Make a donation

Author Topic: Painted my grills - great results  (Read 6965 times)

Offline shail

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 32
  • Posts: 435
  • My Ride: http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,99663.msg979899.html#msg979899
Painted my grills - great results
« on: June 12, 2018, 09:30:19 pm »
Decided to paint my grill and fog surrounds.

Bought bumper paint from Amazon - Autotek spray can. This stuff stinks - I sprayed in the garden, I wouldn't recommend using this spray indoors / in garage.

Results are good - grey is now black! 

IMG_20180612_195349" border="0
IMG_20180612_195357" border="0
IMG_20180612_204755" border="0
IMG_20180612_204809" border="0

Offline Nardoblue

  • Taking part
  • ***
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 2
  • -Receive: 2
  • Posts: 28
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2018, 09:33:23 pm »
Results looks fantastic, thanks for the heads up on the smell. One of those jobs that mak the car look fresh again

Offline shail

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 32
  • Posts: 435
  • My Ride: http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,99663.msg979899.html#msg979899
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2018, 09:49:36 pm »
Results looks fantastic, thanks for the heads up on the smell. One of those jobs that mak the car look fresh again

Further heads up: if your car is anything like mine the clips are very brittle on the grills and badges. Managed to break quite a few, and I was being careful.

Also, there are 4 screws holding the top part of the grill- 2 at top and 2 at bottom.  I didn't see the bottom ones so broke the bottom clips.

Offline Caspersmith

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 0
  • -Receive: 2
  • Posts: 71
    • Email
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2018, 10:17:20 pm »
Results looks fantastic, thanks for the heads up on the smell. One of those jobs that mak the car look fresh again

Further heads up: if your car is anything like mine the clips are very brittle on the grills and badges. Managed to break quite a few, and I was being careful.

Also, there are 4 screws holding the top part of the grill- 2 at top and 2 at bottom.  I didn't see the bottom ones so broke the bottom clips.
Looking good, cheers for heads up. Mine desperately need doing.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


Offline Chesto18

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 4
  • -Receive: 1
  • Posts: 130
    • Email
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2018, 12:03:34 pm »
Looks great. How many cans did it take? Does it just go straight on?

Offline shail

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 32
  • Posts: 435
  • My Ride: http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,99663.msg979899.html#msg979899
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2018, 01:16:08 pm »
Looks great. How many cans did it take? Does it just go straight on?

Used less than 1 can to do the grills and the fog surround.   The can is 500ml, so bigger than the normal rattle cans you buy in Halfords.

I just cleaned the grills with soap - needed to scrub inside each hole as there was moss growing in each of the 'corners', then sprayed straight on.  Can says no primer needed, but looking at the data sheet it recommends a 'adhesion promoter' - whatever that is!  Time will tell if it stays stuck, but for £8 im not worried.

Took a few coats and had to spray at lots of angles to get at each side of the hexagon shapes.

Offline GTIEagles

  • Won't Shut up.
  • *****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 10
  • -Receive: 22
  • Posts: 582
    • Email
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2018, 03:05:49 pm »
Good call. I was thinking about doing something similar to mine as it ages the car so badly!

Does it leave a hard finish? How did you remove the red trim from the grill?

Offline Dogma

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 5
  • -Receive: 15
  • Posts: 233
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2018, 04:51:39 pm »
Looking good


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
MK5 ED30

Offline shail

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 32
  • Posts: 435
  • My Ride: http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,99663.msg979899.html#msg979899
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2018, 06:07:34 pm »
Good call. I was thinking about doing something similar to mine as it ages the car so badly!

Does it leave a hard finish? How did you remove the red trim from the grill?

Finish is like a normal paint.  I masked off the red line as I don't think it's easy to remove.

Offline Chesto18

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 4
  • -Receive: 1
  • Posts: 130
    • Email
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2018, 10:11:03 pm »
Just bought a can. Let’s see what happens!

Offline pudding

  • Global Moderator
  • Just look at my post count
  • *
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 2
  • -Receive: 670
  • Posts: 8228
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #10 on: June 15, 2018, 05:57:31 pm »
Nice one!  Definitely makes a difference.  I notice most current VAGs have a glossy finish on the grilles, so maybe they are finally catching on that plastics don't stay black for ever!


2007 ED30 | 2009 TDI 140 | 2016 BMW 330D

Offline shail

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 32
  • Posts: 435
  • My Ride: http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,99663.msg979899.html#msg979899
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #11 on: June 15, 2018, 08:41:29 pm »
I've managed to totally muller the Gti badge on the grill.  Going to have to fix it somehow, as I'm not paying £25+ for a new one!

Broke all 3 tabs on it - going to try super glue + baking soda trick.

Offline WarrenVrs

  • Can't Read PM's Yet!
  • *
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 0
  • -Receive: 0
  • Posts: 6
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #12 on: June 15, 2018, 08:43:58 pm »
Is it a bumper off job to remove the grills? Most of the cars I've looked at have the grey, faded grills

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


Offline Sessions

  • Taking part
  • ***
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 0
  • -Receive: 0
  • Posts: 29
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2018, 09:42:30 pm »
Great job

Offline shail

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 32
  • Posts: 435
  • My Ride: http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,99663.msg979899.html#msg979899
Re: Painted my grills - great results
« Reply #14 on: June 17, 2018, 10:05:42 pm »
Is it a bumper off job to remove the grills? Most of the cars I've looked at have the grey, faded grills

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

No.

Top part of grill:
Open bonnet.
2 screws to remove at top of grill - torx ones
2 screws just below never plate
Then it will pull out as it's clipped in - just be careful and try and find where clips are.

Bottom part
Clipped in top and bottom. You can get a screwdriver behind to push the tabs down.

Fog grill:
1 screw in each covers then just pulls off.