Just a quick question for anyone that owns an H3 with the official GM factory color matched grill. I guess anyone that has had first hand experience with one will do too....

Does the grill seem to be just painted, or does the plastic of the entire piece actually seem to be that color? If it the color is only skin deep ie. painted I would assume they would chip and start to look like garbage after a short amount of time.

I'm trying to figure out if the OEM is painted or not, because if the color is actually in the abs plastic, I'll shell out the money for one. If it's not I will paint it and then lay down some clear 3M protective film.

 

No first hand knowledge, but I would assume it's just painted - way cheaper and easier than trying to come up with plastic that's an exact match for all the different colors of paint. Plus, painted plastic front ends are pretty common and they don't all look like crap.

 

I would gladly switch my chrome one for black one.

 

I had my chrome grille painted to match my truck. It cost me $150. Sure there are a couple of chips where you can see chrome, but I just bought a touch up pen to cover those up. You can't even really see them till you get close.

If you can find a shop to do it, then having it painted is much cheaper than buying a new grille.

 

Mine is OEM color matched (black). I have a few little chips and under the paint the ABS is dark gray/black so it's not very visible. I just use a paint pen to touch up. If you are going to paint a chrome grille, the 3M protective film would be in your best interest.

 

That's what I figured. I'll sand it down or strip the chrome before painting, but I still don't want to deal with chips in white paint, yuck.

 

Have you guys considered sandblasting instead of sanding? You get a more thorough job, it's easier, and ultimately will provide a better result. I recently took some chrome pieces in to our fab shop, blasted them, and used the Dupli-Color Truck Bed Liner and they came out great. I know not everyone has access to a blaster, but you could take it into any place that does powder coating, or maybe even some body shops.

 

hey broken Halo id like to see a pic, post um up !

 

I'll post a pic after I re-assemble. I have air horns on my H3, and didn't like the chrome trumpets showing through the grill. I disassembled them, masked them off, blasted and painted. I've been using that Dupli-Color Truck Bed Liner for several things, roof cross bars, horns & mounting brackets, trailer hitch cover, & more to come. Great stuff!

 

That stuff is what I lined the inside of my sub box with!