Front Grill Painted Black

[quitethegood1]

I was looking at the front of my Explorer the other day, and noticed how dull the stock grill looked, so I decided I would try to paint it black. The grill removal was pretty straight forward. After I got it out of there, I prepped it for paint, taped off the parts I didn't want painted and removed the Ford symbol. Then I began painting, used some cheapo black spray paint, put a few coats on, popped the grill back in, and it looks great... pictures and instructions below.


Before

First screws I removed

Then these...

that should make the top black cover removable.

Then you need to take the headlights out to get to the screws holding the sides of the grill structure in. The headlights are held in with 2 screws on the top.

The black screw is what holds the sides in.

After you get those out, all that holds the grill in are 4 clips on the bottom, pull the grill straight forward and they should let go. Heres a few pics of the grill out and all taped up

then painted

And finally, a few of it all put back together.

By the way, first post on here, got this explorer couple of months ago and needless to say I love it, feel free to comment on my little project.

 

[Charlie]

Looks good, and pretty familiar-I did the same thing with my old explorer. I think it really makes the grill look a lot better

 

[BrianDye]

Looks good, have you seen one with all the chrome painted glossy black? I think it looks pretty nice, im gonna do that with mine, the chrome stuffs chippin off all over the top, then im gonna get a billette grill, but yours looks like it was meant to be that way lol, matches really good too

 

[quitethegood1]

I haven't seen that. Sounds like it would look good. I think what I'd like to do next is go over the plastic on the bumpers with truck bed liner, so it matches the grill and will hold up to a bit more than spray paint

 

[Texan01]

I did the same to mine shortly after I got it in 2001, it looks very good!

Now with a new grill I haven't painted it yet, it's still the stock silver.

 

[dfisher8871]

i did the same thing dressed up my x good

 

[BrianDye]

I haven't seen that. Sounds like it would look good. I think what I'd like to do next is go over the plastic on the bumpers with truck bed liner, so it matches the grill and will hold up to a bit more than spray paint

That would be a good idea, and it would look good lol

 

[reserved50]

sexy toenails

 

[01_sport]

I like it in black. Way better then the chrome. Good thing mine comes stock black . Don't have to mess around with spray paint and screw things up.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

looks good