Silverstar Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 nice stealth job....that FMIC is ghost! and good work with the grille. much better than my attempt at modding my OEM grille. Id say throw on a front lip and your front end will be complete I love the look of front lips, but I'm worried what my driveway would do to it. The bottom of the bumper already has quite a few scrapes. I'm not sure how these guys with front lips do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSiWRX Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 ^ Approach, and depart, from an angle. That's the biggest trick. But if you have really tall driveway aprons or weird entry/departure angles in your area, you might not be able to avoid occasional contact, no matter how you do it. <-- I love Winky, my "periwinkle" (ABP) LGT! - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges '16 Outback, '16 WRX, 7th Subaru Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerboa113 Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 the bottom of my bumper is rougher than sandpaper and is black. its all my fault tho. I've "run aground" so many times because of my own stupidity.. I have no one to blame. I dont worry about it, I cant see under there anyway. one time I actually went around someone and ran into a ditch that I didn't know was there. they paved into it! its not ALL my fault! it looked like road. lifted the front wheel off the ground.. oh man hiram is a dangerous place fora non-pickup truck. 90% of the damage thats happened to my car in the last 3 years has happened in hiram. 100% of it has been my own fault. anyone ever try to vynil around the chrome trim ring? I was gonna do the wings but I want the ring black too and I dont know if I could do that one myself. Especially since it wont come off on 05s. "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDawg Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 has anyone with a BSM kept the chrome trim? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagheeraLGT Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 I love the look of front lips, but I'm worried what my driveway would do to it. The bottom of the bumper already has quite a few scrapes. I'm not sure how these guys with front lips do it. yea man, i hear ya. it really depends how road conditions are in your area. Im sure you know of the DIY front lips (im sure Tsi can vouch- as he seems to love them) you could slap on of those on as a test...just to see how much contact you might have. if you think it could work out you could always then decide to go for it. Im gonna pick up a RavSpec PU front lip in about a week.... those seem pretty durable and mabye something youd wanna look into if you havent yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSiWRX Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 ^ That DIY front-lip test might not be a bad idea, it at least gives you some clue as to just how bad things can go. If you've got a clear day or two, you might even try the old chalking trick, to see how much rubs off. The one problem I can see, though, is that the DIY lip may not accurately replicate the exact way the aftermarket lips "protrude," and thus may not give an accurate representation of what may happen. Still, it'll give you some idea. And yep, a DIY lip is super durable! <-- I love Winky, my "periwinkle" (ABP) LGT! - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges '16 Outback, '16 WRX, 7th Subaru Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawlwawl06 Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 here's mine. will be on the car mananananana! http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr133/mrjk77/LGT/grille/DSCF1069.jpg Good job, looks great. I'm trying to get mine to look exactly like this(except I'll keep the chrome trim and not throw on the emblem). Once you gut the grille, what do you did about the empty spots? I've dremeled out the innards of the grille, leaving everything else, now I'm trying to figure out where to go from here. Also, how was the mesh attached? thankya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravisGT Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 My Crown Vic DIY grille. I sanded the emblem and painted it to give it a carbon fiber look. Was looking great until my sister sat on it and cracked it! I like it though. Looks like it could be factory. Thats what I like. Someone to look at it and wonder if that is the way it came. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SureGrap Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 ^ nice! Where did you get the mesh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subie23 Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 ^^^ohhh that looks gooooood. wondering the same as SureGrap, was the install hard or different than just buying some mesh and cutting out the old grille b/c i heard you mention a crown vic grille? i need to do this to mine asap!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/CVPI_Police_Grille.jpg http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz106/squiden/bl5-spec_b_sti_grille.jpg http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz106/squiden/grill_straight.jpg There's a "how to" thread HERE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravisGT Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 ^^^ohhh that looks gooooood. wondering the same as SureGrap, was the install hard or different than just buying some mesh and cutting out the old grille b/c i heard you mention a crown vic grille? i need to do this to mine asap!! TRS has it. The only thing I did different is instead of cutting the factory Crown Vic grille to fit perfectly inside my Legacy grille, I cut it so it was bigger than the inside of my grille. Then I glued it on the backside of my grille once I had it centered. After it set up I just clipped the excess pieces of grille off. I like it because it gives it more depth and I think it is a lot easier to install. The grille itself almost self-aligns if you do it this way. I might take it off to get some pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boostin1657615274 Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 So after about 5 months of have a painted grill, it has started to chip off revealing the chrome underneath. I dont think clear coat would have prevented it necessarily. I decided to strip of the chrome as showed in this post: Well, after some hard work with my trusty pocket knife, I managed to get all of the chrome off of the surrounding trim, it came off in nice thin strips and didnt do any damage to the plastic underneath. So i got it this far yesterday and will get to the sanding today at some point. I still havent decided whether i should remove the chrome from the wings as well. I kind of like the idea of 2 little chrome wings in there. http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w222/adrenalinrush22/Photo_101509_001.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w222/adrenalinrush22/Photo_101509_002.jpg The plus side is that the surface underneath the chrome is ideal for holding paint. I repainted it with clear coat this time and dont think it will have problems. The drawback is this is a very time and labor intensive process. I would not recommend doing this to the faint of heart. It took me a solid 8 hours, with many cuts and scrapes. And I managed to break about 12 razor blades in the process. It would have probably been easier using a better knife like Black GT did, but I still dont see it being easy. On the search for a new DD... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobydoobie Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 ^ Sand paper works well for getting the chrome off as well. My painted grill is also pretty well chipped up, showing the primer from underneath on a bunch of parts. Going to re-do it with the next month or so, this time with clear coat for protection and to give it a slight gloss to better match my front lip: http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/1592/lip01.jpg http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/7365/lip02k.jpg and a closer look at the chipping that occured... http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4488/strutbar02.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boostin1657615274 Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 ^ Sand paper works well for getting the chrome off as well. My painted grill is also pretty well chipped up, showing the primer from underneath on a bunch of parts. Going to re-do it with the next month or so, this time with clear coat for protection and to give it a slight gloss to better match my front lip: and a closer look at the chipping that occured... http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4488/strutbar02.jpg I had my grill done the same way as yours. And sandpaper does NOT work to take the chrome off, as this stuff is THICK chrome plating. I can even see in the picture posted above the same type of chipping that occurred on my grill, as you can see the shine of the chrome behind it. Paint doesnt stick well to this surface even after sanding. But trust me when I say doing it the right way may not necessarily be worth it. On the search for a new DD... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldradio1 Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 Did mine today. Taped off just the chrome, sanded the hell out of it. Primer, Metallic black paint, then Satin coat (didn't want a lot of shine.Turned out pretty good, but I'm pretty pissed out this. I pulled the emblem off because I was considering painted the entire grill, but decided against it. Some of the sticky stuff came off so I went and bought some 3m emblem adhesive, and it did this to my emblem. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4579254961_8aa93c6c96_o.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4579256263_ccb9ed28ee_o.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4579273285_52374a27cf_o.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4579908598_70957a5dda_o.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobydoobie Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 I had my grill done the same way as yours. And sandpaper does NOT work to take the chrome off, as this stuff is THICK chrome plating. I can even see in the picture posted above the same type of chipping that occurred on my grill, as you can see the shine of the chrome behind it. Paint doesnt stick well to this surface even after sanding. But trust me when I say doing it the right way may not necessarily be worth it. I can assure you that it took some very rough grit sandpaper to get anywhere. I tried at first with some fine grit sand paper and got no where. Pulled out the rough grit (can't remember exactly what the number was) and it came off, but still took a good amount of time. I found out after the fact that you can un-screw the wings on the grill, to make that part a lot easier. . That pic isn't the best, there is no shine where mine is chipped, just primer showing through (gave it like 3 coats of primer before painting) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingbang Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 Here's a pic of my DIY--pulling it off again this weekend to resand and repaint--not quite as smooth as i'd like it. Not a real close up shot--thank you homedepot and bondo ha http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy347/dingbang/DSCN1190.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05_Silver_GT Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Just finished my grill yesterday. I sanded the whole thing, painted it black satin, then gave it a couple coats of satin clear coat. I think it turned out really well. I also did the same to the fog light surrounds. I think it compliments the car really well. http://i1039.photobucket.com/albums/a478/05_Silver_GT/download.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylar Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 I can assure you that it took some very rough grit sandpaper to get anywhere. I tried at first with some fine grit sand paper and got no where. Pulled out the rough grit (can't remember exactly what the number was) and it came off, but still took a good amount of time. I found out after the fact that you can un-screw the wings on the grill, to make that part a lot easier. . That pic isn't the best, there is no shine where mine is chipped, just primer showing through (gave it like 3 coats of primer before painting) I find it hard to believe you got all the chrome plating off with rough sandpaper. The chrome on my 08 grill was very thick and had copper underneath it. And to all the people that didnt peal the chrome, it might look good now, but it wont hold up even if you sand the crap out of the chrome. I redid mine twice before giving up and peeling all the damn chrome off....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05_Silver_GT Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 I find it hard to believe you got all the chrome plating off with rough sandpaper. The chrome on my 08 grill was very thick and had copper underneath it. And to all the people that didnt peal the chrome, it might look good now, but it wont hold up even if you sand the crap out of the chrome. I redid mine twice before giving up and peeling all the damn chrome off....lol It's impossible to expect anything on the front of our cars to stay nice and not chip. I expect to have to redo mine later. I also expect to have to repaint my car at some point in time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobydoobie Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 I find it hard to believe you got all the chrome plating off with rough sandpaper. The chrome on my 08 grill was very thick and had copper underneath it. And to all the people that didnt peal the chrome, it might look good now, but it wont hold up even if you sand the crap out of the chrome. I redid mine twice before giving up and peeling all the damn chrome off....lol I don't know why some of you are so doubtful that the chrome can come off with a thorough sanding. When I did research on this forum about how to go about painting the grill, pretty much everything I read said "SAND down the chrome on the grill before painting". So that's what I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brock sampson Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 It's impossible to expect anything on the front of our cars to stay nice and not chip. I expect to have to redo mine ilater. I also expect to have to repaint my car at some point in time. +1 to the repaint at some point, perks of living in the city and city freeways... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooby54 Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 Heres mine edit: forgot to add pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boostin1657615274 Posted May 11, 2010 Share Posted May 11, 2010 Well for some reason my latest paint didnt hold well. I used 2 coats of plastic primer, 3 coats of paint, and 2 coats of clear. And for god knows why, it appears a bug on the highway died just to take the paint off the right side of my grill. I give up. Think I may start looking for an aftermarket grill. On the search for a new DD... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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