Painted my grills Black

D

Danderton

Active member
 Bedfordshire
Hi All

On holiday from work today and have just been out to fit my newly sprayed kidney grills that I did on Sunday afternoon.

Pretty easy job, got the inspiration from other threads on here.

My original grills were Chrome outers with Grey slats. But I didn't actually use my original grills, I bought a spare genuine set of Chrome/Black on here from JDM :thumbsup:

Also the grills JDM supplied already had Black centres, so I only ended up spraying the outer chrome ring. Plus I have my originals to one side should I want to switch back or sell the car.

Here's how she looked before:
1.jpg


Quickly popped the grills out by sliding up and pulling forward. Far too easy to remove if you ask me!
2.jpg


I seperated the outer chrome rings from the inner slats, then gave them a good rub down with wet and dry paper, then applied 4 coats of Plasti-Kote Gloss Black spray. Leaving around 45 minutes between each coat.
3.jpg


Outer rings after 4 coats:
4.jpg


Centres clipped back in:
5.jpg


New Black Grills pushed back into place:
6.jpg


Close up shot of the new grills:
7.jpg


For anyone else interested here's the spray I used. PlastiKote Black Gloss Super. Did 4 coats and probably used 1/2 to 3/4 of the tin (hard to tell). Cost £7 from B&Q.
8.jpg


Now just to see how long they hold up to stone chips as i've ready mixed results.

If they don't hold up then rather than respraying, I will probably just wrap them in black vinyl.

Cheers

Dan
 
Hmm, looking at my own pics, I think my headlights now look a bit silver. I've seen others change them to the black version and clear lenses. But that sounds rather expensive.
 
Good effort

The black grill looks loads beter


As for your lights tint them:
DSC00559.jpg

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Looks great Danderton...

Glad the grilles were OK for you. :thumbsup:

I did exactly the same as you with a set of spare grilles that I had on my black coupe.. I just used good old fashioned gloss black Halfords rattle can with plastic primer which seemed to last quite well to be honest.

img0536hq.jpg


Did exactly the same on my old 120d M sport about 6 years ago aswell :)

snc00551.jpg
 
Was reading up on tinted the other day, but there seemed to be mixed opionions on safety and legality.

However, yours look quite subtle. Did you use Lamin X? Or something else?

Did you cut it to size yourself or was it a precut kit? And what colour/tint level did you go for as yours look spot on.

Cheers

Dan
 
Yeah Cheers JDM, they were spot on mate. Didn't even need to spray the centres as they were in such good condition. Plus i thought i'd see the contrast between Matt/Satin inners against Gloss outers as i'm sure i've read somewhere that's how the BMW Performance ones come.
 
Danderton said:
Was reading up on tinted the other day, but there seemed to be mixed opionions on safety and legality.

However, yours look quite subtle. Did you use Lamin X? Or something else?

Did you cut it to size yourself or was it a precut kit? And what colour/tint level did you go for as yours look spot on.

Cheers

Dan
Click to expand...

I used lamin x pre cut for front and rear

Its passed an mot and I have never been pulled over, plus you cant tell any difference in light out put

I tried cutting my own out of a roll of tint film but it went wrong and I couldnt get it on the lense without creasing

But the lamin x went on perfect first time

Ummm I cant remember smoke I think

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
I used lamin x pre cut for front and rear

Its passed an mot and I have never been pulled over, plus you cant tell any difference in light out put

I tried cutting my own out of a roll of tint film but it went wrong and I couldnt get it on the lense without creasing

But the lamin x went on perfect first time

Ummm I cant remember smoke I think

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

Thanks. Where did you buy pre cut from? Their UK website doesn't appear to sell it pre cut, and can't find any pre cut on ebay either :(
 
Need to strip mine down and do exactly the same (previous owner did and they're chipping). The full drying time is quite high though, around 48 hours iirc? So I'd be careful with regards to chips until it's gone properly hard.

Look good though.
 
The uk one is rubbish infact I dont even think they are the same company

I ordered from the us site and got them shipped here

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