[JayAr-E90]

whos spraypainted there grills instead of purchasing them, i was thinking of doing this to my e90 sprakling graphite grey, want to gain a glossy grill look, pics will be great!

[DuckySpud]

I painted mine but after a few months there were a number of small chips appearing, not the end of the world but they were enough to annoy me haha.

I ended up wrapping mine with vinyl and I'd suggest that to anyone, bit more difficult at first if you've never used vinyl before, but mine still looks the same as the day it first went on about 8 months ago

[Maaarkk]

My brother painted his on his e60, looked well



But after a while there were some chips as you can see in the photo. Could re spray them but I think you're better off buying a set as its less effort

[Brian mc21]

I left mine into the local body shop and paid £25 iirc. At least a year later and I'm still more than happy with them.

[smacg]

painted mine but chipped quite easily. just took them off again to go over it again and you can't achieve the original finish without completely stripping the paint and starting again which is a pain. Looks good when fresh but chips irritated me.

[Drrncour]

As said chip easily. Wrap them or get the originals from dealers for £65

[Statler]

I did mine and they're still good.
If you use a thick filler/primer as a base coat then 5-10 coats of black primer and an 5 coats of an enamel type gloss black they should be ok.

Just give them a couple of weeks to dry...!

[gaza01]

simoniz do a 'tough coat' paint that is resistant to chips etc. Its what I used and to be fair it lasted until I got a serious blasting from a salt gritter last winter on the motorway. I swear the grit was the size of gravel!!!

[BoondogUK]

I did mine in plasti dip... last a year before signs of wear... I've now bought the OEM performance ones in gloss black

[wolly440]

I've done my grills sapphire black. First give them a light sanding, then 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of paint, and finally 3 coats of clear laquer. I then baked them in the oven at 60c for 30 mins. I also done this on my old E87 and after 1 year still had no stone chips

[Sparky68]

[Leah1]

Originally Posted by wolly440

I've done my grills sapphire black. First give them a light sanding, then 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of paint, and finally 3 coats of clear laquer. I then baked them in the oven at 60c for 30 mins. I also done this on my old E87 and after 1 year still had no stone chips

What angel eyes are you using mate

[wolly440]

Not sure, they came with the car, it a 10 reg E92 lci. Sorry I'm new to 3 series

[Leah1]

Look good whatever they are

[MoeRon]

Make sure you post pics if you do it! I've got a sparking graphite pre-LCI E91 and thinking about going black.

[basim07]

Mate, poundshop 'mean machine' auto paint gets the job done, particularly the matt black!

You just have to do it properly to prevent chips, i even did the wong mirrors on my blue E46 and it looked the dogs danglies, even after a year they were flawless

Best method

1) get some fine grit sand paper and scuff em up

2) pound shop primer - one can is enough - 4-5 very lights coats about ten mins apart

3) matt or gloss paint - once again very light coats but around 7-8
Best method is use two cans and use half of each
Last thing u wanna do is be stingy to make a can last and the paint specks fly out and ruin it all

Let it drt overnight then job done!

All in all cost - £3

[AnthonyR]

I painted mine, but there were a few marks after a while, so Iv now wrapped them instead