Best Paint for Grill/Trim

[nitroracer]

Im thinking about painting my headlight bezels and grill black. What method and type of paint do you guys recomend so I dont have to redo this job in a couple weeks from kamakazi bugs.

[monterey1962]

When I did the front end of my old F-150, I scrubbed it down real good, then laid down coats of Rustoleum Semi-Gloss Black, followed by a couple coats of Duplicolor Clearcoat. It held up good when cleaning with a pressure washer, too.

Before

After

On the '91 GM, I used Krylon Satin Black for plastics. The only thing that I messed up on was that I should have used an adhesion promoter. Reason is, while following a truck, dirt got kicked up and chipped some of the paint off. Not much, but I will have to repaint it sooner or later.

Before

After

I would recommend doing it the way I did the F-150. It held up much better than the '91's did.

[nitroracer]

Did your rough it up with sand paper or just clean it really well?

[monterey1962]

For the F-150, I just scrubbed it down good. For the '91 GM, I used a 320 grit sandpaper (one of those wet sand, sponge type) and went over it lightly. Mainly to get the grime off of the plastic.

[zwack88]

When I did my dads grille on the merc I sanded it down to give the primer something to grip on to. After I sanded it down I washed it up really good with Dawn. Great degreaser and really cheap. Then primed and painted it.

[Grand Marquis GT]

I love that truck, mang...

[boXman]

Krylon Fusion for plastics...clean and paint, no prep needed. Just be careful it likes to run on chrome at first.

[nitroracer]

I took some 400 grit to the trim and hit it with satin black krylon fusion.



Inspiration

The guy who owns this 83' Bird bought my Zephyr.

[zwack88]

That will looks sweet with the blackout and the amber lenses you made.