hihoslva

I originally posted this as a reply to another post about the grilles, but I thought I'd post it as a new thread for more visibility. Sorry for the re-post, and also sorry if you think my idea sux. I'd love to hear some opinions, as well as some thoughts from anyone who tries this:

Here's a trick I used to spice up the plastic grille on an old Camaro I had.

Took a little bit of time, but well worth it and pretty easy, too.

Take off the grilles and use masking tape to tape off all of the front exposed edges - this might take some time, but do it right. Make sure every edge that faces the front of the car is taped well - but only those edges. The tape can hang off on either side of each piece, but don't wrap it around on to the other surfaces.

Pick a color of paint - preferably spray paint. Match or complement the color of your ride - it's your choice. Get the best quality paint you can find - automotive paint from a body shop would be best, but a real high quality exterior spray paint will do fine.

Spray the grille from the INSIDE, laying the face (all of the taped edges) downward. Take your time - just use dusting coats, make sure the insides of each cell of the grille pattern gets painted. Take a full day and do as many coats as it takes to fully cover all the black surfaces. Go REALLY light with each coat - any drips will ruin the whole shebang.

Once it dries, peel the tape from the front edges. What you will have now is a colored grille with all of the front-facing edges black- unpainted. It really makes the grille stand out, and gives it a more agressive look.

I have NOT yet done this to my P5 - but I probably will soon. I just have to find the time. When I get it done, I will post some pics somewhere. It definitely looked bad-*** on my '79 Camaro (love my P5, but still miss my 'maro). I actually did the opposite on the Camaro - the grille was the same color as the body, so I painted all of the inside surfaces black, but the procedure is the same and it should look nice.

The better the paint, the longer it'll last, but you might have to re-coat at some point. And if you somehow screw up (drips, bad masking, etc.) you can always paint the grille black again and start over or do something else. All in all, a cheap and reversible mod.