Was talking to a guy at a detail shop the other day and he said he could paint my grille black for $120. I'm not sure if I would like that look or not. Sometimes I do, sometimes I do. I have a 2010 black max. Anyone have pictures of it done on their max? Is 120 a fair price?

 

I did it for the cost of the can of PlastDip. A little over $6. Best of all, if you don't like it you can peel it off. I've gotten quite a few compliments on it.

 

mines painted gloss black except the burger. so far its held up really well, had it done by a shop.

 

PlastiDipped my grille with 4 coats, then covered it with two coats clear. Left the chrome trim around it and Nissan burger unpainted as well.

Held up until now. It's been almost a year I suppose. Just do it yourself.

 

Did you guys have to remove the grille to paint it? Or do it while its on the car

 

Remove the grill. Same amount of time to remove it as it would be to tape off the entire front end to prevent overspray.

 

Is there a link anywhere that explains how? I couldn't find anything

 

Don't know about a link but search the 7th gen forum for plastic dip / grill. It's rather simple except do two bottom clips that can be tricky.

 

Just open the hood, remove the clips that are blocking the radiator, put cardboard behind the grill to block the dip from going into the radiator and apply the plastidip from the front, did 4 coats and its clean as hell, no issues yet. Check the plastidip forums or this youtube link, enjoy and goodluck...

 

for reference, I originally plastidipped my grill and had it that way for like 6 months. in person, the painted gloss black looks WAY better than plastidip. you do get what you pay for.

 

Removing grille

Just plasti-dip it yourself. It'll cost you $7 for the can and even though it's a PITA to get the grille off, you'll feel more satisfied with the result when you do it yourself (plus the satisfaction of saving $100).

 

I have mine painted gloss black and after a year i have a few minor rock chips. I think i paid around $75 to have it done.

 

I've driven on the highway quite a bit. I don't have any chips on my grill. I also used four coats of PlastiDip.

 

Thanks for posting that link to the vid, that helps alot.. I bought a case of PD when I was in the US last year and I think thing is a long weekend profect for me.

Does anyone know what do you use to clean the "fake chrome" pieces, before you use PD ?

 

I used dish soap to make sure any road grime would be gone. After it dried I used a rag saturated with alcohol to wipe it all down. I used a rag that wasn't very thick so that I could get into all the small spaces.

 

Yeah just use a dish soap or glass cleaner to make sure its clean then your g2g...if you do it just like the vid it should take you no more then 2-3 hours, just make sure you spray even and smooth, not to hard, here's my car after i did it..

 

I just finished doing my grill and wheels today.

 

Personally I had to dip the chrome around the windows and door handles too but yours came out great!

 

Did you do your window trim flat or gloss? I've been thinking about doing mine too (not the door handles though) but am being kind of a ***** about it.

 

I did everything on the car matte black including the trim and door handles, badges, rims, and grill. Give it a shot, you already know you can peel it off

 

I will soon. This was my first time messing with plasti dip and I was scared lol. But after wtching the videos of the guy using it on another Maxima I feel better and I know I won't do any damage to my car.

 

I love how a painting thread got derailed by plastidip. Paint > dip all day. You won't even find the Honda forums talking about Plastidip this much.

 

...

 

Did you really bump an ignorant comment that looks to have been remove once already.

Can we get this removed, ASAP!

 

No way. That post is hilarious!!

 

Still bitter about the Zimmerman verdict?

 

I brought it up due to the op not being sure if he would like it or not. I myself went with PlastiDip for the same reason. My plan was that if I liked it, I would go the paint route. It's held up so well that I haven't gone that way yet. Once it starts showing some wear, I will definately paint it as I want it to be permanent .

I guess this thread went different ways after reading some of the comments in here.

 

Yeah it was a decent thread for newbies to discuss options since the OP was indecisive and we were giving him options, guess others wanted to chime in and turn it into something else.

 

Did you go to another plasti-dip thread to quote this here?

 

Yeah I did, but now that I think about it I don't know why I posted that.

 

I also plasti-dipped my grill, only to remove it and paint it myself. It looked a lot better than the dip, but I got a lot of rock chips. I did not sand or prep the grill before I painted, so it was expected. I bought the 2012 Sport grill and got it professionally painted before I put it on. The shop only charged me $50 to paint it. I preferred the gloss black over the matte black.

Also, dip is ok from looking afar, but once you get close, the quality is not in comparison that paint is WAY better.

Here it is with plasti-dip. Bad angle I know, lol:


Here is the 2012 painted (old pic):


Here is one of Ghostz's painted grill too for reference:

 

For you guys who used black paint, did you guys paint the bottom grill or leave it as is?

I'm planning to do the plasti dip soon myself, and I wanna just make the two grill blackness match. I have a black max, so maybe the matte look of the plasti dip will be okay....

 

I did my grill, upper and lower as well as my rear valance. Remove the top grill it's much easier. Tape the ish out of your bottom grill and layer newspaper over the front end to prevent overspray.

I plan on touching up my grill again otherwise I couldn't be happier with how the matte black is holding up.