Tips on painting grille

[palmettopowerstroke]

Been hanging around the site for a few weeks reading up and just became a proud Powerstroke owner last week. Absolutely love the truck and the $3.28/gal diesel right now! Already looking at mods. Going to a paint shop tomorrow to get some bushwacker flares painted and possibly my grille. I know you can get a non painted grille surround from Ford, but I am wanting to paint the bars and all. The painter wanted to look at the grille first to see what prep work would be involved. Has anyone had the whole grille professionally painted? If so, what was involved in prepping the surface for paint? I'd like to be able to give him some ideas from people who have had success. Thanks for the replies and all the invaluable info on the site!


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[powerstroke43]

3.28? I'm paying. 3.76 a gal. I tried to get my surround painted. The guy refused to paint over the chrome, said it wouldn't stick right. I don't know if I believe him cause quite a few guys have painted theirs. I plan on getting a primed one eventually.


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[GA250]

I have painted many cars and I painted my grille and bumpers. I prepped the chrome by using a Red Scotch Brite sanding pad. Sanded all the chrome so that there was no shiny spots. I then sprayed an etching primer to give the primer something to bond to. Primed, sanded, painted, and cleared. 5000 miles and 0 issues.

[mchottie]

i'll trade you my black XL grill for your chrome grille!

then you can just scuff, primer & paint to your hearts content! piece of cake if you are painting the entire thing.

[J DIDDY]

I had mine professionally painted and they said the same thing about painting over the chrome that it will eventually come off. He actually peeled the chrome plating off by hand and got it down to the plastic.

[TXFX4]

Buy and XL Grill and have it primed an painted. I got mine done for about 400 bucks.

[RIDE3311]

Originally Posted by TXFX4

Buy and XL Grill and have it primed an painted. I got mine done for about 400 bucks.

Off topic, but your truck looks so badass!

[palmettopowerstroke]

@TXFX4 that looks sweet! Same color as mine. Makes such a big difference. I was going to swing by the dealer and look at a XL grille. Wasn't sure if it had any sort of texture on it or not. My painter said if it had too much texture on the plastic it would have just as much prep work as the chrome one.


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[TXFX4]

@palmetto The XL grill does have have a texture to it, once it is primed though it fills a lot of the texture and once they block and sand it smooth you will never be able to tell it was textured. I almost went the other route and painted my stock grille, but I ended up selling the stock grill on here for 500 bucks and bought the XL grill and got it painted for 400 +/-. Not bad in my opinion, I fiercly hate chrome I'll post some more pic of the grill up close so you can see how I had it masked before paint.

[YOURADHERE]

Where's a good place to buy an XL grill? I thought I saw it referenced by several people that you can get them for about $180. Any ideas?