What's up guys, does anyone know of any place that sells a matte/satin finish grill insert? Looks like a few of the places that I can find have it in a gloss finish, which I don't want. I've repainted my stock piece a few times, but I think it's bubbling up a little and I think maybe it's just been finished and refinished too many times. Wouldn't mind starting fresh.

Thoughts?

Edit- for that matter, does anyone HAVE one in fair shape? I'm happy to refinish it so as long as it's got no big scratches it'd be fine. 91/92 would work too.

 

i'd think you could still refinish it, but need to strip it down to the plastic. i've read that plastic requires a special plastic primer (forget what it is called) before painting - painting plastic is different from painting metal.

 

here is an example of one method https://us.ppgrefinish.com/Training/...mpliant-System

 

also, one other thing, if the paint is not on very well, try soaking the plastic in some orange citrus cleaner that you cay buy at home depot for 11 bucks. soak it for a few days and see what happens. it may strip all the old paint off for you, no sanding required. (i learned this the hard way when degreasing a plastic part a while back)

 

I've had good luck in the past using a plastic primer first, then just good ole spray paint. My guess is that somewhere early on it got contaminants in there, and have just never gotten down deep enough to remove them. I like your idea about the citrus cleaner. We use that at work and have it by the gallons!

 

Why not just buy the new one and paint it?

 

That is certainly an option, but I'd prefer not to paint a brand new one. -but of course we gotta do what we gotta do.

 

If a super fine glass bead was used, it might just dull the gloss finish. If it works, it would get in all of the corners and give a nice uniform finish. I've used the stuff on other materials, and it gives a satin finish, but I have done a thin plastic. If the pressure is dialed back, and the nozzle was kept at a distance, it might work well. Just a thought.

 

no guarantees that it will work, but worth a shot. i highly recommend stepping up to the professional paint by ppg/dupont or boutique operations that carry other brands. night and day difference between the rattle cans. even a cheap spray gun will probably do a better job.

 

Well my headlight buckets, as well as many other parts are that SEM trim black, and I'd really like to match that. I'll look and see what SEM recommends.

 

makes sense. I was just speaking in the general sense. I recently started playing around with professional sprayers and amazed at the quality difference. the paint alone. makes it super easy to whip up a batch of epoxy primer too. rather than wasting an entire can that is only good for 2 days after you break the seal.

 

I’d rather have a flat black grille too, but it doesn’t bother me too much... My stock one isn’t bad, but looks old and is marked up a bit..

I wondered when they reproduced the grille if they thought they were doing everyone a favor because I remember guys used to use armor all or tire foam trying to make their grilles dark and glossy.. I know some on here suggested it was probably cheaper in some way..

I was thinking of getting a new one and trying to paint it... if it didn’t come out good I’d just put the glossy one back on..

It would match the buckets and the louvers so nicely..