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Hey guys! Picture request for painted 68/69 grills. I'm thinking about painting the grill and the bodyside trim silver

Hi, we painted the grill with a white based silver and then 3 coats of clear. All the trim was painted the same way after it was prepped by lightly blasting the anodized surface and fixing any dents with filler. Base primer was white, then followed white based silver so that it would be bright.

I must admit that it is far better looking than I thought it would be and a lot more cost effective. I had quotes of $3,500 just to re-anodize all the trim and grill Could not see that expense versus only paying $2,500 for the truck.

I would recommend this process to anyone that wants a result that is way above the quality and look of anodized. It took a little time and effort but the results were outstanding in my humble opinion.

Rick out

Thank you! I've seen that truck before, cause it is the one that I was picturing. I already got the grill stripped of its anodizing..... I'll probably prime it with a good primer, I wa originally going to polish it but time is rare to me. And itd be a lot more maintenance

Hi Rick. Would your painting steps work well on a steel grill?

I believe his steps would probably work just as well if not better on a steel grill! Just make sure all the rust is gone!

Hi, the only thing different from a steel grille and working with anodized grilles was that delicate media blasting on the anodized surface to prep it for the paint process.

Don Marrah, the shop owner that I work with and for was very exact on making sure that the anodized surfaced was completely removed so that paint process would adhere. We chose the whitest silver we could find with a white primer coat so that the silver would pop as much as possible. We also added some flake just to jazz it up.

A steel grille, like any other surface, the outcome of paint job is in the preparation. Complete blasting and surface prep will give you the quality product you are seeking when all the sanding, filling, sanding, priming, sanding, sanding, color coat applications x 3, sanding, clear coats x 3 are done. So many coats were applied to give us the best protection against stone chips and road debris.

We used an argent base for the grille inserts with a dark green pearl and flake tint that matched the rear HD bumper. It accents the body color and really tied the front and rear together.

I will reaffirm that the results of the grille and all the trim pieces were far beyond my expectations. My grille trim had some and side trim had some serious dents and other problems from 45 years of running the roads. Most of the dents were "bumped" out but that only looked good at 40 feet or 40 mph, hence a 40x40 truck. We now have a product that I can't wait to take to some of the local shows coming up next year. I always am getting offers to sell but he is too cool to let go.

Bonus Plus: my bulldog Duke loves the fact he can ride in this truck because of the vinyl seats because he is not allowed my 2014 Ram Limited with leather.

Rick did you use a special kind of primer or it don't matter? How has it held up?

Update on the Grill painting for the Dude.

We applied the paint a year ago, I have driven over 3,000 miles around town and out of town and there is no chipping, no surface failure, just a good clean look.

We used regular primer with basecoat clear coat. We did clear three times for protection insurance.

I entered the Dude in The 33rd Annual Frankenmuth, MI show this weekend. I met fellow member Jerry there and he looked over the Dude and he said it looked good too.

So I would say that going from Anodized to Painted Grill and Trim was a total success and all the trim pieces down the both sides are holding up as well as the grill.

Take care.

Rick out

Thank you for the update!