S3 Grille surround colour...

grille surround colour...

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rossbrownlee

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Hello all.
Here is my dilemma - What colour to paint the (soon to be ex-) chrome grille surround from my S3, the car is black.

My two choices are...

In the words on the Stones, Paint it black or.....
Paint it (gasp, horror) red like the new golf gti's.

Thoughts peoples? yay? nay?
 
I think a bright colour would work quite well...give red a go :)
 
On a black car the red surround would look perfect in my opinion. I'd be tempted to get the S3 logos on the front and rear painted black with just the red square too!

J
 
Stealth Black FTW :D

dsc0431e.jpg
 
didnt know your car was black

id try doing the top bar black and the sides and bottom red,
red all the way round wont look very good imo
 
Try it with red insulation tape before painting to see if you like it :)
 
I was trying to do this today on my Red S3 was going to spray the Audi badges front & back black.

Could anyone help me how to get the front grille off? got the silver surround off but cant seem get rest grille on.

Also the back badge?

I dont fancy breaking anything :D
 
im not certain but i think the front bumber has to come off (waits to be corrected)
as for the rear thats stuck on i removed mine with white spirit and an old plastic card
 
audi upgrades
Seems like alot of work to get the front grille off :O well fitting a fmic so if thats the case shall do it them.. .. Thats alright then i will get my white spirit and plastic card out sorted!
 
i jus poured the spirit over the bagde afew times whilst holding a cloth under the bagde so it doesnt go everywhere. let it soaked before scraping it off the more you soak it the better it comes off mate
 
Any update Ross, I have just kept my rings chromed, just went for the surround in black, but my car is silver, so i think it suits it more, on yours, all black or even the red would look good, i think leave the top part of the grille black and do the rest of it in red, like a 'U'
 
Hi Guys, could i ask what sort of paint you used? and did everone have to take the bumper off? cheers..
 
audi upgrades
The chrome rings and surround pull off the grill itself so there's no need to take the whole grill out!
just get something like a flat head screwdriver (i used a wood chisel aswell) and prise off a little bit at a time in different spots around the rings and surround.You've just got to be light handed and make sure you dont break the clips !
Then you can spray or do whatever to the surround and rings without the front of your car looking broke
I used...
Halfrauds Plastic primer
Halfrauds Black spray paint
Halfrauds Clear coat/Lacquer
Wet and dry paper at 180/240/800 and 1200

I suppose you could get the rings/surround wrapped if you wanted to keep the chrome for a later date so you can just peal the wrap off but i went down the spray paint route.

You rough up the chrome to start with so the primer has something to bond to! i might have even gone lower than 180 at the start just to rough the chrome up alot more because it is a pain in the **** after a while. Especially when you get to the inside sections of the rings ! :banghead:
Then wash the rings/surround with soapy water to get all the dust off ect. primer the rings and surround leaving 15/20 min between each coat so the primer becomes touch dry.I used about 5/6 light coats i think! even better still if you can smooth down inbetween say at the 3 coats mark. Leave for 24 hours for primer to fully dry !

The next day you want to smooth off the primer and wash off before applying the paint.
Then spray the rings/surround with the spray paint.I did about 4/5 coats again leaving 15/20 min between each coat so it becomes touch dry.Leave another 24 hours for the paint to fully dry.

Then the next stage is to use the clear coat to give the finish more protection and gloss.The rings/surround should be looking nice and shiny already but you need to rub this down to a dull matt colour so you can apply the clear coat.I nearly cried at this point because i though i had ruined it. Apply with about 2 coats and leave for 24 hours for it to dry!
Fineto ! You should have some nice shiny rings/surround to put on your grill !

I think if you have access to a paintshop oven or something like that the you would have to wait as long for the paint to dry !
I did this in my garage. The paint, primer and clear coat also bond better when there warm so i warmed the cans up before i used them by dipping them in warm water and leaving them for a bit !
The paint will also bond/dry better in a warm place or in the sun !

Thats how i did it anyway !
Just thought i would write this up incase anybody is wondering how to do it because i didn't have a clue how to until i started reading up and had a go myself plus got a bit of advise from other people
Prob could go into more detail but like i said it was just a quick explanation and brain overload ! haha
:yes::o.k:
 
Also when testing if its dry use your finger nail otherwise if its wet youll have a finger print youll have to sand out !.
 
i too went with black.....think red would be a possiblity though given your car is black

as said above, taking the bumper off wont make fitment easier...you need to pop off the grill surround with a screwdriver - i then lightly sanded down the chrome to give a key, its not necessary to sand it off completely!! pointless IMO...i then cleaned with a wet cloth, dried and applied 5 or 6 coats of plastikote black primer......and thats what you see in the picture :)

since then i have removed it again and applied another 2 coats, then put a final coat of laquer on due to chipping....spray laquer tends to have more of a matt finish when compared to the bodyshop applied stuff..... ideally i wanted a matt finish but it just wasnt hard enough to withstand stone chips, so i now have a lil shiney grill which looks the same as before if im honest :)

P1000635-1.jpg
 
Heres a pic of mine, just rubbed the chrome down, primered it, left it out in the boiling sun for an hour, i did about 3-4 coats in this time as it was VERY hot.

Then I did about 4-5 coats of Matt Satin Black, let it dry, this also happened ultra quickly due to the heat, then clipped it back on the following day for the below results.

P1010127.jpg


However, I have just done my centre caps after having my wheels refurbed and they are a darker shade to the wheels, but I think they look good as it sets them off and I am now thinking of doing my grille surround and even possibly my wing mirrors in this colour too - Graphite Grey
 
JD09 said:
A quick note in relation to this. What about the 3M dinoc stuff? Means you don't need to worry about stone chips or paint overspray . . . ?
Click to expand...

Can you get that stuff in colours other than carbon?
 
RED RED RED, defo go for Red Ross, I was going to do this to My Black TypeR when I had it & when I did the photoshop with the sides & lower half done it look the dogs bits. Whatever you do don't do it black as you'll only have a Grill that looks like every other one on here, although you may be banned from ASN for forever more for daring to be differant its worth a punt. I think you'd be the first to do this to an 8l so crack on before everyone else jumps on the band wagon as usual. I'll see if I can knock up a decent photoshop & e-mail you it.

Ewan.
 
lol okay the banter and chat has been good. I have decided am gonna go with the red for now. worst case is it is minging so will then be done another colour.

cheers for all the comments.
 
id do both colours do the surround red would look good on black, then do the rings black as chrome would'nt work with red and black car imo
 
yup id do a mix...the photoshop doesnt look very good with it all red
 
All red looks like the Jokers face!!!

Dont do it, just do the U, as mentioned, leave the top bit, just do the bottom and sides, what you going to do with the rings, chrome or black??

I'd say black :)
 
it'll look like it's grinning at you:yes:

Black all the way dude
 
Yer full red looks like you've turned you car into a tart. Got to paint the ring backs though!.
 
Right, have decided.
Gonna do the lower half red and the top bar black so it will be a u-shape such as that on the black polo gti that i see at the kids nursery.
Image.ashx


have already done the lower half in audi laser red, looked at the reds available and it was slightly more subtle than some of the others.
 
Good idea Ross, get the pics up, will be good to see this, something different :)
 
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