WRXtranceformed

Blackout grille and foglight surrounds was a success! I actually did the initial plastidip application better than I did on my car. It was my first time using Glossifier and it turned out OK, I couldn't get a clear, good coat in one "wet" application like the guy in the youtube videos did. The only hiccup was had was we got a little peel over into the grille around the Acura badge but I can touch that up with a paint brush, it's only visible when you get like 6 inches away.

Before spray:



First coat:

3 coats later:



After glossifier and all finished:



Pics don't do it just justice but it really helps take away the "beakness" of the grille. Much better!

RDX10

I have just a recommendation/opinion. I think it would look better if you either blacked out the center "shield" section and left the rest of the grille silver or left the "shield" section silver and blacked out the rest.

I really like what you did with the fogs and good call on leaving the acura badge silver.

Tomtwtwtw

Looks good! I did the exact same thing on mine a couple years ago, but rock chips have taken their toll on the dip and I need to re-do it this winter. It was also my first try at using the stuff and in all honesty I probably could have added a couple more coats. What did you use to gloss it up? The one thing I didn't care for was how it didn't shine with the rest of the paint.

mrgold35

I like it! Not sure if this would look as good with any other color? Doing the silver trim around the fogs really looks good.

RDX10

Plastidip sells a product called glossifier. It doesn't really shine up the dip, but gives it less of a flat look and more of a wet look. I would love it if it did make the dip shine like paint though.

WRXtranceformed

Thanks all!
Yep what RDX10 said, pick up a can of Plastidip Glossifier. I have watched videos where you can make it look almost exactly like clearcoat but for my first attempt it didn't quite get there. But I'm ok with it! We can always hit it with another coat (or peel it off)!

Now I might have sold my wife on black wheels too, she mentioned it after we finished

RDX10

Then go for it! Plastidip them! You can always easily remove it! Watch youtube and look under glossifier pearls, amazing stuff. Since you did the grille, totally go for it, the blacked out look is awesome!

Acuramon

Too bad there's no RonJon grill conversion for our RDX's like there is for the 4G TL's.

Tomtwtwtw

Is that the one that paints it body color? Because I would rock that. Mine is white so the black beak is a little weird, but I still prefer it over the silver. But a nice body-color beak would clean up the front nicely I think. May have to play around in photoshop to get an idea though.

WRXtranceformed

They make Plastidip in tons of colors now including white! Might be an option worth looking into:

Tomtwtwtw

Yeah, I've thought about that as well...may have to look into it further.

RDX10

Why not look into vinyl wrap? You can get it done for fairly cheap since you aren't wrapping anything large. Might even be able to get it done yourself. You can get it in gloss white to match the paint too and it doesn't chip like plasti dip.

WRXtranceformed

^^ Wrap is a good suggestion for sure. If you layer Plastidip thick enough (4-6 coats) it can actually be one of the most durable coatings. I dipped the grille on my XFR and it still looks like the first day I did it. Rocks / debris just kind of "bounce" off of the rubber

RDX10

I was suggesting wrap more for the fact that you can get it in gloss. Plastidip can be down right durable when applied thick enough, I have it in red on my engine cover for close to 2 months.

WRXtranceformed

Good call! Never thought about doing the engine cover. Any pics?

RDX10

Yup, here you go!

WRXtranceformed

Nice, looks great!

Tomtwtwtw

Great suggestion - never even crossed my mind!

jo.jacques

Looks good. When I got the car, I did a photoshop to see what it would look like to dip the whole or partial front grill.


Partial



or full:



In total honesty, from these photoshop picture I prefer the full grill.


The rear silver part being plastidip looks good to (gives it the 2007-2009 look):



I ended up doing the foglight surrounds like you did. Looks amaaaazing

RDX10

In these pics the undipped shield portion doesn't really look correct, it looks like it was slightly smoked or something. Can you do another photoshop but leave the center part chrome/silver?

Also personal opinion here, but I really like the silver part on the 2010-2012 rdx's in the rear around the license plate.

X2 on the fogs though, love it!

jo.jacques

Sorry I don't have Photoshop anymore :/ We'll have to use our imagination! lol!

RDX10

Haha that is a good one! I guess so, make it up as we go along!

WRXtranceformed

We might do the lower grill piece (that holds the license plate usually) tomorrow since my wife wants it to match. It won't look much different but it should definitely help bring it all together. I'll take some pics afterwards if we do!

RDX10

Do you think it would be noticeable at all? I don't know if it would be worthwhile, but go for it!

Side note: How god awful does plasti dip smell? My God it smells like the feces of 1000 elephants. I couldn't take it.

Acuramon

Here's what the RonJon conversion looks like on a 4th Gen TL. Quite a difference.

RDX10

I know I am in the minority, but I actually really like the beak grille. I only think it looks a little out of place on the rdx though.

Acuramon

I think the beak grill looks better on the RDX than it does on the TL and TSX. I think that's because the RDX is bigger so it looks a little more at home.

RDX10

IMHO it gives the rdx a bug eyed look.

Can we meet in the middle and say it looks best on the mdx and snore worthy on all the current cars?

WRXtranceformed

I don't think it will be that noticeable but my wife wants to give it a try so I'm all for it. We didn't get around to it yesterday, maybe today or tomorrow! Will post up results if we get into it.

And yeah, it's just that typical aerosol brain-cell killing smell to me. I had a massive headache after we finished, even with the garage door open and plenty of ventilation. Should probably pick up a mask while we're out today

RDX10

Hey, it is quick, easy, cheap, and last but not least removable! Go for it! Do the wheels too! That would look really sick and mean!

I had the garage opened and had a fan blowing air towards the open end of the garage and my god it never worked at all. That smell was horrible, literally had it stuck in my nose for 3 days.

WRXtranceformed

So my wife taped everything off while I was taking care of some things at church, and when I came home we took another look at that lower part and it would be difficult to dip without a lot of extra effort. The reason being is that there is a lower finned area without any real solid "break" lines that would have to be dipped as well at a bunch of weird angles. We would also have to do quite a bit more masking of the radiator for that lower piece, so we decided to forgo the project. May dip the wheels (or get them powdercoated) in the spring so I will definitely post up pics when we get that done!

RDX10

Yeah certainly not worth all that effort. The nice thing about plasitdip is you can see what it would like powdercoated vs powder coating and not liking it

Acuramon

LOL. I can agree to that. I actually think the toned down beak was quite an improvement over the initial ones on all Acuras. I'll still be glad when they're done away with entirely but at least it's not as bad as before.

RDX10

I am in the minority, I think the 2G mdx looked amazing with that grill. I agree though that on everything else, it helped immensely that they toned it down.

But imho it is so damn boring right now. Literally the most boring front end on any current car company. Thank god they at least have the jewel eye leds.

Acuramon

I think somebody at Acura must be stubbornly holding on to that front end design, insisting that it really was a great idea. It's like the way the writers of Star Wars kept bringing back Jar-Jar Binks after episode I even though he's the most hated character in the series. LOL!

RDX10

I just don't get it. There is nothing creative, unique, special, nice, fancy, sexy, sporty, classy...etc about the current grill. It just looks like a typical grill you would have seen on a car from the early 2000's. Kia has that really nice tiger nose, hyundai, ford, and audi have the geometrical grils, aston martin has that narrow mouth grill thing, jeep has the 7 slats, lexus has the controversial spindle...etc.

I am not saying they need to do something awful like the lincoln split wing grill (but I will be fair, the grill on the mkc looks really good) but give us something with a greater visual pop. Something that says I spent 50k on this car and I feel good about it. Not I spent 50k on a car because it was the most luxurious thing I could afford.