I just bought a new C-Mod grille and just happen to be going to a shop to get my door painted this week and was thinking about getting the grille painted but is it worth it? Will painting the grille stand up to rock chips? Or should I powder coat the mesh and paint the fiberglass frame?

 

powdercoating is a very durable finish. so much so that it requires baking at 400 degrees after you shoot the powder on it. We recently built a friends bike and this is what we went with .
Cost to do a grille may be much more than just painting at home, but if your having the shop do it it will more than likely be about the same. SOOOOOOOO....

If painted at home vs. pcoat=Cost > Durability I say go paint
If painted at shop vs. pcoat= Cost < Durability I say go pcoat

 

This grill here? http://cmodgrilles.auctivacommerce.c...e-P506348.aspx

How would you PD the plastic frame? I'm guessing you're talking about removing the mesh and PD'ing the metal, yes?

Whatever you do, I think that grille will look much better than stock. Ever since the 7th gen came out, I've always felt there was something not-quite-right about the front grille. There's a "diamond" effect that's too distracting, to bling for the car.

Good choice for a visual mod on the 7th gen. There are probably lots of threads about this in that forum, but I don't get over there that much.

 

It IS more durable/chip resistant for sure. But it's not as much as people think, especially people with bikes. See, they rattlecan them and then assemble the bike and give paint a bad rep because it chips so easy........ yeah, when it hasn't cured yet!

Which honestly takes around a month! Depending on the voc's in the paint, temps, humidity, etc etc.

Yes, a month for full cure. Just off the top of my head, NOT concrete numbers, in fact I am shooting them out f my but so you get the idea:

Paint (without baking): 24 hr's later it's @ 25% hardness
PC: Take that bish out of the oven it's 100%
Paint: 2-4 days later 50%
Paint: 2-weeks it's 75%
1+ month it's 85-95% of what powder coating is in terms of durability & chip resistance.

To many people base it on that first week or two and say paint sucks & chips like crazy,. while FULLY CURED they would have been impressed.

If I get a chance I'll throw some pics up of the frame for my YZ, it's fully cured now, this is the basic outline allthough I skimped & went a little heavy on the 1k grit in a few spot, oops. Steel wool (forget #, pretty fine, prob like a 320 grit), primer, steel wool, color, 400 grit, color, 1-month cure, 1000-1500-2000 grit wetsanded, and then 2 different hand compounds & wax.

I've done bike frames like this in the past and everyone asks where I got it powdercoated

So in a nutshell, if you do paint your grill, let it sit for a month before you put it on, or toss it in the oven for a day and then give it a week.

 

SMH

im not knocking paint at all, i love a good base clear job as much as the next guy, and alot of times paint has more depth to it. but a good coater can get just as good a result with alot less pain in some instances.
I understand the strength and durability on pain, only thing im looking at is MY GOD MAN ITS A GRILL lol

 

I painted my grill myself at home. I work at home, so not driving it wasn't an issue. I've probably put on around 10k miles since I painted it and there isn't a single chip on it. Just followed the standard of sanding, priming, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, clear coat, sanding, clear coat....you get the idea. Give it enough time to dry/harden and you'll be pleased with the result.

It's the stock grill on the '04, just that now it's painted to match the body color and I left the Nissan burger the original chrome. Thinking of changing it up a little though... I saw another grill on here a few days ago that I really liked but for the life of me I can't find it. I do like the cmod tho..might go that route.