my initial plan was to paint it, but I put it on and just thought it looked perfect....i think everyone who sees it in person likes the way the CF contrasts with the orange and breaks up the color as opposed to having such "vast expanses' of the orange on the front. I also wanted to paint the raised sides but didnt think that would look complete without a CF grill, and after shopping it around, it became apparent that having a layer of CF laid over my autoexe might be more $$ than i wanted to spend on it. But DGM is doing a run of CF grills now so maybe ill paint the sides for next spring
as for the lip.....fitment was a hoe. every aspect of installing the lip scratched my bumper. all kinds of scratches and scrapes and all kinds of spicy orange missing from my stock bumper now. I also needed to sand down the driver's side to get it to fit, and even then we were pryin it and pryin it and bendin and stretchin and i was grtiin my teeth waitin to hear a SNAP
the top part of the grill is black to start with but you should still probably paint it to make sure it matched right.
also worth noting you can see through the single layer of CF in some areas and there are a lot of imperfectoins in it
nothing you notice in pics or when looking, but when i opened the box when i received it, i was like durrrrr