Those of you that have painted the rear surround yourself

jdmans101

jdmans101

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I'm feeling pretty bored lately with the LS so I have been thinking about painting the surround and chrome on the grille black. For those of you that have did this, what was the best way to get it looking great. Figure black is a pretty easy color to accomplish so any decent rattle can should be good? Or should I get color matched paint? As far as prep goes, should I sand down the chrome or just clean well and apply? Any suggestions would be great.
 
You should absolutely sand the chrome. I would highly recommend buying the paint from an automotive paint store. Most suppliers can sell you the proper color for the car in a rattle can. Sand the chrome with a 600 grit, clean it well with wax and grease remover, primer it, base and clear. It is easy to get a good finish this way if you practice on some other part. The rattle can clear has a shelf life of about 24 hours once you release the catalyst into the can, so you'll want to practice and complete the job in one day unless you buy two cans of clear. For the grill and rear surround, you should need no more then one can of primer, base and clear.
 
BTW, you don't have to sand the chrome off, you just want to make sure you sand all of it to take shine off of it and make it rough.
 
NickT88LSC said:
They sell a self etching primer which would be good to use, adheres better, less chance of peeling if done right.
Click to expand...

Yes, etch primer or even epoxy primer are your best bet. Both of these use a catalyst and i'm not sure if they come in a spray can form or not. My PPG supplier doesn't carry them in a spray can on the shelf but, they might still be available.
 
basics....
sand
flex primer
base coat
clear....remember to do heavy "wet" coats on clear after one or two light.
then rubbing compound. Polish and wax after a month :cool:
 
Paintscratch sells everything you need in a spray can, even the clear coat with the catalyst that dries harder and is suppose to not need compound to make it shine like reg clear, I haven't used it yet though.
 
I've told people about this before and one of the best preps on chrome/ fake chrome/ plastic etc. after sanding is using BullDog adhesion promoter. After all the prep is complete, you spray a coat of this on and then about 10-15 minutes later you spray on your paint.

It works really good and after two years, the paint is still hanging on and looks great. I'm a big believer in this stuff, makes the paint stick very well. For example I painted my valve covers ford blue when I put the engine back together and it also still looks great.

Just my .03 cents. :p

glue%202.jpg
 
^ hmm might have to go get some of that stuff then, thanks.
I will get the paint from paintscratch, the more I think about this the more I just want to buy an LSE grille lol :)
 
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