Grille Paint & Prep

[J_C]

Thinking of painting my grille... It's the standard chrome surround which is holding up fine, but a medium silver middle which has worn away to show the cream plastic color.

Has anyone tried Krylon Fusion Textured for plastics on this? I already have a black can of it sitting around, though supposedly the textured version ends up a metallic dark gray.

It claims no sanding or priming required, though I'd at least scrub it good with a green scotch brite pad which will probably remove most of the remaining OEM silver paint and leave it matte looking. Has anyone done only this much prep and had a problem with paints that specifically bond to plastic like Fusion does? I am only painting the faded middle, not the chromed surround. I've found other similar types of paints like vinyl dye do great on plastics without any sanding or primer, so long as the first coat is lightly applied.

I'm sort of hoping it doesn't turn out good so I won't want to paint any other trim/etc., but I'm sure there are other areas that would look better painted while I'm at it. Are there any other surfaces on an Explorer (obviously not the rubber) that you've found Krylon Fusion won't adhere to well or that need addt'l prep?

 

[juggar]

Thinking of painting my grille... It's the standard chrome surround which is holding up fine, but a medium silver middle which has worn away to show the cream plastic color.

Has anyone tried Krylon Fusion Textured for plastics on this? I already have a black can of it sitting around, though supposedly the textured version ends up a metallic dark gray.

It claims no sanding or priming required, though I'd at least scrub it good with a green scotch brite pad which will probably remove most of the remaining OEM silver paint and leave it matte looking. Has anyone done only this much prep and had a problem with paints that specifically bond to plastic like Fusion does? I am only painting the faded middle, not the chromed surround. I've found other similar types of paints like vinyl dye do great on plastics without any sanding or primer, so long as the first coat is lightly applied.

I'm sort of hoping it doesn't turn out good so I won't want to paint any other trim/etc., but I'm sure there are other areas that would look better painted while I'm at it. Are there any other surfaces on an Explorer (obviously not the rubber) that you've found Krylon Fusion won't adhere to well or that need addt'l prep?

You could just buy a new front grill for $40.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GE8M8S?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

Thats what I bought^^^^ the side chrome pieces make it ~$60 but it can be found for ~$40 for just the grill.

Equal to or less work than what youve described and the chrome and everything is brand spanking new.

I did that and got new headlights/side lights and it looks great.

 

[Sitcoms]

If it's textured it will probably end up a shade or two lighter than the can because of the light color of the undercoat.

 

[J_C]

You could just buy a new front grill for $40.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GE8M8S?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

Thats what I bought^^^^ the side chrome pieces make it ~$60 but it can be found for ~$40 for just the grill.

Equal to or less work than what youve described and the chrome and everything is brand spanking new.

I did that and got new headlights/side lights and it looks great.

It's a lot more work because my chrome is in great shape and not being painted, so I'm not taking the grill off to paint it, just masking and putting newspaper around and behind it.

If some upper inside corner doesn't get as much paint I don't care because you can't see that unless you're laying down in front of it, and probably not even then due to shadows.

I checked the can of Fusion I have and apparently it's something no longer made, is a fine texturized, almost matte black and not their current Textured "Shimmer" product, unless they changed only the name, but the cap itself is also a different sheen, less shimmery. That means it looks more black than I thought it would previously.

It's a full can of paint (never used) so I'm sure I can get enough coats out of it to make the base plastic color irrelevant.