21RRF150

iTrader: (1)

Pic? I really don't want to paint chrome if I can help it. Too much $$ and work!! Haha!! I'd have to get it sandblasted 1st too. The surround I can just swap over.

feifel

iTrader: (3)

Pics?

Captain22

I am dropping it off for paint today. They are sandblasting it and PTM for $150. Even the HD grille still needs paint, which would mean it is a $800 grille. Mine will look similar and is costing me $400 total.

mcnewskie

I got the chrome 6 bar on Craigslist for 100 bucks locally and had a buddy PTM the surround and also paint the crossbars matte black. He works as a painter at the stealership and charged me 150 for it. Got one for 250 basically, but I kindly lucked up on the price tag.

21RRF150

iTrader: (1)

Yeah this^^^ I can do. The surround is no big deal to me. Being the painter here I can do it for free. Its the inside I want black already. Did he sandblast the cross bars before paint?

mcnewskie

He did not sandblast them, I think he used some sandpaper to scuff it up pretty good, added some sort of adhesion promoter and some primer, and did what you all do from there. He said the hardest part was painting the vertical bars that are behind the horizontal bars in the middle of the grille since the surround doesn't seperate from the grille. Mine grille was all one piece and would have had to been cut to remove the surround; Ive heard other people say their surround can be seperated without cutting, so I'm not sure whats up with that. He did add quite a few extra coats to the grille though since he did not completely get rid of the chrome beneath it. You could probably blast it and use less paint, he just used more in case a rock hit it and chipped it so what's left of the chrome would not be showing again.

21RRF150

iTrader: (1)

Funny you say this. I just talked to the PPG rep about this. And he described the exact same process. In my 14 years of painting I have never had to paint chrome. So I just assumed it couldn't be done. He also told me, that he could get it sandblasted for me for less than $20.

I think I'll hold out for someone on here, who may have a grille that's already closer to what I'm looking for, before I start thinking about doing all that stuff.

mcnewskie

The main thing to remember, at least with the chrome 6 bar I had, is that it is just a very thin chrome coating (if it is even actual chrome I have no idea) and it can be removed pretty easily. The back side of the grille was plastic, so I just assumed it was some sort of a plating it was dipped in or sprayed on. Id go with the sand blasting if its only goina cost ya 20 bucks and save some elbow grease from sanding.

Captain22

I dropped my chrome grille off for painting yesterday and they said that the plastic grille would get torn up from sand blasting and that he would have to just sand it.

21RRF150

iTrader: (1)

It would depend on what they use to blast it. Sand,media or soda blasting. The place that may/may not do it for me does chrome grilles all the time. I may just paint it myself. Especially after I got all the procedures on how!

Post up pics when you get it!