painting grills - United Bimmer Community

**94bmw325i** · 11-16-2005, 01:41 PM

so for painting my grills I was told that for the paint to last longer, I should use etching primer, then regular primer, then paint?

I was hoping I could just use regular primer that is designed to work with bare metal becuase thats what I have...

**xsperf** · 11-16-2005, 02:12 PM

the grills are actually plastic/fiberglass ... or abs plastic, i dunno, btu they arent metal

**94bmw325i** · 11-16-2005, 02:20 PM

oh yeah my bad your right. The grill surrounds.

**///M Power** · 11-16-2005, 02:35 PM

Grill surrounds are chrome plated plastic. I just painted mine black yesterday

Heres what you do. Take off radiator cover, use two screwdrivers and pop out the grills. Try nto to break any tabs. Once thye are out use a screwdriver and pop the surrounds out from the kidneys. Try not break any tabs. Once off get soem 80 grit sandpaper and sand the shit out of it. Hopefull the chrome wont start crackign but if it does and it starts to peel dotn worry too much. Then after sanding them down (includign edges) gets some adhesion promoter. spray on. wait 10 mins. do a second coat. good great grand. then get some premium primer filler and git ir done. apply a light tacky coat. wait 5 minutes. then apply a good coat. wait 10 minutes. apply another solid coat. good deal. These should also make any slight dents ont h surroudsn disapear. Now if they ook to be really good and smooth then u dont need to sand them down again. here I used 300 grit sandpaper on one of the grills cuz the chrome uderneath peeled so i wanted to make it look smoother. then wash and dry them off. i used a blow dryer. then get some spray paint. I used gloss black. apply a light and verytacky coat. give it about 7 minutes. come backa nd apply a real coat. another 7 minutes.a pply another rea coat. another 7 minutes.a dn finally a third good coat. it should all look smooth now. then i went ahead and got some clear coat. applied a tack coat. then 5 mins later did a good coat. 5 mins later another good solid clean coat. the I let them dry for about 3 hours. really i shudve waited longer but i had to go. i shudve left them off but as of this mornign they dont look bad at all. in fact look pretty professional. anywho id let them sit overnight just to be good befor eyou apply any pressure to attach them back to the kidneys.wen putting them back ont he kidneys i wudtry adn use two screwdrivers and avoid touching the surrounds at all t avoid fingerprints and excessive pressure that may dent or blemish ur super thick coated surrounds

once on the kidneys just pop them back into the car and put ur radiator cover back on. done and done. they came out great.

buddy nathan going to town with sand paper

pic took last night in garage. better pics eventually.

**94bmw325i** · 11-16-2005, 02:38 PM

did your buddy do all the work? lol jk

thanks for the writeup Eric.

**///M Power** · 11-16-2005, 02:43 PM

die?

no problem nick, if you dont have any of the paint or toolsit shd ccost abotu this

Screwdriver - in trunk
2nd screwdriver - u better have one
Filler primer - $5
Gloss Black (or flat black) - $5
Sand Paper - $5
Clear Coat (optional) - $5

**94bmw325i** · 11-16-2005, 02:53 PM

yeah i went to fucking pep boys today and they said you have to be 18 to get paint, so gotta get my bro or dad to buy me black, I picked out gloss thought it might look better than flat.

**///M Power** · 11-16-2005, 06:04 PM

Gloss does look better than Flatblack.

**voca** · 11-16-2005, 07:31 PM

eggshell would probably match the moldings and m lip. btw, I love dakar yellow, nice car eric.

**bmw4life** · 11-16-2005, 07:57 PM

I was thinking about doing this. Think it would look good on a white car?

**voca** · 11-16-2005, 08:03 PM

yes I do, I'm going to be doing it soon.

**xsperf** · 11-16-2005, 08:22 PM

bmw4life.. i know rooz has it on his car

mpower, we seriously need engine shots, that car looks nice

oh and the whole 18 to buy paint thing.. yea wtf is up with that, they are afraid you are gonna inhale it... so gay, if you go to any hardware store usually they dont care

**Rooz** · 11-16-2005, 08:46 PM

yeah, but I have wide grills...

STOCK:

After clear corners, first custom euro plate and wide black out grills:

look on my site for more pics...

**94bmw325i** · 11-16-2005, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xsperf

bmw4life.. i know rooz has it on his car

mpower, we seriously need engine shots, that car looks nice

oh and the whole 18 to buy paint thing.. yea wtf is up with that, they are afraid you are gonna inhale it... so gay, if you go to any hardware store usually they dont care

Maybe also graffiti? I've seen a lot of kids in my high school "tag" walls and signs. Just thinking of other reasons.

**voca** · 11-16-2005, 09:40 PM

yeah I'm pretty sure it's vandalism in mind with those laws, although it's not hard to get a can of paint.