Painting the Grill on a ’99 XLT - aldive | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Painting the Grill on a ’99 XLT - aldive

Painting the Grill on a ’99 XLT

I finally bit the bullet and decided to paint the grill on my ‘99 XLT; I was just tired of the chrome surround.

My dilemma was whether to paint it to match the body color ( metallic chestnut ) or the flat black of the bumper cover and my X Spec air dam. I decided to go with the flat black.

First the grill must be removed. I followed the procedure so well outlined at http://www.grillcraft.com/installs/installs.asp?action=view&install=24. It took about 10 minutes to remove.

I wanted to paint the mesh behind the grill a contrasting color; I choose silver. The mesh was held in place with the infamous plastic Ford “plug like” fittings. They were simply pried out with the end of a flat head screwdriver. The Ford emblem was removed. Now comes the only time consuming part; the sanding of the grill to remove the chrome. This took about 1 hour and many sheets of sandpaper. Next, the mesh was thoroughly cleaned and primed. After that, 4 coats of silver were applied and allowed to dry overnight.

The grill was painstakingly cleaned and primed. Four coats of flat black paint followed this. The assembly was allowed to dry overnight.

Reassembly was as easy as the disassembly. First the screen was snapped back in place followed by reattaching the grill assembly. The total time involved was less than 10 minutes.

Total cost was less than $20 and included the sandpaper(s), a can of silver paint, a can of flat black paint as well as a can of primer.

I am pleased with the project and the “look”.
 

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another view....
 

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  • silvergrill.jpg
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Lookin good, Al
 






nice look. i like it. it is kinda like Billy did but you did the whole grill. good job.
 






Nice, sanding the grille took an hr? Lol, it took me about 3+ hrs to get most of the chrome off the front. Then i still had the side pieces to worry about. so i was like screw it, and i just painted it
 












That looks awesome, I sometimes wish my truck wasn't white, it seems so boring.
 






It looks great man, good work!
 






from your description i was thinking "man, thats not gonna look good. gotta go with the same body color." but then, i scrolled down and saw the pic. i must say, it looks good. i never would have thought that would look right, but it does.
 












What did u do to the inside grill? Did you sand that or just paint it silver? I am considering doing the same thing.
 






Originally posted by jt1970m
What did u do to the inside grill? Did you sand that or just paint it silver? I am considering doing the same thing.

I cleaned it throughly and then sprayed it silver. I did not sand it.
 






That looks real good.

I painted the mesh silver last summer, and I really like the contrast. I used "chrome" paint. It helps the crossbars on the grille stand out a ton more. My grille was painted blue from the factory, so the contrast was well needed.

I was looking at my friends 98, and it almost looks as if the chrome is a crazy decal or something. Do you think it is possible to just heat it and it will shrink or peel off and then sand or clean the residue?
 






Looks good! But what does it got to do with off roading?
 






Looks good! It has that sporty rugged look to it. :thumbsup:
 






\99sport\ said:
I was looking at my friends 98, and it almost looks as if the chrome is a crazy decal or something. Do you think it is possible to just heat it and it will shrink or peel off and then sand or clean the residue?

I doubt if heat will do any good. Just sand it off.

Good luck.....
 


















Thanks James, that will save me some time this summer.
 



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I was looking at doing the same thing. Awesome, I can get on that now! I also painted the bumper plastic, etc. Black, to get rid of that nasty grey.
 






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