Painting Upper Grill Trim Piece
 

Can it be done? I want to paint just the upper gloss-black trim piece on the top grill of my P5. I'll need to sand it down I'm sure, but what should I paint it with? I want a good match with the hood (like the Mazdaspeed Protege.)

Any suggestions appreciated.

Actually I found the one on the MazdaSpeed Pro. tends to look cheap. For some reason it doesn't seem to have a clearcoat over it in the couple of pictures I've seen. It doesn't reflect the same as the rest of the car.

But if you could get it to match the cars reflective properties than it would look awesome.

yes it can be removed and your flying M will pop off....you dont need to sand it,just get it with a coat of primer then spray it whatever color you want...have to be real careful though to get inside of the grill to make it look good

Slomo, I'm just talking about the trim piece. Not the whole grill.

go to your local auto shop and check out the paint called duplicolor ... the paint is the shiznit .. and works great, I have uses it on my calipers , my engine , lol ,, it rocks man ,,,
bruce

THIS, however is a bad idea....as slick as that part of your girll is...if you do NOT sand it to rough the surface before you prime it....sooner or later, most likely sooner, your paint will come peeling off....as the current surface is so slick the paint will not properly bond to the surface of the grill piece.

the duplicolor paint is decent as well, from my experience, as far as matching color..but to get a really good finish you will need to apply multiple coats over some time.....and get a clear coat to top it off with...

NOW, if you have access to a small spray kit, like an airbrush, which would be plenty for the small area you are talking about doing...another option for your paint would be to buy a few bottles of the touch up paint from the dealer....THAT would be an exact match....the bottles are $3.66 ea. USD

If you decide to do this please post up some pictures after you are done. :{D

Ok, I think I'm going to do it. I've got an airbrush, so I can just use the touch-up paint. What should I prime it with first though? What kind of clearcoat should I use? I'll definitly post pics when I'm done though!

go to a store that sells automotive paints....get the smallest container of primer you can...and the same goes for the clear.

What do you guys think about this color for the grill trim? Do you think it's overdone?
http://users.rcn.com/enamho1/mazda/grilltrimred.jpg

I think it looks alright, as long as other stuff is painted that color... I see the calipers are red too, that's cool!! Just don't leave the trim as the only thing painted, that wouldn't look right.

I don't really think the red looks good there.. Maybe it's just me, but it makes it look like the car got punched in the face and has a bloody nose or something.. It would work if more of the car was red, but that and the calipers alone don't look right in my eyes.

Good to get feedback. I did that in Photoshop. It's great to experiment and get some third party thoughts before actually doing it. I think I'll just leave it black for now (safe choice).

Perhaps yellow or blue might work better?
http://users.rcn.com/enamho1/mazda/grilltrimyellow.jpg

http://users.rcn.com/enamho1/mazda/grilltrimblue.jpg

Yuk... why not just paint it the car's color? Wouldn't that be a better choice and not look so ghetto?

Thanks for your opinion. Just throwing out ideas. Looks like this idea is headed for the trash bin. :)

Ya I understand.. I hope I didn't sound too condescending.

Btw, does anyone know if you can remove the Mazda logo from the grill? Is there grill behind the logo? As in, if I remove the logo, will there be a weird gaping hole or would it look like an aftermarket grill with no badge?