Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - Printable Version

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - Printable Version

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Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - torradan - 03-13-2006

Things I do when I get bored...

And I like the ST's grill a whole lot more than mine.. so $10 and a couple hours later..

Yeah, I know the car is dirty.

[Image: grill.jpg]

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - euro_zx5 - 03-13-2006

Looks great! How about posting a step by step how to for the rest of the 05 owners?

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - torradan - 03-13-2006

Quicky step-by-step instructions:

Tools:
[Image: tools.jpg]

Beer, 10mm socket, philips head screwdriver, black paint, clearcoat paint.

Step 1:
Locate the 3 screws holding the plastic shroud over the radiator. They're plastic screws with plastic I dunno what they're called around them. The screws come out pretty easy, and then pop the shroud up. The little plastic (retainers?) will pop out. Put that somewhere, and don't lose anything.

[Image: grill-step1.jpg]

Step 2: There are 2 10mm bolts holding the whole grill on. Remove both of those. Now ease the grill forward. There are two clips holding the bottom of the grill, below the hood latch. I couldn't find them easily, but I pulled the grill forward and they popped out.

[Image: grill-step2.jpg]

Step 3: You can either mask the middle portion of the grill off, or what I did was cut out the little retainers that seem to hold the clips of the middle part of the grill onto the chrome outer grill. They're just plastic nubs that press against the clips. Just use a utility knife and cut them off, they're useless.

Step 4: I buffed the chrome up a bit with some 400 grit sandpaper to give the paint something to stick to.

Step 4.2: Wash it!. I used dishsoap and a sponge to get the grit, dirt, grease, fingerprints and stuff off.. then rinsed it in the shower. then dry it off nicely and let it hang out a bit to dry completely.

Step 4.7432: Prime it!

Step 5: Paint! I used about 5 thin coats of spray paint, allowing about 10 minutes per coat to dry.

Step 6: Paint some more! Again, about 5 thin coats of clearcoat.

Then I let it dry for a good couple of hours (probably more than necessary).. pop the center back in, and reinstall.

Didn't take a picture of the backside of the grill, but you'll see where the clips are (they're chrome and maybe 10 total) and the little plastic bits in the holes. It still fits in pretty tight without those annoying plastic bits.

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - Frost__2001 - 03-13-2006

I like it too, I always hated that crome trim around the grille it looks so out of place on the 05+ foci.

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - paolo - 03-13-2006

on the '05-06 the chrome is the surround? not the entire grille?

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - habmann - 03-13-2006

Looks way better now. Chrome and a focus just never worked for me.

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - SVT ZX3 - 03-13-2006

habmann,Mar 12 2006, 03:08 PM Wrote:Looks way better now. Chrome and a focus just never worked for me.
[right][snapback]174610[/snapback][/right]

I have to agree with that.

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - torradan - 03-13-2006

paolo,Mar 12 2006, 04:53 PM Wrote:on the '05-06 the chrome is the surround? not the entire grille?
[right][snapback]174608[/snapback][/right]

Yeah the center is just black plastic, nothing special.

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - meford4u - 03-13-2006

From the paint kinda expert. Did you scuff up the chrome before painting? Did you use a primer?
It will be interesting to see how long the pain holds up, because paint does not normally adhere well to chrome.
But it looks alot better Todd. :banger:

And love the fact you need beer to do this mod. Just like work.......

I am kidding now.

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - torradan - 03-13-2006

The beer was just to pass the time.

I scuffed the hell out of the chrome, got it nice and dull and scratchy. I forgot to pick up primer, so I used some of the primer I use for my trains and put it through the airbrush.. we'll see how well it holds up.

Byebye Annoying Chrome Grill! - nass - 03-14-2006

torradan,Mar 12 2006, 08:01 PM Wrote:Quicky step-by-step instructions:

Tools:

[right][snapback]174602[/snapback][/right]

take pictures before comsuming the beer otherwise pics may become blurred :)

looks nice... when painting all the work is in the prepping. Scimp here and your end product will look like ass