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How to paint your grill(e) black!

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21K views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  bashfulbernie  
#1 · (Edited)
[Administrator: Perhaps you can move this to DIY?]

Thanks to everyone for answering my abundant questions I kept firing off!

So here's what I did...
[PICTURES ARE BELOW]

Step 1
Purchased:
-Painters tape (I had the blue stuff)
-400 grit sandpaper (I would purchase something rougher if I did it again)
-Small bottle of Dupli-color primer (if I did it again I WOULD NOT primer in gray. I see the gray when it chips)
-Large bottle of Dupli-color flat black trim paint
-Large bottle (though small would work) clear coat

Step 2
Remove grill. There are 6 plastic things to pop out. Then, grab it low and jiggle it upwards. I found when putting it back in that it slides in so perhaps you can slide it forwards instead.

Step 3
Mask off the emblem and then SAND! My fingers are now so smooth its not even funny. Like I said, buy something rougher than 400 if its available :)

Step 4
I removed the tape and re-taped the emblem (the sand paper roughed it up a bit). Then I sprayed 4 layers of primer. 10min. apart from each spray. I sprayed from the front and the back. I found it was hard to get to the back side of the grille slices.

Step 5
Spray black. I did about 6 coats until the can ran out. Again, I did front and back for each coat.

Step 6
I waited 45 min. before spraying the clear coat. I sprayed 2 coats of clear and let it sit for about 20 hours before putting it on.

And viola!

:woohoo:

[Dark Gray Metallic FXT Limited]
 

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#4 ·
Thanks! I'm REALLY happy with how it turned out. Even the GF is amazed at how much better it makes the car look (just like how the spoiler added a much needed improvement).

This 6 hour tasks was well worth it and I hope it lasts for many, many, years to come.
 
#8 ·
I've painted my bike fairings in this manner before and find at high speeds, stone and debris end up chipping off the paint quite quickly. You may find yourself having to repaint your grille annually.

It does look good though.
 
#14 ·
The pictured grill is what I achieve, doing the grill mod, with an 04-05 Forester grill. So, what I was wondering is how the 06+ grill would look when this mod is done to it as well.

To achieve this grill, the stock grill is cut off, leaving only the outer frame. The holes where the grill pieces were attached are filled. Then, a nice diamond grill is installed and emblems reattached if wanted. The entire grill is then painted a nice flat black color.

I'm willing to make these, as well as try with the 06+ grills if anyone is interested.
 
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