I know that it's been said that you shouldn't paint the chrome grill, but I'm seeing alot of 190's and 300E's with the chrome around the grill insert painted the color of the car. Can anyone explain to me how this is being done, with the paint actually sticking to the chrome?

I haven't done this before but I believe you must sand off the chrome (or use some type of remover) and then proceed to use primer and paint. Not sure though...




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Phil Ly

1987 300E Midnight Blue
Remus Sport Exhaust
European headlights
Clear corners
AMG 17in Monoblock IIs (hopefully soon)
Eibach Lowering Springs

HAD the chrome grille frame painted on my 1984 190E AMG -- no problems. HAVE the chrome grille painted on my 1986 2.3-16V -- no problems (tho' the car only sees maybe 20-miles per week). I had it (and the grille) painted at Wheel Techniques in Campbell, CA. You might contact them; I know they used some sort of special primer for chrome (they did NOT sand it).

Brian
*1986 2.3-16V
*Pearl Black AMG rims, yellow calipers
*Pearl Black grille and frame
*Euro headlights, clear blinkers
*Smoked taillights
*Zebrano wood kit
*White-faced gauges
*H&R springs/Bilstein shocks (yet to be installed)

I haven't painted the chrome on my grill, but I did take the plastic insert out and paint it black. It made a world of difference. Car looks newer and more aggressive. Best way to test is to head to a salvage yard and buy a piece of an old broken chrome grill or bumper and experiment by painting or sanding and painting.

Thanks alot everyone for your replys.Gonna try ths before the end of the summer.
Brian where did you get your white gauges??

Rich30769:

Gauge faces were installed when I bought the car -- don't know the manufacturer. NR Auto (www.nrauto.com) has them, but I don't know about their quality. For advice on manufacturers/installation I'd contact Harmut Mees at Palo Alto Speedometer (in CA; http://www.paspeedo.com/).

Good Luck!

Brian