put a few coats of that on it, lightly sand again with 400... spot prime the spots that come through.. then spray with whatever semi black you want, I'd go with a SEM product or whatever auto trim paint suits you.

OH and the cleaner just get some mineral spirits and use this procedure.

good luck post pics

 

sorry, i found the article, it was about the paint prep; using slower activators and reducers than ordinary paint. the wash is soap and water only; no wax & for a grille that should be no problem...sorry about the mistake.

 

Spray lacquer is what you wanna use, it holds up really well and drys super fast.

 

lacquer is garbage, but it does dry fast.

 

Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastic in any color you want at Wally World

Sand the chrome off
Windex
Wipe down with lint free cloth
Spray paint a coat
Dries in 15 minutes then add more coats as desired

Here is mine