The silver portion on my white 2012 4.6l 's grill has always looked sort of cheap to me so I wanted a change. At first, I considered trying to color match it to the body paint (white satin pearl) but was concerned about the match and the paint durability. Then,at Eastwood's site, I noticed they have a 2 part epoxy paint that comes in a spray can (called 2K Max that is made in Germany): I've used 2 part epoxy before and it is very hard and durable vs any "rattle can" but you have to buy both (color and activator) components and mix them and then spray with an HPLV (which I do have) but this is alot of trouble for such a small area - so the spray can route sounded like the way to go. Also available, is a clear matte finish in the 2K Max. 2K works by having the 2nd part (activator) within the can which you puncture with a button (supplied) to activate - after which you have 48 hours to use before it sets up and is no longer usable.
This turns out (like most jobs) to take much longer than anticipated: I spent over 5 hours Saturday preping the job. Masking is very tedious (buy 1/8" tape) as I wanted this to be a perfect as possible and I also did the silver on the hood - top and underneath. The 2K paint color I used is called "Rat Rod Black" and is a satin finish- not glossy nor flat - but just right IMHO.
I used 2 coats of both the black and the clear coat and I am very happy with the results: my masking job was almost perfect ( a professional body shop could do better - but not much) and the look is MUCH MUCH improved.
Thanks to other posters who have done this (black) and gave me the idea- but as online pictures don't always tell the whole story I had to convince myself: I did this by (somewhat crudely) applying black Gorilla duct tape to one side of the grill so I could see the difference. The Gorilla tape is a bit more glossy (even electrical tape could work) but is actually pretty close to the Rat Rod black as it turned out. This is alot of work but I think you will be extremely satisified with the look.
This turns out (like most jobs) to take much longer than anticipated: I spent over 5 hours Saturday preping the job. Masking is very tedious (buy 1/8" tape) as I wanted this to be a perfect as possible and I also did the silver on the hood - top and underneath. The 2K paint color I used is called "Rat Rod Black" and is a satin finish- not glossy nor flat - but just right IMHO.
I used 2 coats of both the black and the clear coat and I am very happy with the results: my masking job was almost perfect ( a professional body shop could do better - but not much) and the look is MUCH MUCH improved.
Thanks to other posters who have done this (black) and gave me the idea- but as online pictures don't always tell the whole story I had to convince myself: I did this by (somewhat crudely) applying black Gorilla duct tape to one side of the grill so I could see the difference. The Gorilla tape is a bit more glossy (even electrical tape could work) but is actually pretty close to the Rat Rod black as it turned out. This is alot of work but I think you will be extremely satisified with the look.
