Today's mod....painting front emblem black. Its a boring mod, but I figured I would give some pics if people were interested. Its a bit more aggresive look. I am getting an Autoexe grill, but with shipping, paint, and install...it will be a while before it's in. So for now, I decided to do this cheap mod....could still use the emblem in the future. For a more perminant application, I would reccomend different painting options / better clear coat.
Here goes.
1) Home Depot: Steel Wool (optional), Goop Adhesive, Plastic Primer, and Gloss Black spraypaint. approx $10
2) Remove emblem with utility knife and flat-head screwdriver carefully. It is attached with grey foam adhesive. The adhesive should stick to the emblem and not the grill, if it sticks to the grill just scrape it off. Flip the emblem over, and use the utility knife to scrape the adhesive out of the grooves. Below is the final product.
3) Clean the surface of the emblem well. Use the coarse steel wool and rub the surface in which you intend to paint. This will slightly rough up the surface; nothing that will be noticeable once painted, but this will help the first coat of primer to stick, and not eventually crack off along with the top coat. Use fine steel wool between coats of primer if you wish, but not between coats of paint. Below are pictures of primer and paint. The paint I chose was very glossy and shiny. Light hits it well on the road. Paint the black heavy and keep your eyes for overspray which causes orange-peel effect on already painted portion.
4) Goop adhesive is very viscous....so use some small tool to "press" it into the groove on the back of the emblem. It will stay in there pretty good. Flip the emblem upright and press it into place, cleaning up any Goop that seeps out. Let it sit overnight or as long as you can before driving it. Below is the final product.
More pics of my car will be taken at a nicer location than a parking lot, and after my lowering springs are on. So keep an eye out if you wish to see the rest. If you are looking for a more perminant application, use many coats of clear-coat to keep the rocks and bugs from chipping away paint.
Very Glossy - almost looks like black chrome. Flat paint might even look good on the flat black grill.
Hope you all enjoyed. Soon my front end will look nothing like this. I hate the factory grills.
Here goes.
1) Home Depot: Steel Wool (optional), Goop Adhesive, Plastic Primer, and Gloss Black spraypaint. approx $10
2) Remove emblem with utility knife and flat-head screwdriver carefully. It is attached with grey foam adhesive. The adhesive should stick to the emblem and not the grill, if it sticks to the grill just scrape it off. Flip the emblem over, and use the utility knife to scrape the adhesive out of the grooves. Below is the final product.
3) Clean the surface of the emblem well. Use the coarse steel wool and rub the surface in which you intend to paint. This will slightly rough up the surface; nothing that will be noticeable once painted, but this will help the first coat of primer to stick, and not eventually crack off along with the top coat. Use fine steel wool between coats of primer if you wish, but not between coats of paint. Below are pictures of primer and paint. The paint I chose was very glossy and shiny. Light hits it well on the road. Paint the black heavy and keep your eyes for overspray which causes orange-peel effect on already painted portion.
4) Goop adhesive is very viscous....so use some small tool to "press" it into the groove on the back of the emblem. It will stay in there pretty good. Flip the emblem upright and press it into place, cleaning up any Goop that seeps out. Let it sit overnight or as long as you can before driving it. Below is the final product.
More pics of my car will be taken at a nicer location than a parking lot, and after my lowering springs are on. So keep an eye out if you wish to see the rest. If you are looking for a more perminant application, use many coats of clear-coat to keep the rocks and bugs from chipping away paint.
Very Glossy - almost looks like black chrome. Flat paint might even look good on the flat black grill.
Hope you all enjoyed. Soon my front end will look nothing like this. I hate the factory grills.
