I've purchased a Bull Bar and want to add a bolt on stainless steal grill cover over the grill. But my grill is the honeycomb color on the Lariat. Thus I want to paint my grill a flat black, but I want a good job on it. My options are:

1. A friend of mine says that since the grill is made of plastic all I have to do is paint it, no prep or anything?

2. Sand the plastic, primer it, paint it? Is it really better or is my friends option the best? Keep in mind I'm lazy.

3. Take it in to a paint shop and have them do it. This is my typical "out". But will cost more money of course. An hour or two of overtime would pay for it.

Thanks!!

 

u shouoldn't need to sand it, since the plastic is smooth. I would still use a primer though, i would jsut paint it myself.

 

I purchased an XLT Black grill. It looks nice. It is the same as the Lariet grill but removed the chrome. Placed black Ford Stickers on front and back (ebay stores.ebay.com/devriessigns)

Painting yourself is the cheapest.

 

I put a bolt on chrome grill on my Lariat as well. The bright tan color of the honeycomb was a problem. Took mine to the dealer and had them paint it flat black. PERFECT! Can hardly tell it's back there. Didn't want to do it myself because I wanted a perfect look! Good luck.

 

I have a black 04 F-150 with a black grill and I've thought about painting it silver. You guys think it would look good or just leave it black?

 

Instead of trying regular paint, give this a try...

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/vinyloem.html

It is a vinyl dye that is thinner than regular paint. It soaks into the plastic instead of sitting on top of the plastic so you don't have to worry about it chipping, flaking, or peeling off. I haven't used it on a vehicle application yet, but I have used it to change beige computer drive faceplates to black. They look like they were manufactured that way and have held up for over 2 years now with no fade from wear on the buttons etc. It works well enough that I wouldn't hesitate to use it for this purpose. If you used the flat black color (which is what I used for the drive faceplates), it should look OEM. I found mine at WalMart in the auto paint touchup section.

 

I painted the grill in my Ranger. I didn't sand it, but I did primer it. Has held up great, only chip I have is from a rock, otherwise no problems at all.

 

Go to a good auto-paint supply store and get some "plastic prep" spray or the equivalent. It will soften the paint and plastic so that your paint will hold that much better.

 

Go for the XLT grille. Someone may even trade with you. I know we have come a long way, but I picture old chevy's running around with paint peeling from their "custom" paint jobs.

 

Thanks to all the replies. That's why this is such a great and enjoyable forum. This seems to be the way to go. The paint won't chip and I won't need to sand or primer it. It'll be behind the stainless steal in black and look great. I promise one day to create my gallery. I just wish I had done some "before" pictures. You'll end up with the final look. Again, thanks to all the good suggestions here.

 

Take it to a body shop. Having worked in a body shop my entire life, don't risk painting it yourself.

It needs to be primed with a plastic primer. Regular primer will not stick.

 

I thought I'd give an update on my grill painting project. I decided to go with the Dupli-color vinyloem paint that was suggested above. I removed the grill and chrome surround from the hood. I brushed it and cleaned it throughly with dishwashing soap. Then I masked off the chrome section using easy mask around the edges and regular masking tape on the rest of the chrome. It took 3 cans of paint and multiple coats but it looked awesome. It looked factory flat black. The problem came when I tried to bolt my stainless steal grill on top of it. I grazed the edge and noticed the paint chipped right off. To say the least I was bummed out. But it would cost $160 for a new black XLT grill or $60 to take it in to a paint shop. Since I'm only out several hours and $15 my next step is to find a good paint strip liquid, some plastic primer stuff, and to retry the experiment this weekend. I'll keep you up to date on my progress.

 

I'm surprised it chipped so easily. I used self etching primer and chrome bumper paint on my Ranger grill and it looked awesome. I have a small chip not but it was my own fault and it wasn't until 6 months later. I used about 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint. Not sure what went wrong for you. Keep up posted on what you do. You might be able to find one at a junkyard...maybe

 

I have seen several grilles on ebay recently.

 

I have the lariat gold honeycomb and wanted to put the black one in. The dealer wanted 150 just for the black insert. I just bought a black one on ebay for 19.95. It must be factory takeoffs cuz the seller had quite a few in both black and gold.