I'm trying to figure out what the longest lasting finish would be for the nose grills in a GTA hood. Original they are painted I believe in GM Trim Black. After only several thousand miles they already start to show wear so I don't want to just "paint" them.

What would you guys suggest as the best, longest lasting finish that will perfectly match the factory appearance?

Alex

 

You could use some of the anodized mesh like what Fesler uses on thier door jamb vents. That would probably look nice and hold up for quite a while.

 

Yeah there are some local shops that can do anodizing, that was my first thought. I think I'll take it to them and see if they can correctly simulate the semi-gloss/satin black I'm looking for.

In the end though, I wasn't sure how durable anodizing really is.

 

Powdercoat? I'd think that would be a lil to thick looking for my taste.

 

Yeah I feel the same way, I'm also worried about it being too glossy. But PC is my backup.

 

There is more than just gloss, I have used gloss, semi gloss, semi flat and flat on things and it looks good.

 

Made some errands today. The powder coater agreed it would be too thick for my taste, it would make the holes noticeably smaller. He suggested possibly anodizing but no one in Bakersfield does that (I thought there was but only up in Fresno now). There is however one place that does ceramic coating. I took the grills to the ceramic coaters and he is confident he can match the semi-gloss of the original black paint that was still on the underside.

Verdict is, in about 5 working days they will have the grills blasted, prepped, and coated. $85-$90 was the estimate. They are running behind due to allot of headers from the beginning of the race season.

I'll post up the result when I get them back. I think ceramic was the best option anyway. It costs me more than I have right now but it will be worth it.

Alex

 

Got them back from the ceramic coaters....came out really awesome I think. I'm very happy with them!

 

These came out so great I'm taking my power antenna bezel, hatch lock, and door lock bezels to the same guy to be stripped and ceramic coated. This stuff is freaking awesome for where powder coat would be too thick. I highly recommended it, inexpensive too.

 

What's it running for you to get those done?

 

Not sure yet, I'll be dropping them off tomorrow. Trying to bulk my errands together to save gas right now. The grills ended up only being $80, the guy did a fantastic job of prep so I think it was well worth it.

I can't imagine these few pieces would run me more than $40-$60.

 

Hey Alex. The 85-91 grilles were black. 92 was golden in color. My friend's blue 92 GTA is golden as well as my green and yellow 92 GTAs. Just saw your post now.

 

I made a thread about it in the restoration/history sub-forum and everyone called me crazy for insisting they were gold and said they were all black. Sure enough, when I removed mine it's obvious they were in fact black. Take a look at the pictures in the top of this thread. Pretty impossible to refute so it is what it is.

Sucks because IMO the gold looks much better but it was also inconsistent in color and I'm going for originality.

 

I see you already went and ceramic coated them, that was going to be my 2nd recomendation. Anodizing first. Anodizing would be the longer lasting, better looking finish. Many of my RC car parts are hard anodized and unless you are taking a rock to the metal and scraping it hard it doesn't come off or fade.

Ceramic is still a coating applied through baking so it will eventually chip and fade.

When I painted my mesh I just used flat black rattle can and for what anyone could see it looked perfect and factory. No one really cared what was underneath, however the rattle can obviously does not last. They are faded now.