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Plastidipped the grille


Platinum15Ti
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On my last car, I did the entire grille and surround black. On this car I left surround chrome, since the foglamp bezels and lower grille also have chrome accents.


 


Before


 


image_zpshadmzv4w.jpg


 


Masking it off, I also pulled a garbage bag through the grille and blocked the radiator from being sprayed


 


image_zpsyzlgrrmd.jpg


 


image_zpsfblovwah.jpg


 


5 coats starting with a very light coat and applying heavier the next 4 roughly every 20-30 minutes


 


image_zpsoou3tbzq.jpg


 


image_zps2c0wxiyr.jpg


 


image_zpsoycsy0bl.jpg


 


image_zpsaddsleej.jpg


 


Finished


 


image_zps3bheo5vs.jpg


 

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Platimun15Ti, your car looks fabulous! Mine is white too.

 

Do you have any concerns about the plastic coming off while being washed at a commercial car wash? I go to one that advertises to be a "hand" wash, but it still goes through some spray areas. Sorry but I'm not going to wash my car myself. I take it to a car "spa" maybe 3-4 times a year. 

 

I just sent an email inquiring about darkening the grille at a local body shop who has done other minor work for me and who was very reasonable and has good reviews. I haven't heard back from them yet. If you have any advice for me, it would be much appreciated. Thanks. 

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Thank you!

 

No, no worries. The grille on my 2014 which my mom now owns has been done for a year and has been driven through washes and went through a salty Michigan winter with no issues. Do several thin coats so you end up with a thick layer in the end. I've been told the thicker it is, the easier to pull it off if you ever decide to remove it.

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Hi, Platinum15Ti, you've done 2 of the Fusions, right? What year was the first one? 

 

I took my 2013 to a body shop and they said the bumper would have to be removed before they could install the Plastidip. And the cost would be $318! I am so disappointed. They also said it would take 2 full days so I would have to either rent a car or get a taxi to home and back.

 

This is a full-service body shop who has done a minor job for me. They have good reviews. But I think I will shop around and see if I can find another decent place to darken the grille for me.

 

But does the bumper of the 2013 have to be removed to get to the grille? It doesn't make sense to me - looking at your photos, which I printed up and showed to the body shop but I wasn't sure which year Fusions you had done this on.

 

Thanks.

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Hi, Platinum15Ti - just wanted to FYI you that a friend and EV owner did the Plastidip job for me! I showed him your step-by-step photos and he followed that. We couldn't figure out how to put anything in between the grill and the engine area, so he inserted 3 or 4 pieces of stiff paper down in that area and it covered everything behind the grill - I hope. I think you wrote something about "pull garbage bag through the grill," so maybe you were saying to do basically what my friend did except he used paper instead.

 

The grill looks awesome. I've driven it once since he did the Plastidip job and no problems so far with overheating or anything. 

 

This wonderful man and his wife are friends of mine. He is the President of the local Electric Auto Assn. They have an older Prius plus a Ford Focus EV. He wants to do the Plastidip on the Focus but he is leasing it - although I can tell he is tempted since he can peel the Plastidip off before he returns the car. 

 

But thank you again for the great photos! And encouragement. 

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I keep trying but cannot get the photos to show up here. Sorry. Very frustrating. I took them on my Samsung cell phone, sent them to my Gmail, saved them in My Pictures, but can't get them in here. 

 

My car looks great - just like Platinum15Ti's. I was also trying to put a photo of the electrical outlet sticker on my charge port.

 

I would welcome any direction on getting a photo put into a reply. I've tried dragging them from the My Pictures folder, and nothing is working. I have Windows 8. 

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Click on the "More Reply Options" button at the bottom right of the Reply box.

 

Enter the text that you want to appear above the picture.

 

At the lower left click on "Choose Files...".

 

Browse to where the file is located on your computer and select it.

 

The file will be uploaded to the web site.

 

Place your cursor in the message where you want the photo to be displayed.

 

At the bottom of the post to the right of the icon display of your picture click on "Add to Post".

 

The picture will not appear in the reply box, just a link to where it is stored on the server.

 

Add any additional text, if needed, below the picture.

 

Click on "Preview Post" to see what it will look like.

 

If it looks okay, click on "Add Reply".

Edited by murphy
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Hi, everyone. Thanks to murphy's help, I hope I can put a couple photos in this post.

 

In addition to a shot of my car with its blacked-out grill, I thought I'd also put a shot of my charge port with the electric outlet stick-on.

 

post-141-0-94128800-1428172605_thumb.jpg

 

 

Unfortunately the photo of the electric plug sticker is too large. Don't know why. It was also taken using my cell phone's camera.

 

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