shadow1690

Hey folks, this is my first ever post, so, HI!!!!

I have a white 2003 lancer ES with the stock grill which is pretty grim in all honesty. I'd quite like to paint the chrome and the plastic parts white to match the rest of my chassis, and paint the mitsubishi logo red.

I've never painted any part of a car before and would be very grateful if someone could offer some advice on what i need to do to do it properly. What do i need besides the correct color of paint? do i need any special paint for the plastic parts? Do i need to prep the chrome before i paint it?

anyone else who has done custom grill work before, is it easy to remove the plastic bars altogether and stick in a nice looking bit of mesh instead?

any ideas or pointers towards painting tutorials would be greatly appreciated. thanks.



by the way, i get to pop my painting cherry tomorrow as some cheeky monkey scrapped my rear bumper this morning with a dirty old chevy piece of crap!!! grrrrrrrrrr.

shadow1690

anyone?

FaLLeNAn9eL

ur gunna need a screw driver, sand paper, and a can of paint. remove the grill, there should be 4-6 screws holding the grill to the hood. there are rubber stoppers that need to be removed to reveal the 2 hidden screws. once the grill is removed, sand down the crome part and paint it. the plastic fins wont need to be sanded down. use mulitple coats for the best results. good luck

fkrzo

I painted my chrome part black. just cleaned it with water and used krylon. After about a month I noticed a few small chips but I can always give it another coat. If I did it again I would probably give it a light sanding with 600 grit.

FaLLeNAn9eL

thats why u sand down the crome part. so the paint will stick to the grill and wont chip off

pumpdog720

iTrader: (1)

Well the grill comes apart very easy.. just unbolting it. I don't think you should put mesh behind it, I think it will look better with the stock plastic pieces.

I didn't really prep my grill. All I did was clean REAL GOOD, of any dirt so your paint won't ship off. Then primered it with a few coats. Then used engine paint to paint it flat black. I just taped off the mitsu symbol so that won't be painted. Pretty easy to tape off, I guess if you have patience.

Edit: Mine hasn't chipped yet, not sure if it's because of the primer or because I used 500 degree engine paint, might stick better than regualr paint. But just to be cautious you could sand of fthe chrome. Also sent ya a PM.

shadow1690

thanks folks, it's so much more fun doing little mods yourself than going to a body shop. Might let a professional take care of the spoiler tho


thanks again

pumpdog720

iTrader: (1)

If you have a paint gun, do it yourself! Heh.. don't use spray paint... Spray paint is probably ok for the grill though. Nothing too big though.

kromix

iTrader: (2)

It comes out fine I did mine and it came out perfect and is holding together like it was out of a dealership...

Sand down the chrome, primer, sand down again, primer again, and give it 3-4 coats.. Clearcoat if you want to, I didn't because I didn't want shine... Came out PERFECT.

trick to removing the Mitsu logo from the grill without breaking it: Blow Dryer, heat it up, from the front and the back till its too hot to touch and then pry it up a little little bit and get dental floss behind it, then just floss it out... works perfect.

KarlsLancer

I just taped off my mitsu embolym and took out my grill, painted them both blue to match my car. looks nice!

jedimaster

i painted my grill blue to match my car and i did it like anyone else on this forum.
i suggest using TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) to clean the grill. it will remove any grease, dirt, oil and crap off the gril.