plastic grill re-spray - does it need primer?

Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:01 pm

Quick question about respraying the plastic grill (by this I mean the black plastic round the headlights and not the chrome kidneys.

Do you need to key the plastic surface with wet and dry and then apply primer before spraying satin black?

Just wondering if you can get away without the primer?

cheers, simon

Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:08 pm

I'd leave it oe, look awful otherwise imo.

But ideally you need to use primer to give paint something to "stick" to.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:23 pm

One side of the grill has faded to a light grey and want to restore it to oe look.

Are the results a bit crap of respraying the plastic then?

Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:26 pm

Prob be easiest and cheapest getting a replacement dude.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:30 pm

It'll look better, freshen up the look of the front

Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:31 pm

back to black no good? you can get somegood stuff

Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:39 pm

Can wet n' dry them too

Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:43 pm

Baby oil will return the black plastic to the right colour. Better than paint.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:07 pm

Is the baby oil a permanent solution?

Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:15 pm

heat gun's work on some plastics, made my bumpers stay black on my corsa

Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:26 pm

asmith88 wrote:back to black no good? you can get somegood stuff

Used it on my grills and it worked fine.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:31 pm

Bump wrote:Is the baby oil a permanent solution?

I'm not sure how permanent it is, but I've heard from others that it works well. I'm sure it'll probably need reapplying when you wash/wax the car but the black shouldn't fade so quickly.

I've done my grilles with it and they look great. However, they've not been on the car yet so I don't know if it's a sh1te idea or not.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:49 pm

peanut butter

Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:19 pm

taking my grills of and redoing them in black tomorrow with back to black, will be interesting as ive never done my grills.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:28 pm

If you do decide to paint them use a grey scotch pad (available from any good automotive paint shop) then use a satin black not gloss rattle can (but its your choice!), applied in thin coats!
hope this helps..

Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:35 am

Thanks all. I'll just pick up a better looking one and swap it over!

Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:29 pm

trevski wrote:If you do decide to paint them use a grey scotch pad (available from any good automotive paint shop) then use a satin black not gloss rattle can (but its your choice!), applied in thin coats!
hope this helps..

X2 .

I did mine two years ago and they looked really good.
Im going to do them again tomorrow for the sake of £4 `s worth of satin black its not a bad job.

Mart.

Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:34 pm

I just spray them matt black with no primer. Looks fresh.

Mon Apr 20, 2009 7:26 pm

One of the guys I know with a concourse winning 'M' takes them off, washes them in the sink and then apply's Auto Glyms Bumper Care. They look like new, so got to do mine before the show season starts.

Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:17 pm

I just bought a new one for £3 off ebay and screwed it on

Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:28 pm

i can only get one of mine off cos a screwhead has rusted to shite the other side lol

Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:05 am

Autoglym Bumper Care is brilliant stuff!! I use it on my bumpers (obviously lol) bump strips,window surrounds-being careful not to get int on the paintwork or glass-and most of the black plastics on the exterior of the car,cant go wrong with it! just be sure to apply sparingly and jobs a good 'un

Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:15 am

bobbin1982 wrote:i can only get one of mine off cos a screwhead has rusted to shite the other side lol

I had that when i wanted mine off so i got a hack saw blade and went at the top of the screwhead to make a new line across then used a big screw driver and wished for the best! Goodluck!