Messed Up Grille. Need Help

[espnfreak]

Hi, guys i started sanding down the chrome finish on my 1996 ford explorer grille. It took about 5 hrs to do 40% of it. Now i have 3 blisters and i want a shop to finish it up. I went to 2 shops today and both of them told me that they couldn't do it for me. One guy said it would look like crap and he didnt want to have an unhappy customer. The other guy said that it would most likely chip with the chrome part sanded down even. So both of them reccomened me to get a black one from ford. Thats gonna cost a boatload i suspect and am just wondering if i should keep going on the one i have now. I already have primer, paint, and clearcoat. Im stumped and need help bad. Thanx

 

[jimbo74]

quit whining and keep sanding, you got another 60% left.

 

[fixer]

i'd find a place to bead blast it.

also, try putting duct tape on your fingers to avoid blisters... use some denatured alcohol, acetone, or brake cleaner to remove the tape. lotsa hikers, runners and cyclists use duct tape to avoid blisters on their feet.

have fun! i'd like to refinish some of my grill trim in Argent (to match the grille and flares) instead of the factory chrome.

 

[yob_yeknom]

The reason it's giving you so much trouble is that it's not actually chromed, but a chrome 'sticker', for lack of a better word, put on the grille since it's just made of plastic. They're kind of thick, and as you obviously know, kind of tough also. Sanding by hand will take forever to get through it. Using a sander will just eat through the plastic since it's not a flat object. I would imagine sand blasting would tear the plastic all to pieces. I suggest trying a heat gun, or hair dryer, and heating it until you can pull the 'sticker' off. Paint thinner may eat the plastic, so I suggest using oven cleaner to remove the left over sticky stuff. Spray it on, heat it up for a while, rinse it off. (this trick also works for removing burnt on mud from the engine)

Let me know how things go, as I will be in the same boat as you in the near future. My chrome looks like crap in places and needs to be painted.

 

[espnfreak]

i got ticked the other day, took it to 2 shops who refused to paint it. took it to a shop 95XLT went to to get his bumper painted, and the guy there was sweet. he owns a 98 eb. so he droppe the price once i told him i needed to paint a explorer grille and i knew travis. this guy is nice. its gonna be $50 bucks. im picking it up in a few hrs. only 1 day to do this! its great. we will see how it goes

 

[aldive]

Please post a pic when you are finished.

Good luck....

 

[fixer]

i looked in a buddys Mopar muscle car mag and found a place that refinishes plastic parts and has fasteners... don't know itf they work on other stuff, or just the Mopar prducts

www.mrgusa.com

SAND blasting is very diferent from bead blasting... which uses plastic, or other mildly abrasive media. for some uses crushed walnut hulls are used, or corn cob.

i have had a pair of slick and shiny handguards bead plasted and they came back a nice even, flat color, much better for their use.

 

[leenjen]

jason, sounds like you got a great deal (and one day for the work is great too).
are you going to post the new pics on your webpage?

 

[espnfreak]

i will get pics, anyways they forgot to paint it today, wont be ready til monday-tuesday of next week. cuz they "forgot" to. thats bs. i might call them up tomorrow and ***** at them to get it done. my car hasnt been driviable for over 1 week now

 

[RFR2212]

Your car hasn't been driveable cause yer missing your grille? That's pretty pathetic if ya can't drive yer truck w/o a grille
Pete

 

[espnfreak]

the grille holds the headlights in and whatnot. im afriad my headlights will come loose if i drive it without a grille, thats all

 

[01EB5.0]

Just screw the headlights back in w/out the grille

 

[yob_yeknom]

Originally posted by fixer
...SAND blasting is very diferent from bead blasting...

Whoops! My bad. I was thinking he should have it bead blasted while I was typing, but wasn't sure that would be strong enough to take it off. For some reason I had thought you had said SAND blast, not BEAD blast. My memory is going way too early...