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Chrome Grillle/Bezel painting

Philprof

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Costa Mesa, CA
I want to paint my grille and bezels. They are chrome right now. Do I need to do anything special in terms of prep, or can I just lay a coat of primer over them and paint them up?

TIA

adam
 
What year is it? New grilles really aren't too much money...I'd just buy one and sell the chrome one, or keep it in case you ever sell and think that will help.
 
Rough them up really good with a red scotchbrite, then prime, then paint, then clear to prevent chips from all those stones that will be hitting it. Or, check out the XJ on the cover of the current Quadtratec catalog. The grill appears to be covered in bedliner material. I just did my rockers with Duplicolor bedliner and it came out great.
 
just get like 3 cans of flat black or whatever and go to town.. it will get scratched up it will break, why waste time primering and sanding.... i sprayed 2 cans of some flat black engine enamel and my grille is still chipless.. and thats after 12 miles of trails as well...
 
Sand em first.

I think the reason he's telling you not to if its 97+ is the chrome grilles weren't as common on the new ones.
 
I opted for a different route on my '92.

Instead of spraying the whole thing, I taped off part of the grille and just spray the inlets flat black. I think it came out pretty good, and most people don't notice it.

Here's Dr.Dyno's rig with the factory chrome grill.
17658-1992-Jeep-Cherokee.jpg


And here's what I did. You can see the inner part of the grille slots painted flat black. Older pic, but it works.
n41902041_31040194_4584686.jpg
 
I'd probably buy an all-plastic one at the junkyard for ten bucks and paint that one, keep the original to sell or in case you want to go back to the old look.

That said, I think I like the look MoparManiac has going, I don't like huge amounts of chrome and I think having the smaller vertical bars chromed as well is a bit of an overload.
 
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