repainting plastic grills
 

Im getting ready to clean and paint the front grills from my 69 GTO and am not sure whats the best, easiest way to go. I was thinking I could lightly bead blast them to remove all paint and dirt but I dont want to screw em up.

Also what paints to use? I have found Eastwood's argent silver 10001z spraypaint but it's designed for rally wheels. Will this work on plastic and what primer if any should i use? Have not found a black paint yet. From what i've read it should be 60%gloss.
Thanks in advance.

I'm in the exact same boat. I am just getting ready to put my car back together and I am adding a hideaway headlight setup. I have purchased the proper chrome trim rings for the headlight doors and they have been rechromed so now I had to take in the chrome trim rings from the center grilles and get them rechromed. I purchased a set of repro center grilles but they are just cheap chromed palstic. Even the emblem on them is plastic so I figured I would refurb the originals and put them on.

I am going to black out the grilles and leave the trim and center strip silver. If I get them done before we get an answer here I will let you know how they turned out.

As for as I know you won't need to prime them. I wouldn't bead blast them for fear of damaging them. I figure I will just give them a light sand with a 200 grit or so and then give them a wash down and paint. I'm planning on using a chassis paint that I found that's pretty close to the factory 60% and then just find a paint that's as close to the silver that says on the can it can go on plastic.

I'll keep you posted

You really don't want to glass bead plastic. Try walnut shells or plastic bead if they really need to be blasted.

I have successfully repainted grilles in the past by doing nothing more than thoroughly cleaning/degreasing them then shooting paint. Of course, the grilles were in good condition and the factory paint was still adhering very well. If the paint that's on them is flaking/peeling or badly chipped then obviously it should be stripped to look best.

I just re-painted both of my grills for a non-hideaway head light system for a 69 GTO. I put both grills in the dishwasher for about 10 minutes to clean any dirt and grime off of them (Do not use the dry cycle). Since the original paint was not chipping off, I just sanded the entire painted surface with 600 grit sandpaper. I used silver dupli-color paint and it matched the original fairly close. For the black, I used Krylon semi-gloss and it matched exactly. If you need the paint numbers from spray cans, let me know!!

Dan

Thanks for the quick replies and ideas! Originally I wanted to match the silver exactly as it came from the factory since I do not plan on blacking out the grills and more silver will show. But if i cant find the exact color for the right application I will look for the dupli color paint. Eastwood has this exact color( argent silver ) but it shows the purpose is for rally II wheels. Do you know if this will work on plastic? I will eventually have to redo my wheels and do plan on getting the paint anyway but wasnt planned for another couple of months.
As for cleaning, I will try just sanding first and see how they look.

I cleaned mine up with soap and water and a scurb pad .
i got some paint from ACE Hardware store .a semi gloss paint that was formulated to stick to plastic and it has worked just fine . and the silver color was almost a perfect match to the correct color.

Hey David how's it going?

I'm just about ready to finally install the Hideaway headlight set up I bought from you. I bit the bullet and purchased new actuators only because of the degree that I am going to restoring the front half of the car. I'm pretty sure the ones you supplied will work but I wanted nice new ones in there so they look good and will give me no grief. I'll let you know how I make out with the installation.

H i Noob im doing fine thanks. im looking forword to seeing it .

I have a call into Eastwood to find out what they have to say about their paints. Specifically the Argent silver rally wheel paint as well as the Alumi Blast paint I already have. Question is whether these paints will work well on plastic parts. I also searched for plastic grill paint and came across this web site. Unsure if products are good or color is as original gto grill since this is mainly a mopar site. ( http://www.totallyautoinc.com/paints.html )

I had a closer look at my grilles today and thanks to Dan (Anselcop) I took the easy way and threw them in the dishwasher and they came out great. When I looked at them after they were cleaned I noticed that the silver paint on them is actually a metal flake. I'm pretty sure that it is the original paint and this is backed up by the fact that I purchased repro hideaway headlight doors and the paint that's on them is metal flake as well. Just thought I would let you know.

I didn't try the dishwasher yet. I cleaned upthe driverside grill with dishwashing soap and a stiff brush to get into each grill opening. After, I was left with very clean grill with gloss paint around the edges. Next I tried 600grit but paint kept clogging so I dropped to 320. AFter the 320, I moved to 600 and now it looks good ready for paint. Jury is still out on the paint.

I had a couple of cracks in my original grilles that I had to fix. I bought a product called Plastic Surgery. It's made by a company called Dominion Sure Seal Ltd. It says on the box "OEM approved and used plastic surgery the ultimate in plastic repair"

I bought the Rigid filler. It also comes in Flexible, Semi Rigid, Rigid Flex Bonder and Epoxo 89.

It's a 2 part epoxy that you mix and then put into the area to be repaired with a putty knife. The stuff is very easy to work with and doesn't set up too fast. It cures to the point that you can sand it in 30 minutes.

The stuff worked great. I filled the cracks sanded it down and now I can't even feel where the crack was.

i painted my 70 grills using eastwoods argent silver, and chassis black. used a bottle cleaning brush to get into the grill area. make sure to use a adhesion promoter for the plastic. i used a brand called "bulldog"

Thanks Noob and Ry57, sounds like 2 products i need to get! The paints you used ry are exactly what i was thinking would be the correct colors but just wasnt sure they would work on plastic. How does it look? Any peeling or issues? How long ago did you paint them? I just found info on Bull dog Adhesion promotor. The company that makes it is ( http://www.kleanstripauto.com/ ). Hopefully its available.

If you guys are intrested KRYLON make a product for painting Plastic its called Fushion it comes in spray cans and it is designed to stick to plastic .i painted my almost 2 years ago and they still look perfect .and its just as easy as going to the hardware store .they have a semi gloss silver and black .

If you guys want a detailed way to paint these, post your email addresses and I'll forward you the email that has the pdf file and pictures you need that I got from Robz. I think mine came out pretty good. Jeff

Thanks David and Jeff. I just ordered my paints from eastwood today. I have their argent silver and chassis black with 60% gloss on the way. Also I ordered their adhesion promotor as well. I'll post pics when done.

i have no peeling. just painted them over the winter. looks good.

Here is the pdf file that robz sent me.