DarrenWS6
The original Ford guy around here
For Christmas I bought myself a Roush F150 grill for $98 ( lucky sale, they retail usually $146 ). They are all chrome, and plastic much like OEM grills. I like it because it wont rust like un-maintained billet/aluminum grills will. I like chrome, but not on my truck. It would look horrible, but I want the straight thick bar grill, so whats the remedy? Paint the mother. I dont like paying labor charges and I'm more of a DIY guy, but I will NOT work in the freezing cold so I waited for the May weather to come around.
My first attempt I didn't do so well on. I scuffed all the chrome ( was hard to do with the $98 buy tag running through my head ) with some 150 grit and used 1 entire can of Krylon Fushion Gloss Black on it ( 4 layers ). I let it dry for 4 days but I had a bad feeling about it not lasting, which it didn't. I picked it up and it slipped out of my hand so I grabbed it tightly and when I did, some paint flaked. I was ticked but also happy about it because it gave me the chance to do it the proper way. I also believe I was tricked, I bought a can with a gloss black cap, but I think some little kid may have switched it onto a can of satin black instead because it just didn't look right, looked like a very deep charcol color.
I dry sanded it all down with more 150 grit with no mercy, blew it off with the leaf blower, sprayed it with Krylon Primer ( the grey colored one ), did two primer layers, dry scuffed it very lightly with 150 ( would have rathered used 500 but it didn't remove much primer ). Then I bought another Krylon Gloss Black can ( grabbed a can in the way back for assurance it was legit ) and sprayed on two layers. Looked fantastic. I wet sanded it with 1000 grit to remove some orange peel look and smooth it out more, then did 2 more layers a day later. The other night I just sprayed it with 3 light coats of Krylon clear and it looks fantastic. I will give it a few more days of sun baking before I install it but I think this will be a successful job. Lesson learned? Do it the right way first to save time and work.
Onto the photos. ( I used a fish eye lens so the sides are more blurred )
Heres the grill out the box.
After the first attempt.
After re-doing it with two layers.
And the final result after my week of hard work.
Now i'm anxious to install it!
My first attempt I didn't do so well on. I scuffed all the chrome ( was hard to do with the $98 buy tag running through my head ) with some 150 grit and used 1 entire can of Krylon Fushion Gloss Black on it ( 4 layers ). I let it dry for 4 days but I had a bad feeling about it not lasting, which it didn't. I picked it up and it slipped out of my hand so I grabbed it tightly and when I did, some paint flaked. I was ticked but also happy about it because it gave me the chance to do it the proper way. I also believe I was tricked, I bought a can with a gloss black cap, but I think some little kid may have switched it onto a can of satin black instead because it just didn't look right, looked like a very deep charcol color.
I dry sanded it all down with more 150 grit with no mercy, blew it off with the leaf blower, sprayed it with Krylon Primer ( the grey colored one ), did two primer layers, dry scuffed it very lightly with 150 ( would have rathered used 500 but it didn't remove much primer ). Then I bought another Krylon Gloss Black can ( grabbed a can in the way back for assurance it was legit ) and sprayed on two layers. Looked fantastic. I wet sanded it with 1000 grit to remove some orange peel look and smooth it out more, then did 2 more layers a day later. The other night I just sprayed it with 3 light coats of Krylon clear and it looks fantastic. I will give it a few more days of sun baking before I install it but I think this will be a successful job. Lesson learned? Do it the right way first to save time and work.
Onto the photos. ( I used a fish eye lens so the sides are more blurred )
Heres the grill out the box.
After the first attempt.
After re-doing it with two layers.
And the final result after my week of hard work.
Now i'm anxious to install it!
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