How do you paint the grille and emblems?

[Saskatchewan17]

What kind of paint and prep procedures should be used to get a nice, even matte finish on both the grille and front and rear emblems of the car. And how should the grille be taken off (if that's even possible). It seems to me that the grille is part of the whole bumper and can't be taken off. So should it just be tapet off carefully, sanded and then painted? Please help me out here guys, I really want to do this soon.

 

[ViPeR689]

I don't actually own an MS3, so take this with a grain of salt, but I believe there are clips holding the front emblem on onto the grill which can be accessed on the back of the grill.

As for the rear emblems, my friend took his off by using dental floss.

 

[cpolly69]

i used flat black krylon fusion for plastic, i did no prep b/c that's what it recommended - i just scrubbed them with soap and water
i've been pretty happy with mine - i got a couple chips on the front one - but to be honest i don't think there's any paint that will not chip from a rock or something
the front one is cake to take off - there are 6 little tabs you just have to push in from the outsides toward the center of the it - you can kind of do them one at at a time and pull a little on the front at the same time - be careful not to push too hard they are thin plastic and will break - there's no need to take off the grill there's a nice big hole you can reach into right in front of the hood latch

for the back one you will need either some fishing line, a credit card or i like to use a bondo scraper (carefully) and some goo gone - it's held on by adhesive tape around the edges and in the center there are 2 little holes it just sits in -
so you just have to carefully go around the edges and it will come off
to put it back on use 3m adhesive tape - i used a roll i had and cut it into little pieces to go around the whole thing

 

[Saskatchewan17]

i used flat black krylon fusion for plastic, i did no prep b/c that's what it recommended - i just scrubbed them with soap and water
i've been pretty happy with mine - i got a couple chips on the front one - but to be honest i don't think there's any paint that will not chip from a rock or something
the front one is cake to take off - there are 6 little tabs you just have to push in from the outsides toward the center of the it - you can kind of do them one at at a time and pull a little on the front at the same time - be careful not to push too hard they are thin plastic and will break - there's no need to take off the grill there's a nice big hole you can reach into right in front of the hood latch

for the back one you will need either some fishing line, a credit card or i like to use a bondo scraper (carefully) and some goo gone - it's held on by adhesive tape around the edges and in the center there are 2 little holes it just sits in -
so you just have to carefully go around the edges and it will come off
to put it back on use 3m adhesive tape - i used a roll i had and cut it into little pieces to go around the whole thing

Thanks, that is very informative. Is that paint a matte finish though?

 

[Saskatchewan17]

Oops, never mind, I see that they sell a flat black version. Thanks.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

& how much per can was it? And the tape? Where did you buy the stuff? Sorry for all the questions haha, I just want to have all my bases covered before I do this (probably tommorow, maybe the day after).

 

[cpolly69]

think i just got the paint at walmart and i wanna say it might have been $5

 

[Kindred]

It seems to me that the grille is part of the whole bumper and can't be taken off.

Yup.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

think i just got the paint at walmart and i wanna say it might have been $5

Yeah I found the paint at Walmart, and a coot matte finish clear coat. But I was unable to buy it (I guess you have to be 17 to buy spray paint).

 

[Saskatchewan17]

I'm in the process of painting them now.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

All done!

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4644776&postcount=2892

 

[cpolly69]

let me know if that matte finish helps with the rocks/chips - i'm gonna paint my front ones again soon and will do that as well if it makes a diff.

 

[PCspeed3]

Use plasti-dip for a matte finish, its basically a spary paint form of rubber. I didnt even sand my emblem, I just sprayed 3 coats of PD on and it lasts forever. Get it in the spray paint section of Home Depot...

 

[Hank3]

All done!

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4644776&postcount=2892

Looks good!!! I think I might do mine in charcoal/graphite soon. So the front one clips back in so adhesive is not needed. How about the rear emblem? What adhesive did you use? I have 3M double-sided tape, but trimming would be kind of hard I would imagine.