E30 Zone

Going to attempt the job myself..
Got a can of mat black...
Was told to sand of the chrome first and then spray the grill

Tips would be appreciated...or if someone could give me a brief step by step guide.....

Cheers....

Very straight forward.

1. Mask the plastic. (Not essential, but I did. You'll see why in a minute)
2. Roughly sand the chrome to get a key.
3. Apply a couple of coats of etch primer. (Gets a good grip on that chrome, but you don't really want it on the plastic. Hence masking.)
4. Apply 3 - 4 coats of satin black. Do not use matte, it will look rough.
5. Grab a cold beer. Stick grill back on the car (when dry ) Stand back, open beer and enjoy.

Good luck sanding off the chrome! Its easier to peel it off (use a knife or something sharp) but be careful you don't take parts of the plastic off with the chrome, then give it a bit of a sand down and spray it black.
It looks neat when done.

I only roughed mine up as I did not realise it would come away? I have only had mine on a few months but as yet it's still in the same condition as when I stuck it on. As you say, does look a lot neater when it is finished.

Awesome, I was thinking about maybe doing this today thanks for asking the question motorsport325i

paint the plastic bits on the front of your car SATIN black, will restore the black without the 1980s shine

Satin all day long, and if you can get the chromw off then do, my last two black kidney grills after 9 months started to show spots of chrome from stone chips

How do you remove the kidney grill? (being lazy - I havent been outside in the cold to have a look yet )

I just dont bother anymore as it takes away too much detail on the front.. might aswell mesh your grills ;)

I sanded the chrome, sprayed a couple of coats of primer, satin black and then 2 coats of clear lacquer, never peeled once in 5 months.

You dont need any sort of special paint do you?

Not really, if you have trouble removing the grill, then shoot yourself, probably the easiest part to remove.

Thanks alot guys....
Will be giving it a go and ill let you guys know how it went.!!

I started.........

sanding the chrome, but part of the chrome on my grill must have been very thin as I got through to the plastic very quickly. That basically made the decision for me that I was going to have to de-chrome the grill or the finish wouldnt be up to standard.

I have discovered de-chroming takes hoooouuuuurss ! Ive nearly got one half of the grill done now and its taken me about 2 hours lol. No going back now atleast

Returnof318i wrote:Not really, if you have trouble removing the grill, then shoot yourself, probably the easiest part to remove.

Removing the whole grill is easy as mate. But the chome parts can actually be removed from the black bit, easy to break the clips, but a bit of super glue or tiny bit of poxy resin can be used to re-attach it but still make it easy to break off again.

Pulling the whole thing apart will make life a lot easier to sand down the chome.

Depending on the car, i like the look of matt or satin black over the whole grill, then gloss over the chrome parts of the kidney grill.

I should have a carbon one on my return... only after the actual rectangle (chrome) part to replace tho, i think having an all carbon center kidney grille would look a bit silly.

GL mate, nice way to practice spraying stuff. And easy to keep re-doing if you cock up.

As said earlier, sand the chrome down with some faily rough sand paper and then Etch primer that. As thats where i've been skimping out and has caused bad results on my end.