joshua777

I bought a can of Rust-Oleum Automotive Paint from Lowe's for about $6 to redo my front grille. I was a little skeptical of the paint quality, because it's from a can, and that just seems odd to me. I have a 1999 GS300 and the front grill was matte(ish) black from the factory and was getting dull and chipping. Little specks of metal were showing through from rocks and debris over the years. I took it off and gave it a really good wash with dish soap to de-grease any wax or other stuff that was on it. I did NO sanding at all. Then, I did about 8 coats from all different angels, because some spots would get painted, while others weren't, lots of hard to reach places on a grill. Took about an hour, but (IMO) it looks amazing! I also sprayed over the chrome border, and it got rid of it completely. So happy with the results, and I still have a little less than half the can of paint. First picture is BEFORE, second picture is AFTER.

captainva

iTrader: (1)

That looks great. Can you take a picture showing the whole front of your car? I might want to do that depending on how it looks

joshua777

No problem. Here you go! If you need a wider picture, I could get that to you later today/ tonight.

ThomasGS4

iTrader: (19)

Curious to know how it'll stand up to rocks and road debris with minimal prep work.

joshua777

I live in San Diego, CA, so there's not many rocks and other stuff being kicked up. So far it has been a week and there's no sign of wear and tear, still looks brand new. I drive about 30 miles, minimum a day, at highway speeds. I did a lot of coats, as well as the paint being heat resistant enamel automotive paint, so it's not like I just used regular old spray paint. I will update though if anything changes, or if it's all the same!

Kris9884

iTrader: (7)

Nice, I did the EXACT same thing when I bought my GS. I used a low gloss BBQ paint, its solid stuff and takes a beating. I taped off the chrome ring and it came out perfect. It really freshens the front up a lot.

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

Might want to spray a layer of clear gel coat for good measure.

firelizard

iTrader: (1)

Spoiler alert- it won't. Rustoleum is pretty hard, but with poor or no prep it still has limited mechanical adhesion to the substrate, and as we all know, these cars collect stone chips like crazy. I give it a year, tops, unless it never sees highway/freeway. Then again, 8 coats is a lot to build up, maybe it'll hold itself together.

Gel coat is for composites. Clear coat, just regular automotive (or more Rustoleum) clear coat. For a good job it should have been done with a matching paint system where the clear coat can adhere to the base coat, but it's already not a good job if you don't prep the surface. I'm betting it will chip or flake before UV damage becomes noticeable, so clear coat will not help any more than additional coats of black Rustoleum would. 8 coats is very thick.

Debonair

The rock chip threat is one of the reasons Plasti-dip is so popular for grilles.

Looks good Joshua777.

joshua777

Yeah we'll see how it holds up. It was super easy, and looks way better than before. The 8 coats is pretty freakin' thick. It would take a really long time to even get mildly close to how it looked before I painted it. Much longer than I anticipate owning the car. I also park in a garage/underground, both at home and at work, so UV damage is the least of my worries.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

looks good..

GITAdriver

iTrader: (1)

Looks clean I'm going to have to do this also great write up

slaapen

That`s it. I`m painting mine.