Alright so i was washing my truck and always put a spray wax on afterward, then did my wheels and tires. Well I got the idea since i hae a 2001 F-150, the grille was sun faded and that kinda bothers me as i'm a perfectionist when it comes to my truck. Its in MINT conditionand i often catch hell if someone happens to see it dirty. Anyway I was thinking since my grille is gloss black now, I wondered what it would look like to paint the lower valence(plastic) gloss black as well and the bed caps, and the plastic on top of the bumper gloss black as well. Basically I'm wondering if anyone has done it and what they thought of it. The plastic right now is like a black/gray faded color. My truck is a maroon/red color with tan on the bottom. Also wondering how well the paint would stick on there as i had to use almost a full can of spray paint on my grille, but that was due to getting in between the honeycomb's.

So should I just wait because i'm wanting to find a BA verticle grille, or even considering a billet grille. And I'm not sure if painting all the plastic black what it would look like.
Or should i paint all the plastic gloss black?

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btw i tried posting a pic of my truck, but idk why it wont let me. I can't edit my photo gallery for some reason. It says i don't have access to do this? Not sure why but I thought i had a gallery on here from a while ago when i first put my wheels and tires on but idk where it went..oh well

 

you need to upload a picture onto an online site like photobucket

 

I have always heard not to paint over that rough plastic...you need a smooth service to match the rest of the truck. I would not recommend it at all...you would be better off buying a new smooth unpainted valance. Check ebay or online junk yards, they always have stuff for cheap.

 

Yeah you cant use direct links from your computer, thats not public information, its only yours, and the Governments . http://photobucket.com/ Best place to host photos.

The best bet would be to sand it down as much as you can to leave very little texture, prime it a couple times ( sanding the prime gently also ) and paint on the layers, and not forgetting a couple passes with a clear coat, and some polish and wax, it will look great.

 

Well I'm not going to go thru all that trouble ha. the lower valence isn't really that faded i just wondered if it would look sweet if i matched the grille with the lower valence, but if i have to sand it and what not i'm not going to do it. I don't have time to do that right now as me and my dad are ingaged in finishing out the inside of our new 48ft x 48ft garage. so we hae our hands full right now. But thanks for the input! Good thing I didn't tear it apart and shoot some paint on it.

 

No problem, though that whole process would only take an afternoon

 

I re-painted mt palstic on my tail gate, they got sun faded pretty bad here in TX and I keep my truck outside. First you must tape off the plastic from the paint and then clean the plastic. I used a degreaser in the paint section of Orielly's. Then lightly spray Bulldog onto the surface that you want to apply the paint. I used 3-4 very light cots and let it dry thoroughly first then applied the next layer. After the Bulldog dries I used a paint called BUmper Black and appiled 2-3 light coats to the surface. I did this like a year and a half ago and it still looks like it did the day I did it. Very durable and NO chipping. I think that thats due to the light coats applied of the paint adhesive and paint.

 

I think down the road here i probably will. Its just once i do it, if it looks like crap there's no going back you know. I wish i could find a BA verticle grille but I have yet to find a replacement verticle grille that i like for the 97-03 bodystyle. I found one i liked but it was a the whole plastic around the headlights and everything and it was all chrome and it would look like complete crap. especially since i'm not a huge fan of a lot of chrome.