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#1
11-19-2010, 07:41 PM
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Grille black or "silver" plastic??
Just curious as to why some grilles have black painted plastic behind the metal works and some are unpainted.
__________________
1991 560 SEL / 185k miles 1992 750il / 17k miles - project car 
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#2
11-19-2010, 08:30 PM
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A past owner painted its?
The grille was originally a dark gray color. It seems the sunlight quickly bleached it to the light gray color we always see now. -Jason
__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket  Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states! Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels. 2014 Cadillac ELR 2013 Fiat 500E.
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#3
11-19-2010, 09:18 PM
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Really? Maybe. But I sure see a lot of them painted black then. Even a google image search brings up a good number on what would appear to be unmodified cars. I figured with the frequency it was a factory option or a model specific thing.
__________________
1991 560 SEL / 185k miles 1992 750il / 17k miles - project car
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#4
11-19-2010, 09:27 PM
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I don't think they were ever painted from the factory. It seemed to be a popular thing for styling garages to do though.
-J
__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states! Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels. 2014 Cadillac ELR 2013 Fiat 500E.
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#5
11-20-2010, 12:10 AM
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Yes, grille inserts (door handles, plastic trims, etc.) do fade from dark gray to light gray with time due to the sun.
You can get grille inserts online for 20$+shipping & 44$ from MB dealer for my model. But my MB parts guy told me if mine was still good (no cracks/damage), I should just paint mine. Cause inserts from even the dealer is very poor quality. So I painted mine back to original MB dark gray color.
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#6
11-20-2010, 12:23 AM
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Didn't know there was an OEM grille paint. How much was the rattle can?
-J
__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states! Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels. 2014 Cadillac ELR 2013 Fiat 500E.
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#7
11-20-2010, 05:55 AM
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i have painted ours flat black
__________________
1989 300ce 129k ( facelifted front,updated tail lights, lowered suspension,bilstein sports, lorinser front spoiler, MOMO steering wheel, remus exhaust,stainless steel brake lines). (Gone) 1997 s320 154k (what a ride). Sold with 179k miles. Replaced with Hyundai Equus 1994 e320 Cabriolet 108k  1972 280se 4.5 153k Owned for 12 yrs, sorry I sold it [/SIGPIC]
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#8
11-20-2010, 07:01 AM
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I purchased a new grill insert from a local MB dealer for our 1991 300CE a few years back because a mild deer hit had broken it. The new grill insert was dark gray and high quality, as is any part I've ever purchased from a MB dealer. MB has rigid specifications for all parts that vendors manufacture for them ... the same specification as the original part ... so no reason for a replacement part to be inferior to the original.
__________________
Fred Hoelzle
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#9
11-20-2010, 07:26 AM
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Would the process using a heat gun as in the link below work on the grill plastic ??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emlrb38YHgI
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#10
11-20-2010, 07:53 AM
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I'd be scared of melting/warping the plastic with a heat gun. I tried that process on my old MK2 Volkswagen Jetta, and while it amazingly restored the original dark grey/black colour to the parts just like in the video, anything that was smooth instead of textured (like the door handles) warped VERY easily (less structural integrity without texturing, perhaps?). I would be interested to see the results if anyone tried, though.
I just painted my W124 grille insert satin black. Very simple, quick, and effective - just remember to do the secondary hood release pull too.
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#11
11-20-2010, 08:12 AM
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Every car and truck,I've owned I painted the grilles black.
It just makes them stand out better.
__________________
1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt
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#12
11-20-2010, 08:57 AM
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Well maybe that is what I am seeing then, new grilles. Did not know they were that dark. Thats really a change from new to old!
__________________
1991 560 SEL / 185k miles 1992 750il / 17k miles - project car
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#13
11-20-2010, 10:35 AM
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I painted mine satin black and pulled out the cross bars.
__________________
68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500 Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i
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#14
11-20-2010, 11:05 AM
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I painted mine dark gray. The heat gun trick does not work on the grille plastic.
It looks darker in that photo then it does in person. If I were doing it again I would choose one shade lighter of gray. I painted the trim pieces inside the headlights the same color. -Jason
__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states! Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels. 2014 Cadillac ELR 2013 Fiat 500E.
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#15
11-20-2010, 11:34 AM
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I'd use the SEM paint or the spray paints for plastics
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