Painted the chrome in my grille black

Blckshdw

Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
The contrast is good.

:undecided: One thing I might have tried, was mask off the "Buick" on the front, so that stayed chrome, with the blacked out grille. That might have looked good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mcsteven

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
Blckshdw said:
The contrast is good.

:undecided: One thing I might have tried, was mask off the "Buick" on the front, so that stayed chrome, with the blacked out grille. That might have looked good.

Understandable. I'm just not a real big fan of chrome. I think that would've given it the "custom chrome lettering from autozone" look. If anything, i could maybe try to find either a gunmetal color or the indigo color of the truck to do the lettering with. Just ideas. :undecided:
 

Chevy4ever

Member
Mar 19, 2014
65
Wow, that sunvisor on your car, above your windshield? Is that Buick only? I love it!
 

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
Chevy4ever said:
Wow, that sunvisor on your car, above your windshield? Is that Buick only? I love it!

Actually it came off of an 02 TB. Got an amazing deal on it for $50. They're hard to find cheap, so i had to jump on it!
 

patrick

Member
Feb 17, 2013
26
JamesL3 said:
Actually it came off of an 02 TB. Got an amazing deal on it for $50. They're hard to find cheap, so i had to jump on it!

Got a manufacturer name, for someone interested in searching for one?
 

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
:undecided:
patrick said:
Got a manufacturer name, for someone interested in searching for one?

It's a Lund Visor, I don't know the p/n of the top of my head, but ill post it when I get it.
 

mcsteven

Member
Apr 18, 2012
6,584
JamesL3 said:
Understandable. I'm just not a real big fan of chrome. I think that would've given it the "custom chrome lettering from autozone" look. If anything, i could maybe try to find either a gunmetal color or the indigo color of the truck to do the lettering with. Just ideas. :undecided:
I had to go back and glad I reread this post. I was going to say I'd have those letters the same blue as the truck. Looks good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JamesL3

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
mcsteven said:
I had to go back and glad I reread this post. I was going to say I'd have those letters the same blue as the truck. Looks good.
Thanks. Still a work in progress. Working on picking up some indigo blue metallic to do the visor and letters with. It's going to be such a PITA to mask those off. I'll be worth it though.
 

Blckshdw

Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
If you have a decently steady hand, and an Xacto knife or razor blade, it shouldn't be too bad masking the letters off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JamesL3

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
Blckshdw said:
If you have a decently steady hand, and an Xacto knife or razor blade, it shouldn't be too bad masking the letters off.
The cutting isn't the issue. Protecting the paint i'm masking off from the blade i'm cutting with is the issue. Hopefully i can get this done relatively soon. And of course post pics when i'm done!
Off topic for a sec: I like the "Light emitting mod bug breeder title". Suiting as how your setup is making me want to do something similar! Looks awesome man.
 

Blckshdw

Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
JamesL3 said:
The cutting isn't the issue. Protecting the paint i'm masking off from the blade i'm cutting with is the issue. Hopefully i can get this done relatively soon. And of course post pics when i'm done!
So that's paint and not plastidip then? If so, I think you'll be fine. As long as you keep the blade in the groove of where the lettering meets the base of the grille, it shouldn't cause any major visible damage, since the exposed areas are where your blue paint will fill in. If you're using painters tape, or masking tape, it should cut relatively easily without requiring a ton of force, so you shouldn't go through the tape far enough to gouge out the paint below. Are you gonna clear the whole thing when you're done? I think they sell a matte finish clear if that's the look you want to keep.


Off topic for a sec: I like the "Light emitting mod bug breeder title". Suiting as how your setup is making me want to do something similar! Looks awesome man.


:thankyou: I wanted something unique, but fitting. Getting a little bored with some of my setup though and want to change/upgrade. Maybe later this summer... :undecided:
 
  • Like
Reactions: JamesL3

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
Blckshdw said:
So that's paint and not plastidip then? If so, I think you'll be fine. As long as you keep the blade in the groove of where the lettering meets the base of the grille, it shouldn't cause any major visible damage, since the exposed areas are where your blue paint will fill in. If you're using painters tape, or masking tape, it should cut relatively easily without requiring a ton of force, so you shouldn't go through the tape far enough to gouge out the paint below. Are you gonna clear the whole thing when you're done? I think they sell a matte finish clear if that's the look you want to keep.





:thankyou: I wanted something unique, but fitting. Getting a little bored with some of my setup though and want to change/upgrade. Maybe later this summer... :undecided:
Yes, just paint at the moment. I bought plasti-dip, but haven't tried it out yet. I'm hesitant since i've never tried it. I'm planning on spraying it with clear, but wanted to wait until i was set on the scheme.
 

Hypnotoad

Member
Dec 5, 2011
1,584
I like the look of the black letters. I'll try and Photoshop something up a little later if you wanna see it before spending all that time on it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JamesL3

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
Hypnotoad said:
I change my mind, I like it painted.
Painted indigo or black? i'm starting to lean toward the indigo myself. I have no photoshop capabilities so that'd be great!
 

Hypnotoad

Member
Dec 5, 2011
1,584
JamesL3 said:
Painted indigo or black? i'm starting to lean toward the indigo myself. I have no photoshop capabilities so that'd be great!
Indigo.

You can't see the picture I put up? Am I the only one that can see it or something?
 

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
Hypnotoad said:
Indigo.

You can't see the picture I put up? Am I the only one that can see it or something?
My bad, overlooked that! Looks like a winner there! Gonna do the license plate box the same scheme!
 

mcsteven

Member
Apr 18, 2012
6,584
Hypnotoad said:
I change my mind, I like it painted.
yeeeeeaaaahhhhhh. :thumbsup:

James - delaying on plastidip because you haven't used it before? Easiest thing in the can to use. And if you mess up something, let it dry and peel it off. I over sprayed a little, so I ended up cutting it off, then did a clear coat to sort of "tape" it down. Grab a small block of wood even to see it in use. Use a bunch of coats, and though the can says something like 2 or 4 hours between to dry, you can probably get away with 15-30 minutes if you are in a relatively warm and dry area.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JamesL3

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
mcsteven said:
yeeeeeaaaahhhhhh. :thumbsup:

James - delaying on plastidip because you haven't used it before? Easiest thing in the can to use. And if you mess up something, let it dry and peel it off. I over sprayed a little, so I ended up cutting it off, then did a clear coat to sort of "tape" it down. Grab a small block of wood even to see it in use. Use a bunch of coats, and though the can says something like 2 or 4 hours between to dry, you can probably get away with 15-30 minutes if you are in a relatively warm and dry area.
I just worry since i don't have backup or spare parts to use. Don't want to ruin the only thing i have! I saw someone (maybe you) say they used clear over plastidip. Does it have the same effect as clear over regular paint? Just interested to see how that works. I am most likely going to be doing my wheels in black. I want to get the technique down before dedicating time and $ to that. I appreciate the advice though! Maybe this weekend i'll take a swing at it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mcsteven

mcsteven

Member
Apr 18, 2012
6,584
JamesL3 said:
I just worry since i don't have backup or spare parts to use. Don't want to ruin the only thing i have! I saw someone (maybe you) say they used clear over plastidip. Does it have the same effect as clear over regular paint? Just interested to see how that works. I am most likely going to be doing my wheels in black. I want to get the technique down before dedicating time and $ to that. I appreciate the advice though! Maybe this weekend i'll take a swing at it.
If you don't like what you've created, you just peel off the plasti-dip. If you are spraying it on chromed plastic I'd test it a little first. I don't have experience in pulling it off chromed plastic, but when I painted my grille, I just trimmed it a little where I oversprayed. I used regular clear coat, not any clear plasti-dip. Like I said, try it with a piece of wood or create a new handle for a tool. And after it drys, just peel it off if you want to see how easy it comes off when you want it to come off. Someone on here plasti-dip'd their wheels and they reposted at 6 months that even using the drive through car wash, the wheel still looked great. There area few ways to do the wheels. Some folks on here have put up good step by step posts, and there are a ton on YouTube that show how easy it is. One shows you how to do it without even taking the wheel off the car. I looked for it and found it again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek1mRhEIbHA

And if you want to mask stuff off, take a look at this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPEzDDul1Zk
 

JamesL3

Original poster
Member
Oct 16, 2013
401
Northfield, OH
A very helpful nudge toward trying it out! Once I have free time between work, the wife and kids, ill be more than willing to take a swing at it. I told my wife if she really wants to give me something for Father's Day, give me a free pass to work on my truck! Or multiple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mcsteven

Forum Statistics

Threads
23,273
Posts
637,498
Members
18,472
Latest member
MissCrutcher

Members Online

No members online now.