So I'm contemplating painting my grill and light covers black like some of the other xj's I've seen, but the thing is I am the worst painter ever... Especially painting plastics(Always seems to just flake off).

First off does anyone have a pic of gray xj 98-01 with black grill and light covers?

Second how should I paint this? Do I need to sand it(What grit?) and what kind of pray paint(for plastics?)? How many coats? I'm a noob. yes.

THANKS!

Or is anyone willing to trade hehehe.

i painted my grill about a week ago and im not the best painter either lol..i sanded it with 2000 gritt and just used black prime for plastic and repeated sanding after paint 3 times

You need to use the red or maroon colored 3M scotch brite pad to scuff the painted surface...most automotive stores have this...in your case probably Canadian tire. This will be easy to work into all the cracks. Then wipe the parts down with a prep solvent to get all the dust off. next use a tack cloth to pick up any dust from sanding that you missed. I used a semi gloss black on my grill and buckets and they turned out great...I used two coats.

I appreciate the advice. Now All I need to figure out is if I want to do it. Is your Cherokee gray?

VHT Nightshade is the preferred product for the light lenses.

IT MAY NOT BE LEGAL IN YOUR STATE!

No, its like that gun metal blue color. The grill I painted turned out great, it looks factory. You just need to take you time, it only took my about three hours to prep, paint and install all the parts. The biggest part being the prep, and not trying to get everything covered with the first coat of paint. Light coats are best, heck it may take three coats.

When someone backed up into my Xj i replaced the grilli with a black one, im goin to get black light covers from the Junk yard. My XJ is silver and is an 01, its too dark now, but tomarrow ill post up a pic for you. i think it looks great.

Yesss! Perfect please please take a pic. Because tomorrow is the perfect weather to paint. Is it a gloss or flat black?

I orderd it an it came black and unpainted so i kept it that way. It might have a little gloss im not sure. Ill wipe the mud off my jeep and take the pic.

Then maroon 3M scotch brite. I didnt tack cloth it. I just wiped it back off with more rubbing alcohol. I painted the grille and bezels with Rustolium universal advanced formula Satin all- surface paint. The front end looks sweet now.Brand new. Even the PO was impressed. I better stop doing things like that. He may want it back.

ohhh Bezels that's what they are called lol. Thanks for the advice ill upload pics tomorrow when I'm done.

Just try to find a bug free place to sray. in my opinion satin looks better than gloss or flat. we all know about opinions. the prep work is the hard part. scotchbrite alows you to get the contours better than sand paper. And make sure its CLEAN before and after scuffing it up.

So just use rubbing alcohol with a cloth?

Just make sure it free of lint or whatever before paint. thats where the tack cloth comes in. I didnt use one, lazy I guess. It still looks great.

Heres the pics



Sorry their so big, i dont know how to make them any smaller.