I decided to refinish my grill

[Roadtrip]

My latest project was to redo the grille. It was driving me nuts from the day I got the car. The previous owner spray bombed the whole thing silver. The hard part for me about trying to refinish a Mopar grill or aluminum part is replicating the argent finish, but I think I’ve nailed it with a combination of paints and special technique.

first off I took some duplicolor wax and degreaser remover to remove the silver paint that was on the grill on the parts of the grill which are supposed to be aluminum finish.

this worked well at removing the paint too, just had to rub for a while



showing the grill spray bombed silver. Yuck. Bothered me from the day I got the car.



Shows the bezel with all the silver removed to expose the bare aluminum. Careful to leave the texture of the old argent if you can, but if not it’s okay as you can replicate the finish as shown later on.



more to come.....

 

[Roadtrip]

Next, I noticed that some of the barkerizing or anodizing or whatever it’s called was definitely yellowed over time. You can remove all of that with drano crystals mixed with water and soaking it (google it) and then polish the aluminum and re-clearing, but I’m too lazy for that and wanted faster results. So I sanded the yellow/brown if the clear with 400, then 600, grit to smooth things out. This leaves a brushed aluminum look which I quite liked, so I left it that way, again, to lazy to polish it out. Lol. You can also just use a scratch brute pad to remove the discolouring which will also leave the same brushed aluminum look.

next thing to do is scotchbrite all the areas to be painted. This will help the paint adhere. Clean with wax and degreaser again, then have a beer to relax as you’re going to need a bunch of patience for the next step. Masking for painting...



You’re going to want to first mask off all the areas that are to remain natural aluminum finish, then the areas that are to be sprayed back. No need to mask the areas that are going to be argent as these will be sprayed first.

 

[Roadtrip]

Once everything is masked you’re ready to spray the first coat of paint in order to achieve the dark argent finish. They key here is to also try and apply the paint to develop texture. I accomplish this by applying super light coats of paint by ‘dusting’ the surface to be painted with lights quick coats from 30” to even 36’’ inches away. This allows small paint particles to adhere in tiny little thin dots, which provides coverage and texture. You don’t want to paint it solid black here. Remember I started with silver as a base coat so I just wanted to darken the area in general without blackening it out. I used but roll bar black for this. I like it, it’s reasonably priced at my jobber parts place, and it dries fast.



You’ll notice a few things here. Beer is a common theme for doing most of my car repairs, and that the first application of black is thin, don’t over do it it here. It’s easier to put more on than take it off. One beer is about the perfect amount of drying time between coats...

 

[Roadtrip]

So if you’re happy with the amount of black that you’ve put down its time for the metallic charcoal look to go on next. For this I used Eastwood Detail Gray. There are other paints in aerosol format that have metal flake in them but this is what I had on hand and am lucky because it worked out perfectly. You now want to lightly dust over the areas you just dusted with black. Again don’t go too heavy here, it’s easier to out more on than take it off. Again the light application from a distance allows for texture. If you do put too much metallic on and find it too light or shimmery you can just do a super light dusting of roll bar black over it again to darken it up, and vice versa.

You now have argent finish!


next step, black paint.

 

[Roadtrip]

Now you’re onto doin the black portion. You’ll need to do a couple things first. Remove the masking tape that you very first replied to the areas that are to be black. Once done that mask the new freshly painted argent areas off and follow the instructions on the can for painting the black areas. First two lights coats with time to flash in between then one medium wet coat for the final coat.

once the paint is flashed and handle-able you can and should remove all the masking tape while it’s still somewhat soft. This will prevent the tape from taking any of the paint with it when it shouldn’t and where you don't want it too. You now have a freshly painted bezel. Repeat for the other bezels and center grill and you got a restored, and for me, excellent driver quality grill. Good luck!

 

[Roadcuda]

Lookin' good.

 

[Russ69Runner]

Grate job. !!!!

 

[quikbird]

Solved problem easy way. Sprayed whole grill with flat black.

 

[Plybeep68]

Great job, looks good

 

[Big Mo]

Looks very nice. Good information, Big Mo.

 

[Russ69Runner]

I got one that need's done. May be you might do some on the side. LOL.

 

[Roadtrip]

I got one that need's done. May be you might do some on the side. LOL.

it’s easy, just time consuming. You can do it!

 

[droptop]

Have you tried the dark argent in a spray bomb? Big time saver.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mopar-Textured-Dark-Argent-Paint-Textured-/182543730390

 

[Roadtrip]

Have you tried the dark argent in a spray bomb? Big time saver.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mopar-Textured-Dark-Argent-Paint-Textured-/182543730390

that can would cost me $93 canadian dollars shipped to Canada, assuming they wouldn’t charge extra brokerage at the border like they usually do. So I all reality, that can could likely cost me around $120 canadian dollars landed at my door.
So, no, I haven’t tried that product.

one can of VHT cost me $10 cdn., and the Eastwood Detail Gray was given to me but only cost’s $20 cdn, if I had to buy it at a store up here that stocks it.

 

[Jaybirds70]

you would think with exchange rate you'd brake even,, oh ya the jahrnbarm need too make money also..
you did a great job for spay bombs..

 

[droptop]

that can would cost me $93 canadian dollars shipped to Canada, assuming they wouldn’t charge extra brokerage at the border like they usually do. So I all reality, that can could likely cost me around $120 canadian dollars landed at my door.
So, no, I haven’t tried that product.

one can of VHT cost me $10 cdn., and the Eastwood Detail Gray was given to me but only cost’s $20 cdn, if I had to buy it at a store up here that stocks it.

 

[Jaybirds70]

Hope thing are GOOD o. your side of line... I here it ( cov1) is shutting down everything up their also...used to live in Edmonton years ago...Ans yes my friend, it will be a great project..palette of concrete in a few weeks to get garage floor smooth and get roof back on after wind blew of 6 sheets...
then my fun will begin

 

[Roadtrip]

you’ll notice if you look at the add again shipping is $41 usd. The exchange rate is near 45% right now because of all this covid business

 

[Jaybirds70]

did not look close enough...