black grills

[timsands]

this is probably a really daft question.

the chrome kidney shaped pieces on my grill. are they a part i can buy in black or do i spray them because i have seen some black grilled e30's

cheeers

tim

[ImysE30]

Spray them, nice and easy job to do as well

Rub the chrome off and then spray satin black

[timsands]

cheers! got more satin black paint than sense!

[mrLEE30]

remove/mask the chrome section only, rub it so its rough, then paint it, then refit the kidneys onto the grill. be prepared to repeat every few months as it never lasts long, vene mine have several coats of clear and still only last a few months.

dont spray the horizontal bars otherwise it will not match the headlight surrounds.

[ImysE30]

dont spray the horizontal bars otherwise it will not match the headlight surrounds.

He could spray the headlight surrounds as well to match, finish off the look?

[mrLEE30]

why bother!! spray the kidney and be done with the job, as i said it chips off after a very short time, so spraying the whole thing will result in the chipped effect over the whole grill.

sand and spray the kidneys with whatever black paint you have

[scottidog]

I painted just the kidney grill at first, it looked horrible


paint all the grills and the headlamp surrounds, i tinted my lamps so the headlamp surrounds blended in nicely

[ImysE30]

^^^ That's what i was referring to, gives it a nice clean one colour look

[mrLEE30]

yes but this looked like he has sprayed the whole kidney plus the vertical slats, so yes this will look odd. i am saying only paint the silver bits, mask the rest off - or as i suggest even better remove the silver kedneys from the grill completely.

[SkyRocketeer]

The silver bits pop off with little effort.

I sprayed mine with a chipguard paint (intended for sills & valances), maybe it'll last longer.. who knows. Got about 1000 miles and two dozen flies on it since paint, and looking okay so far

[DavieP]

I gave the silver bits a light rub down, then a coat of acid etch primer, followed by two coats of satin black including the vertical slats. I took headlight surrounds and grills out at the same time and also gave them a couple of coats of satin black. This made sure that everything matched. That was 18 months ago and apart from a tiny stone chip that was easily touched in, it has lasted well and looks as good now as when first done. No need for lacquer or anything like that and there's no hint of the black peeling. It's a fast. simple and very easily carried out, cosmetic enhancement.

[commando]

Insulating tape work's and last's suprisingly well, with a little heat on the end's afterwards just to make sure.

[mc_hawkings24]

i just rubbed back the metal, primed the grill then gave it plenty of coats of satin black. If you buy some decent back to black or autogleam as i've used you cant tell the difference until a few months later but i havent had it that long to tell yet.
If you keep using it it dyes the plastic back to black.

[touringkev]

I gave the silver bits a light rub down, then a coat of acid etch primer, followed by two coats of satin black including the vertical slats. I took headlight surrounds and grills out at the same time and also gave them a couple of coats of satin black. This made sure that everything matched. That was 18 months ago and apart from a tiny stone chip that was easily touched in, it has lasted well and looks as good now as when first done. No need for lacquer or anything like that and there's no hint of the black peeling. It's a fast. simple and very easily carried out, cosmetic enhancement.

this is the way to do it correctly , i have done 2 of them now and etch primer is what you need to use it actually eats into the chrome , i have never had to redo them in 12 months.