Since I've gotten my tsx, the only thing that has bothered me about it's appearance is the grill. Something about it just doesn't look quite right to me. I think, it being so large and metallic doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the car. I'm thinking about a few options, but wanted to get some feedback on painting the grill. I was thinking of doing the outer ring in black, matching the middle to the car's silver, and leaving the Acura emblem as is. I did a gimp edit to get an idea of what it would look like.

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I say paint match outer and beak

 

Hmmm I'm a fan of the oem grille. But if you are going to paint it, I'd +1 and say paint match outer and beak as well.

 

I like the painted look only on black cars. Would look weird on a white or silver. Plus I dont particularly like rock chips so.....stock oem for me.

 

2011 grille looks pretty good to me. i'd say keep it stock, it'll grow on you.

 

looks clean to me.

plus.....painting over that will chip chip chip to my lou

I think a few here have carbon fiber (vinyl'd) theirs but it was a slightly different style beak without the chrome around it.

 

i painted mine. more pics in my progress thread. but I painted the Beak part and left the chrome 'frame'. I felt that part matched the window trim.

 

I say keep it. It looks good. You will get used to it. It is actually toned down now.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I guess I'll leave it alone for a few months and see if it grows on me.
@robpp That looks pretty good, if I do it, I think I'll follow the same and leave the chrome ring and paint match the beak.

 

I used plastidip on my grill. I did not like the dull chrome grill I had. Since my car is white and my rims have black, it matched well. Not sure how it would look on your color. Good thing about plastdip though, it comes right off if you don't like it. I attached before & after pics to give you an idea. good luck on your decision!

 

It's like me and spanishdoll have the same car. I wish I still had my lip

 

LOL You were my inspiration!

 

Thanks for the suggestion, can you paint on top of plasti dip? Can I use it like a primer, then try to factory match paint on top of it, and then just remove it if I don't like it?

 

Yep! Might not be as smooth as you'd like though. I put clear coat on top of my plastidipped grille to give it a nice gloss look. Doing that makes it really hard to peel off if I ever wanted to though.

This thread also has a lot of fun plastidip stuff in it:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=plasti

 

Sorry, haven't been on for a few days. I am new to plastidip so do not know if you can paint over it. I just love the idea that it's not permanent and I can peel it right off if I want to. It is a rough texture. There are different colors online, you might be able to find one that matches...? Definitely check out opboarding's pics. He did some good tests with plastdip.

 

 

^^ different, I like it

 

super clean donavo! mind if i steal that idea from you? my tsx is glm so it wouldnt be to noticeable but it looks so damn pretty i gotta do it.. lol

 

yea im probably stealing that one

 

I've thought about this too... my idea is to paint the entire grill (break, frame, and line things under beak) and the fog light housing too. too much?

 

the things i plasti dipped black are the grill, bottom of bumper, fog light housings, door handles, the chrome trim on the back, all the badges except for "special edition" badge. nothing but compliments so far from anyone who sees it. looks especially nice on a white car btw. if i had a different color car i would probably not do all that.

 

The black plasti dip on white cars looks amazing. If I have some time this summer, I'm going to play around with it some. Probably will black out the chrome ring and foglights on the front. I will do the trim on the side as well. I don't think blacked out door handles will look good on a silver car, so maybe I'll try to paint over the plasti dip.

 

I had the grill painted on my '09 shortly after I bought the car brand new. I then had the bumper (grill included), headlights and foglights clear bra'd. No chips or anything, still looks brand new.

 

I love that fist pic. Is that just vinyl on the front bumper?

 

its all plasti dip. vinyl would probably look nicer. i vinyled my last car but for this one, i didnt really have the motivation, seeing plasti dipping is so much easier. and result is almost the same lol. i would only vinyl if you're doing a big area.