klepto

so i got bored yesterday and decided to paint my grill body color/black and do my emblems black as well. Anyways heres a quick write up w/pics i'll put up a full write up and put it up on my site once i get back up to davis and have access to my computer. The quality of the painting isnt the best, but hey, not too bad for pretty much my first time painting anything

removed the screws in red, pop out the clips in blue


take out all the screws where its marked red


removing the chrome pieces...
[img]

primer...


paint...


before


after


before:


after:



sorry for the crappy pics, and dont mind the dirty car...its been raining like crazy here lately.

for those interested I used 2 coats each of primer, gloss black and clearcoat. I had a paint shop mix a can of frost white for the outer part of the grill. I used 1 coat each (gloss black) for the emblems

shineynitelite

thats a sweet idea w/ the sticker on your headlight i might need to steal that..

klepto

biter! jk haha yea i had them on the side window but then i replaced it with something else so i had to find a place to move that one

pebe

I like the back. Came out nice.

Shaggz2Dope

mooooo.....

i like it...at first i was unsure of the result....but after i saw it..."hot damn" my fav it the white trim.

how bout makin the "A" just the A white?

teh CL

iTrader: (1)

looks good man

how long did the whole thing take??

jz-97-c7

that settles it, i'll be doing my grille tomorrw...nice write up too, quick and to the point

h2o-pr00f

SWEET KLEPT sorry i didnt see your 2nd pm till right now, good stuff man i like the black emblems on the white car

klepto

its coo, thanks for your help with the instructions man

a while haha, but thats because you have to wait for each coat of paint to dry for 20 min and then let the clearcoat dry overnight. Just make a day of it

jandj2204

came out pretty good..nice and classy how u had the body shop mix up some frost, most people would hav used a pep-boys hot rod white..lol
all your missing now is some black spots (army fatigue like) and u are officially a COW

Slooo97CL

iTrader: (1)

sexyyyyyy

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

That looks sweet, I love the contrast of the white outer ring, and the black chrome. The rear looks sweet too. Nice work Klep, you da man

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Goes great with the blacked out headlights BTW

Musulsa

I didn't even notice the white trim until you mentioned it.... but it looks GREAT.

BTW is there a reason you went with gloss black instead of a matte black? The shinyness detracts, I think. But then again it could be the pictures.

And as always, I absolutely love your black housings. You're the one who inspired me to do that for my cow too...

klepto

yea i orig was going to go with a flat black, but i thought that it would blend in with the rest of the grill too much, like you wouldnt be able to see the A and such. So i thought gloss black would make it "pop" more. Dont know if im really making any sense. if i were to do it again, i would prolly use flat black though, cause i didnt realize how glossy gloss black is already w/out clearcoat. With the clearcoat its like super glossy haha

h2o-pr00f

hey klepto u ever consider blacking out your tails? youd be over with that man

klepto

yea, ive talked to rockblocker who makes the tints for the 3rd and 2nd gen tl and cl tailights. I posted a photoshop of what it would look like and i got mixed reviews. rockblocker said he was still in production phase for the 1st gen cl's i think i would go for it though, cause then my car would be completly black and white haha

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

last we heard from rockblocker, he was looking for a 1st gen to size the taillight tint. After that, they should be available soon

teh CL

iTrader: (1)

do u still have that photoshop pic?

klepto

nope, its on my computer at my apt....i'll post it when i get back there next week

ayougo

not sure if this is legal by the boards rules or not, but as a fellow cl-er i make custom grills for people on the board. I have samples of my work and pictures too. If any of you want a grill just holler at me ( pm ) i custom make them for 60 shipped !!! including mesh and your choice of paint ( usualy black but i can get vibrant ) let me know boys. Peace

uncald4

iTrader: (3)

You ain't bullshittin'..... That shit is hot. Klepto you just won a medal. Nice paint/grill work too. I love the back. Like the new Camry SE. I tried to convince my girl to do that when we had the CL. She frowned on it. Now that we got the TL..... She ain't lookin'.....

Low97CL

Did you paint the inside part of the grill the strip of chrome with the A in the center? and can you please post the name of the products used... any opinions on how the the outer chrome piece looks painted black... i have a primrose mist CL with black moldings and i think the chrome pieces look out of place any help would be appriciated....btw looks tight...

klepto

i painted the outer part body color and the inner part gloss black. The names i cant remember...painters touch i think. I got it at home depot. the body color i had a paint shop mix my cars color into a spray can though

Nato

i just painted my 99 grille the same color as my car as well ... but the 99 grille is 1 piece so i had to tape up the chrome.. i painted the A too..... it doesent look too bad...

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

I like how you outlined all the screws, I am going to use this next week when I do my grill mesh, I'm putting mesh behind the A, to make it all appear chrome. Should be a fun little side project, thanks for the photoshop highlights klep, makes my life a lot easier

ajtcl

Looks real nice.

realeyezsoul

I personaly think it looked better before.....(grill)
But I do like what you did with the lettering.

Low97CL

but what about the outer chrome piece i was thinking a flat black i have the 97 CL grill so basically every chrome piece i want painted black...any opinions or input? or photoshop of a primrose CL...thanx...

klepto

id say just paint it all black or do the outer part primrose

Low97CL

should i go flat black or gloss black? and will clear coat stick on flat black paint?

h2o-pr00f

gloss black, and yes it does stick as long as you let all the coats dry in the heat in a good amount of time.. its nice n sunny here in LA, should be perfect weather

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

It's been nice and sunny, I hope it stays like this till after finals, so I can paint my bumper, gotta fix a scrape

Andrewmc621

how expensive was it for the paint shop to mix it? think it would be more for a cypress than your white?

klepto

it was $15, maybe it might be more cause of the flakes and stuff but i doubt it. The other paint cans (gloss black, primer) were only $3

Low97CL

How did you get your cars color in the spray can, and how much did the shop charge you..did you have to buy and empty spray can or do they sell those at any body shop

klepto

^ as i said in the post right above you they charged me $15. I didnt have to bring in anything but my cars paint code. They provided the spray can with the mixture of paint inside all ready to spray

DaInFaMMuS1

has anyone ever painted their headlight housing the same color as the car?...and what would be different to do this to a 99 grill?

klepto

you could paint the outer part, and/or the slats. I havent see anyone with a 1st gen paint the housings body color. Ive seen it on a 2nd gen cl. The guy painted it silver. IMO it doesnt look good, only black looks good