Manufacturers Standard Grille

[chib1177]

HI,

whilst washing and cleaning my car today i noticed yet more stone chips to the front of my car this time to the standard lexus grille.

Now my question is the grille looks like its black enamel over metal, i can see little shiny bits of metal under the enamel but does anyone know what the metal is.

Coz if its stainless steel then i might consider removing the enamel seen as though its coming off anyhow to leave a stainless grille.

better still has anyone done it and can tell me how to do it. :duh:

i know your gonna say buy a new grille but i want to spend my cash on different mods later in the year and my mod fund is very low.

[Monster-Mat]

yep, the grill is chrome underneath, you can strip of the black for Bling

[chib1177]

i was hoping it was, coz it looked pretty shiny at a glance, any ideas on best way of de enamalling

[Monster-Mat]

elbow grease.and lots off it...oh and some paint stripper

[chib1177]

damn, i was hoping for a miracle cure, oh well thanks anyway ill get a tub of elbow grease when i come from my holiday

ta for the advice :D

[Monster-Mat]

here you go, this is the best ive found

[chib1177]

thanks but ive just bought genuine elbow grease off eBay :winky:

[TheDon]

so all the grilles are realy chrome plated? and the paint stripper will not remove the chom plate?

[chib1177]

now then don you have got me thinking

its typical it falls off at the mearest sight of a stone but when you try to get it off i bet its bloody hard work, its not exactly a smooth area to work on either full of holes it may require some thought before i attempt this project, i mean wire wool will just wreck the chrome and its not gonna be easy without anything abrasive to work with

[Monster-Mat]

A mild paint stripper,. and something like Scotchbrite should do the job just fine, id try a tester of the stripper before commiting, untill you find one of a suitable strength

[peter026]

Didn't Colin do a thread on this not so long ago

[Scorpion]

Try a mild varnish stripper not a paint stripper.

[peter026]

Found it. scroll down

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=17431

[chib1177]

peter your a genius thanks very much :D

i wish i could remember to use the search

[Rob]

this one is specififc for the IS here

[stuwood]

Does anyone know if the same can be done to the sport grill & the lower mesh beneath the number plate???

I feel a bit of bling comming on :winky:

Stuart

[Rob]

grille below the plate is plastic - so no on that one.

mesh on sport grill is plastic covered and wont be chrome underneath - just plain steel

[Kazi]

They look f :tsktsk: g wicked!! Might have a go myself. Wouldn't mind getting a spare grill though first, in case I mess it up. Any for sale? :P

[Parthiban]

That does look surprisingly good, not sure I'd have the patience to do it properly tho. Just out of curiosity, is there any particular reason why they chrome them, and then coat them in enamel?

[AltezzaScott]

i have a spare standard grille mate!!

[GALLA_4]

I had a look at my grill and it looks like its all plastic! there is chrome around the edge of the grill and the L logo is chrome but everything else is a dark grey. I was just wondering is my grill the same as the type of grill you guys are talking about. My car is a 2001 Lexus IS200. I saw on another site that someone used Nitromors Car Paint remover to get that enamel off. I remember years ago that by putting neat bleach in the bath it took the enamel off! Just a thought! I knew that mistake may come in handy one day!!!

Thanks guys!

[whitie]

In the pic's of Chippy 01's dash is it just the camera flash thats made the colour difference in the vynl/Plastic.

Yes I know he's also put the wood effect :P

[Rob]

on my old grille, (99) it has a grey metallic dusting, rather than a full coat no where on it is enamel., you can actually just scrape the top layer of grey off and see the chrome coating underneath.

[Kazi]

I had a look at my grill and it looks like its all plastic! there is chrome around the edge of the grill and the L logo is chrome but everything else is a dark grey. I was just wondering is my grill the same as the type of grill you guys are talking about. My car is a 2001 Lexus IS200. I saw on another site that someone used Nitromors Car Paint remover to get that enamel off. I remember years ago that by putting neat bleach in the bath it took the enamel off! Just a thought! I knew that mistake may come in handy one day!!!

Thanks guys!

←

Does your grill have three or four lines horizontal?

[Kazi]

HI,

whilst washing and cleaning my car today i noticed yet more stone chips to the front of my car this time to the standard lexus grille.

Now my question is the grille looks like its black enamel over metal, i can see little shiny bits of metal under the enamel but does anyone know what the metal is.

Coz if its stainless steel then i might consider removing the enamel seen as though its coming off anyhow to leave a stainless grille.

better still has anyone done it and can tell me how to do it.  :duh:

i know your gonna say buy a new grille but i want to spend my cash on different mods later in the year and my mod fund is very low. 

←

Just out of interest, is your grill the facelift type on the later IS 200 or the older one? The later grills have only 3 strips going from one side to the other and the older ones have 4. Do you follow me???