Painting Lower And Upper Grilles

[tomo91]

Hi I was just wandering if anyone knows the process of painting the lower and upper grilles on the zetec s? Would I need to remove them first or could I just paint straight on to them? Any help is appreciated!

[salsheikh]

remove them first to make life easier!

a nice tug on the lower grill in any corner will help it come out. the top grill is a bit trickier as you have to remove the lock.

wash the grills in fairy liquid and make sure they are dry and then sand them down and wash again before attempting to paint. remove all contaminents and paint in a warn environment to help adhesion.

i think lenny/tdcist/gforce have guides on how to remove the grills.

[gazza21]

Yes definitely remove the grills before hand.. You won't be able to fully paint them otherwise! As for process of painting these you will have to do it a certain way as they are plastic...

First rub them down with some nice wet and dry get them all rough, then slowly smooth it out with less corse sand paper gradually, and then finish with some scotch.

Next you will want to rub them down with an anti-static rub, as these are plastic. You can either do this with the plastic prep pads you get from Halfords and that, or some anti static fluid on a rag will do.

You then want to use a tac-rag all over the plastic to ensure no bits before painting. Your now ready for primer... As this is plastic and you've rubbed it down I would use a High-Fill PLASTIC primer.. And give it a couple of coats (with very fine wet and dry In between).

Next rub down your primed plastic very lightly and once again go over it with a tac-rag to ensure no bits. Now apply your paint evenly 2-3 coats will do, with drying time in between and a light rub down for adhesive purposes.

Finally 2 coats of clear coat will do and depending if your using acrylic or 2k you might want to give them a rub down and a compound buff.

Take your time, and give enough drying time and it will come out looking stock. Good luck.

[tomo91]

Cheers for the help guys

[gazza21]

Np Let us know how it goes, maybe some before and afters lol

[Lenny]

Had mine done "taxi black" cheap enough at local body shop say 70 pounds