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Plasti Dip Grill

24K views 55 replies 21 participants last post by  gussed 
#1 ·
Hey Guys,

First posting :) Just got a 2012 XLT and wasn't a fan of the plastic chrome accents on the car, makes it look a little cheap IMO when the car has the lines to look really tough. I have never done mods, but read a lot about Plasti Dip and watched tons of youtube videos. Decided to give it a shot on my grill as a first test, since it seemed simple enough.

: First note, it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be getting that grill off the 2012 :p There are little plastic bolts holding that bad boy on once you get past the not exactly sized 10mm and 7mm main bolts. Anyways, after taking me a second got it off and went to town.
: I think I sprayed a little too far away trying to get an even coat and ended up with a bit of texture in the Plasti Dip. Good news is that I actually enjoy the textured look.

More to come soon :)

* For whatever reason the image wouldn't stick in my OP so I replied with it :)
 
#3 ·
InnocentEd said:
* For whatever reason the image wouldn't stick in my OP so I replied with it :)
We had to modify the first post settings for all users to prevent spammers from throwing hundreds upon hundreds of images as their one and only post. But, welcome to the site! Look forward to your future contributions :D
 
#5 ·
i did mine a few months ago. it's holding up well. I did remove it a second time to do a touch up right after the initial job.

the black plastic backing of the grill is a BEAR to get off. :rant: I had to use a flathead screwdriver just to pry the plastic tabs away enough to get it to pop out and in the process broke 3 or 4 off. A few more times removing the grill and the black backing wont be staying attached :lol:

i also broke off one of the prongs that hold the OEM ford logo in place. Had to order another logo off ebay which turned out to be stick on more or less.

and when i reattached, i did not even bother with the smaller screws on the inside or the 7mm screws. The only thing holding the grill in place is the larger 10mm bolts.... oh and one of those broke in half during the initial removal :censor: and i had to replace it as well
 
#7 ·
@MBabs : Sounds rough.

I definitely wanted to get away from this without losing/breaking anything so I took my time. In terms of the plastic black thing on the back I simply left that on and Plasti Dipped that too. Seeing has it was already black plastic I felt no need to protect it. The plastic bolts holding on the grill and the ford emblem were tricky but slowly removing them with what I think was a 10mm did the job...getting the emblem off did take some care, I could see how you could easily break those pegs.

I certainly don't want to have to do that often, I feel your pain...they did not make it easy to remove that piece.

Next, I am trying to figure out how I can get the embossed "ESCAPE" on that front bumper also black. Tapping it off won't really work so I may have to get the dip in a can and free hand paint that one.
 
#8 ·
Next, I am trying to figure out how I can get the embossed "ESCAPE" on that front bumper also black. Tapping it off won't really work so I may have to get the dip in a can and free hand paint that one.
They sale a sticker on ebay that you just place in the letters. I did that and it looks great. It's lasted over a year.
 
#9 ·
It looks great.Much better IMO. I not chrome guy and the black goes much better than the chrome..MAybe u could just spray a few coats over the whole escape logo and then go back with a fine razor and cut out all the extra dip around the letters.

Of course not to put too uch pressure on razor so it doesn't scratch paint. I think someone on here painted theres and came out great.

Whichever method u come up with please share.i sure alot will want to do this once u get it done..
 
#10 ·
Nice job I'm going to dip my Mariner Grill this weekend probably...
 
#13 ·
Hey guys,

Back with an update :) I got the grill set that many others have on this site and decide to install them on my escape.
I like the look of the front of the Escape, it's more aggressive than most people think and I thought these would help.

: Here is a look at the top pieces in just a test fitting. As you can see I have already removed the grill from the car. Some others say you might be able to install these things without taking the grill off but I suggest otherwise. You can see my grill is a matte black and the grills are shiny.


: Here is a picture of the screw these things come with (on the left) and the ones I bought from a local hardware store. The screws with the upper units are simply too small for comfort. There is plenty of space behind the grill and no reason these things need to be so short....I got 1.25" screws and they don't even come close to the radiator. The only thing is that the heads are a bit bigger so you have to wiggle them in there.


: Here are a couple of shots of the pieces that hold these things in place as they are installed. They are pretty basic but do the job just fine...it's a little metal tab with odd clip type screw holds.


: The inside grill behind the outer shell as a black tab that covers the opening needed for the top screws. You can either remove the back grill or in my case I just took a small drill and drilled a hole where the screw gits through just fine.


: After installation I decided I didn't like the glossy black vs. the matte black of the paint I had on my grill. So I decided after installation to put another 3 coats of Plasti-Dip over everything including the bottom grill. Here is how that turned out.


: I decided to obviously install the bottom unit before the top for access reasons. Even with the top grill off you have to reach your hand behind the bumper and sort of hold the brackets and holds in place as you screw them in. If you aren't patient you can easily drop everything or lose piece. Just take i slow (hopefully you can fit your hands in there) and eventually it will work :) The brackets for the bottom of lips on them (sorry no picture) so they hook onto the bumper sort of.

Bottom space...needs cleaning :)

The extreme lack of space to fit your hand to install

Bottom Installed


: The Finished Product...I am pretty happy :)


- Before And Before


- After
You can see I DID NOT black out the bars on the bottom grill and left them white...I actually like the white look behind the grill personally.


> Next updates should be the lettering :)
 
#16 ·
JaysOnTheEDGE said:
Grille looks good, how many cans of plasti-dip did you use for it.
One can was more than enough for the entire grill and doing 5 coats. I lay each coat to cover about 70% of the grill and the more coats you put on the more flat it looks...pretty easy stuff :)
 
#18 ·
I like it much better..If u decide u want to stay with the black look and if it gets scratched up and nicked then i would paint it with some good quality paint for a more long lasting durable finish..

I love the black and white combo look..Chrome to me makes things look cheezy.That's my opinion. No disrespect to all the chrome lovers,just not my thing is all..

Great Job.. :beer:
 
#19 ·
Did you just buy a new emblem? I noticed it went from blue to black.
 
#20 ·
i notice you did not remove the black plastic backing when plasti-dipping your grill. have you had any issues not having a complete wrap around of the dip? is it peeling in any spots?

when i did mine i removed the black backing so i could cover the entire grill but due to breaking some pieces off, if i ever need to touch it up i probably will only hit the front, as you have done.
 
#23 ·
MBabs said:
i notice you did not remove the black plastic backing when plasti-dipping your grill. have you had any issues not having a complete wrap around of the dip? is it peeling in any spots?
Hi MBabs, honestly I haven't had any issues and the grill itself has been dipped for about 3 weeks and with heavy driving. That said who knows what the super long term will be. I did put almost 7 coats on there and sprayed it from every possible angle so I am hoping it's got a nice covering...I took special attention to the edges and think ill' be ok.

dumpystig said:
InnocentEd said:
Those 'screw tabs' are intended to slip over the side of the rectangular brackets.
HAHA! That makes total sense, man that was a "slow" move. Would have made the process a bit easier :) Worked out the same though, I don't think ill have issues with it.
 
#24 ·
#25 ·
That looks awesome great job!! :thumb:
 
#26 ·
A little new update for you guys :)
So earlier in my thread I mentioned that I wanted to black out the lettering on the front bumper. I think that the embossed look is all fine and good but I needed a little something else. Originally I was going to tape it off but that quickly become annoying; so I was on the hunt for another option.

I eventually came across these : http://www.ebay.com/itm/281030814782?it ... 23&vxp=mtr
So these are chrome lettering made specifically to fit in that spot, PERFECT! Of course they are chrome (asked for black but they didn't have it) so in comes the plasti Dip!

So long story short I ordered and here is what I got. They come with protective tape on top (the P has it removed) alcohol wipes and 3M adhesive primer.


So of course I pulled out the trusty Plasti-Dip and put a quick 3 layers (after removing the plastic protective covers) and here is what we got

Here you can see the 3M tape on the back of the letters


And here is the final result which I am very happy with. The installation was super easy, just clean up the spot and use the primer then stick them on there. Shots are just before I leave for Tahoe and the snow for 5 days so we shall see how all of this lasts in the harsh weather.




Enjoy!
 
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