Sorry, I know I already asked this in another thread, "Aftermarket w123 grilles" but only a few people have responded so I thought I would start another one with a little poll to get a few more opinions.

When spray painting a new W123 plastic grill insert, would you use matte or gloss spray paint?

I know that gloss would be easier to clean and maintain and that matte would absorb moisture and dry out quicker and stain easier. And yes, I know it's subjective and the real answer is to paint it whatever I want and whichever makes me happiest, but... I know a bunch of people on here have painted their grill inserts (new or old) and I just wanted to see what others have done. I'm not necessarily asking which shade of gray because I think I know which shade I'm going with but more curious about what others have gone with regarding gloss or matte.

Again, sorry, I know this has been covered in various threads but I thought it might be okay to make it its own thread.

It’s 100% an aesthetic question.
Yadda yadda reliability... just pick the one you think looks the baddest.

IMHO, glossy plastic looks cheap.


-

__________________
1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

I agree with Shern on this. Glossy may look cheap, or, like a Albanian drug dealer. Either way, matte would probably look better IMO. What color paint are you using?

Right, of course, just seeing what other people are doing with it.


I think I'm going to go with a Rust-Oleum color called Granite. It's a satin and it's looks pretty close to the color of my new insert, which is a little darker than the original MB insert that I have on my car right now. I think it will be good for the insert and the plastic surrounds of my Euro lights.

I agree though with the idea of the gloss looking a little cheap. I was leaning towards the gloss initially because it wouldn't stain as easily and would last longer but I like the look of matte better and I figure if it looks crappy after a year or two I could then sand it and repaint it glossy if it's an issue. No big deal.

Here it is.

Attached Thumbnails

 

I went with satin black. I can't recall seeing a car with glossy plastic trim pieces. But flat paint chalks and deteriorates a lot faster than other finishes, so satin was a good middle ground.

Satin is totally a great middle ground.

__________________
1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

That color looks great. Post pics when you're done!

Will do!

I finished up my new grill yesterday. It came out great. The Granite color that I used is pretty much the same color as the Uro insert, maybe a hair darker. I'm really happy with the way it came out. Having the new super shiny trim pieces helps out a lot too. Like previously stated, the game plan was to use my original Mercedes chrome grill surround (which cleaned up nicely) and use the Uro insert with the Uro trim pieces and that's exactly what I did. I still need to do the Euro light surrounds which I'll probably do sometime this week. Here are some before and after pics.

Thanks for any and all suggestions/opinions!

Attached Thumbnails

     

I guess I`m too late. I just wanted to caution you to use a plastic compatible primer coat before the color coat.

Definitely too late. Ha ha!

I'm not too worried, if it starts chipping and looking terrible I'll just lightly sand it and respray using the plastic compatible primer next time. Thanks for the heads up though.

I finally got around to painting the plastic surrounds of my Euro headlights to match my newly painted grille. Man, these plastic surrounds were so yellowed that they were actually looking more greenish.

I'm really happy with the way they turned out. I'm also happy to report that I didn't break anything in the process which is always nice.

Attached Thumbnails

     

Were the surrounds also full of fine cracks that didn't go through? If so, I pay paint those on my SD when it comes out of the booth. What's there would look really bad against shiny new anthricite grey paint.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.