ok. so i have maroonish stock paint on the truck right now. and i wanted to paint the grille to match. whats the easiest way to color match it. i planned on just doing it with spray cuz its cheap and eazy and i can do it all myself.

anyhelp?

 

If you dont want to spend much money, i'd just sand it a little with like 500 grit sand paper, then put spray a coat or two of adhesion promotor (walmart or autozone or other auto place has it), then spray the paint. Oh, and dont forget to clean it real good with a dish detergent, like Dawn.

 

heres how I did mine .
1st take the grill of its much easyer to prep and paint .
2nd I used a wire brush on my drill to ruff it up .
3rd wash and dry good with mean grean , then wipe down with tacky cloth .
4th use some wire to hang it from something .( I hung mine on garage door track at chest heith )
5th spray 3 good coats of primer ( I used just cheap .94 cent Wal-mart brand )
6th lay down minimum 4 light coats followed by 1 last medium coat .
7th let air dry over night

Now I will tell you this I painted mine flat black so more so too look tuff not pretty . I used cheap primer .94 , and 5.00 flat black krylon fusion . Its been 3 months since i did this and so far no chiping , cracking , flakeing or fadeing . My advice since your clor matching yours is to search on here and find out what these guys use . I know there is a company that makes Ford exact matched paint in spray form ( I just dont know the name ) Then follow thier exact derections for applying as to look good(be prepaired to Wet sand between coats or aply clear coat also ) I just threw in my method incase you decide you dont want to spend the time or money to get show quaility results all though im very pleased with mine ( it cost me a lil over 15 bucks for paint 2 cans primer and Black and tacky cloth I had everything elses and about 5 hours of my time only because I painted all the trim black also ) All in all I would highly recomend this as it is cheap and easy and you get dramatic results ...

 

If your going to do it, do it right, do not use a RATTLE CAN. I know its cheap and easy, but its quality is ****. I also know 1st hand that it is not going to last. I painted my 97 dime with "grabber green" engine enamal, yeah, it looked good, looked professional, but it just wasnt right. just a little hint, take it to a body shop or something, and i dont mean maaco or earl shieb.

 

dude I did mine and it looks like one of the factory flat black grilles that come on their work trucks and its stood up great to tree limbs srcpes and washing and scrubing rattle can can look good if you take your time and use good paint , plus ive paint interior and they look great not to mention all the trim outside .

 

fack that...use a rattle can..dont spend to much money on your ranger..unless its a show truck,then by all means,get it dont professionally.
If you use and abuse your ranger like most of us do,Use a rattle can.
Just take your time.Follow all the steps properly and im sure your grille would look almost as good as factory..besides when your offroading rocks and **** is gonna hit that grill and put dings scratches and whatever on it..umm..couple hundred for paint...for what?

 

say what you all want, i do my **** the right way, cause it is what i do for a living, for about 4 or 5 more weeks then its off to basic training, but will be back in the trade eventually.

 

Me and my friend rattle canned his entire door. Matches the rest of the car. It is all in the prep work my friend.

-TJ

 

When I did my grill, and bumpers, I didn't use rattle cans. I used the good stuff and did it right. I sanded the chrome real good...then sprayed omni epoxy primer, then some omni 2k primer, and then sanded it with, then sealed it all with epoxy primer again, but thinned a little. After that, I sprayed PPG basecoat, and then clear. Its expensive, but its quality material that lasts, and looks great.

 

no ****in ****, like i said, i did my entire dime with that ****, countless hours of prep. its just not the same. trust me, i may be 19, but i tend to know what the **** im talking about when it comes to paint, body etc. and rattle can just is not the same. yea i know i am sounding like a hippocrite by saying dont rattle can anything, but it is from experiance, i will never rattle can anything automotive related again, only thing that **** is good for is to use as a guide coat, nothing else, unless you're a wetback.

 

high five for knowing the right way to do ****.

 

quality paints are the way to go if you want it to last. if you are just doing it flat black, hell, do whatever you want. you can just spray it again with the rattle can to touch it up.

As for me, im gonna use an Edge grille that im gonna paint the bars dark shadow grey with a flattened clearcoat on it. it will need special prep as i want to keep the texture. the surround will just be black and i will do an OEM style job on it. plastic prep throuout the scuffing process, flexed sealers and clears the whole way. It will probably be Spies Hecker or Standox brand paints. Why? i work for them and get it free :D

so its easy to do it right when its cheaper than even the spray can stuff. :D

 

Ok I Ill bite Does this look wetback I dont think so And yes i painted the Grille , Bumper pad things rear bumper plastic with Krylon fusion and my method above and the Lca and cross member with engine enamal plus rear springs , Axle exept its black Bc they were rusting . And i think mine looks great plus no cracking or peeling as of far and ive tried to scratch it off by hitting brushy trails and its stood up !!! So yeah its in the prep and im NOT A WET BACK becuase of this ive had many complaments and so has my buddy about his stock wheel i painted with black engine enamel . So sit on it .