djr7572

I have a 2012 f150 XLT. The front grill is chrome, but I was wondering if it's possible to replace it with a black matte grill - such as the one's found on the FX models? Strictly based on appearance, the black grill is just more appealing to me.

In your opinion, would this even look good?

Is it even possible to do this, and if so, where could I take it where I could get a genuine Ford grill installed/swapped out? Dealership maybe?

Your thoughts please ...

Thanks!

*** EDIT - looking into this further, this might be a lot more complicated than I thought. I don't know if the grill is all one piece, but on the FX models the outside of the grill is painted with whatever the color of the truck is. The chrome grill is simply all chrome it looks like.

TWIMON

Save yourself some money and swap yourself. There is only like six screws and some clips holding the grille on. Swapped mine in like 10 mins. Just buy the one you want. Def a DIY.

djr7572

I might be making this out to be a lot more complicated than it is, but the black grill looks like a totally different grill than the chrome. The black grill is painted along the outside with whatever color the truck is, which leads me to think that that's done at the factory and you'd have to order the truck like that (?).

jaconn02

I want to do the same thing as my grill got all f;()Ed up by flying road debris, I looked on eBay but all I could find was chrome.

TWIMON

I have a tuxedo black screw. It cam with a chrome grille. I ordered a flat black vertical grille of eBay. I will take pics in the morning. If you want all black I think you will be fine. I think the color matching at the top is def factory. I'm not sure. I've only been a ford owner for about 30 days. Lol!

2010stx4by4

Couldn't you just trade grills with someone who has the XL ? Is that the kinda grill you're talking about ?

djr7572

Basically, I want the front of my truck to look like this: But I'm thinking it's not possible because of the factory paint around the outside. Seems like it would have to come from the factory if you wanted exactly this.

sullyman

Go with the chrome! When torn between classic, timeless style and the most recent fad (like low rider trucks in the 90s, Spoilers at the turn off the century, and the current black out fad), always choose the timeless look.

graysonp

If you buy the grill from a Ford dealer, it's going to come prepped and ready to paint. You just need to have the dealer/body shop paint it to match. It doesn't have to come from the factory like that. Any decent shop can match a factory paint color.

Or, if you check around Ebay/Craigslist/etc, you might be able to find a used one that's already the same color as your truck. It should match just fine, auto manufacturer's are pretty consistent with their factory paint colors nowadays.

TWIMON

good info!!