Grille restoration / refinishing

[kamzcab86]

Nice job, Doug. Looks good!

[djkeev]

Doug......

That looks awesome!

Do you feel that a protective coating would be a good thing for this paint you applied?

Have you tried or thought about performing any accellerated wear test by rubbing / abrading it somehow?
With water, sand, etc.........

Dave
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Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[IdahoDoug]

Dave,

Yeah, I'm sure a protective coating would help durability but it was so laughably simple I would have absolutely no problem redoing it every other summer or so. For $9 and 20 minutes of my time the messing about might not be worth it to add a clearcoat in addition. To cover it with an outdoor clearcoat I think would require spraying it on, masking it off, etc.

It was so spontaneous, I was putting the dishes away and not feeling so hot - minor cold or something. Then I remembered the leafing pen, texted my wife at a school board meeting to find out where I put it (married guys will know this). Grabbed the grille, wiped it with a rag in the garage already damp from window cleaning and laid it across the kitchen table. Went to town. The chisel felt tip and raised edge made it easy to get a nice edge. Even if the tip hung over the edge, it doesn't run down the side as it kinda needs to be drawn out by sliding. So I literally have zero runs down the side, etc. Perfect tool for the job.

For durability, the #1 wear will be weathering vs abrasion, which is best duplicated by putting a sample out in the weather. So I'll put a sample outside and leave it facing up to the sun and rain, etc - worst case versus the grille's horizontal direction. If I have a can of Krylon clear coat, I'll hit half the sample just for grins.

I suspect it will be pretty durable simply because Krylon products have always surprised me in the past. I've used their products on mailboxes, railings, steel bumper touch up, etc. Always impressed me except one rattle can paint job on my utility trailer that faded and I later realized I did not use their better heavy duty outdoor stuff.

Anyhow, I just walked out to the garage with a cuppa, and looked at Mango's fresh face with a smile.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[specialev]

How are your grilles with the krylon paint holding up?

I need to restore the grille from my Swedish Tristar. It's had the added insult of white over spray due to my negligence. It does not have a chrome strip on it so I just need to get back to black. I spent several hours wet sanding the over spray and I still can't get to the nooks and crannies.

[tjet]

[IdahoDoug]

The Krylon Black Satin paint I learned about here on Samba for the grilles in the D pillars and the front is holding up quite literally perfectly. When I wash the car, they look like I painted them yesterday. Absolutely nothing bad to say, and I also shot the grille on my Quattro, and something else I can't remember. Edit - Oh just remembered, I also shot a tail light on the Mitsubishi. One of the Samba guys in California snagged it for me out of a U pull and sent it up. Its black surround was faded to grey and mismatched the other side. Quick shot of Krylon and the van looks great. Cough. OK, it looks like a Japanese parody of the Vanagon, which would be somewhat less than "good" on a Bell curve....

The silver leaving pen on the front grille surround is also unchanged. And the Vanagon has had to sit outside for a bit while I played with the Mitsubishi. So, the leafing stuff has held up to the road chemicals of typical winter driving, rain, and sitting out with no change. Not an endurance test by any means, but clearly it is tough enough for outdoor use and its adherence to the Krylon I'd sprayed the grille black with a year earlier seems proven as well.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[specialev]

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad you are all having good luck with black krylon plastic paint. I'm going to pick some up and work over the Tristar grille!

[kamzcab86]

[IdahoDoug]

Wow, that looks great. Even when new, my "leafing silver paint pen" work did not look that crisp and vivid. It's now looking a bit weathered in spots.

I really like the way your grill looks with that factory silvery outline. I can see why VW did it as it adds significantly to the appearance with a more three dimensional front face than when we just have a completely black grille by painting. Well done and well worth the time. Any tips on material and how you did it?

Doug
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[a2wolfsburggli]

A quick trick to restore any black moulding is to use Kiwi black leather dye.

Not polish! Dye is liquid and come in a bottle with a foam applicator.

Get it at any Walmart.

It'll last about 4 years in direct sunlight before needing touch-up. Much longer if you garage or store your vehicle.

https://www.kiwicare.com/en-us/products/kiwi-leather-dye
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[Jake de Villiers]

Wow, that's beautiful, Kam!!
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[jimf909]

Best thread bump of the month: a great answer to a five year old question and som Saturday morning TK and Dylan.

I'm on the four year program with shaking the can of Krylon Fusion I bought and freshening up my black grills. It's raining today so it may be a five year program. The problem is a shiny grill would look out of place on my rattle can and bondo van.

Thanks for the follow-up kam.
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- Jim

[kamzcab86]

[IdahoDoug]

Excellent - thanks. Summer project for me for sure this year if I can't find that silver leafing pen to try a recoat. Probably dried up in the kid's arts and crafts drawers...
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[jimf909]

The amazon tells me that I bought the Krylon Fusion paint for my Vanagon's grills on May 14, 2014 so I'm right at the 6 year anniversary of thinking that I'd clean up the grills on my van.

Amazon also tells me that I bought Forever Black Bumper and Trim Restorer on March 13, 2015.

I never bought Mother's Back to Black on Amazon but I have two bottles of it so I bought it at some point...twice.

After a few tests over the years, I can say that Mother's Back to Black is probably fine for shining up the black on a newer car that hasn't sat in the sun for 30 years. I'd never recommend it to someone hoping to restore a Vanagon's black parts. At best, it'll look nice for a few days or weeks. At worst, it'll impede any other efforts to blacken the black bits.

Forever Black is often recommended and appears to be shoe polish for the plastic. It works for about as long as shoe polish keeps your shoes polished when you wear your pro-polished shoes every day. It's also another product that probably gets in the way of paint sticking to stuff so I only tested it on disposable things like the front door fascia.

Here's the front door fascia that I've used as a test space.
- The lower right is where Forever Black was applied a year ago. It looks oxidized and I can see where the Forever Black shoe polish was laid on heavier by the sponge applicator...it still looks dark while the rest is greyish.
- Above that is Forever Black applied this morning. It cleans it up but still looks worn.
- To the left is Mother's Back to Black looking better but that will be short-lived.

With a few tests like that over the years I went all-in for the Krylon Fusion. I'm not a fan of layering layer upon layer of rattle-can paint over the coming years but that seems to be the best option.

Here's what the grills looked like in June, 2016, chalky and grey which is pretty much how they looked 4 years later. Zoom in to see how chalky they are.

Here's what they look like after a good cleaning and a can and a half of Krylon Fusion (the first coats were in gloss black because I had a can of it to use, the final coat in satin). A few fisheyes and some dust landing on fresh paint but they look good enough to make the rust pocked marked nose of my van look even older,

Rattle can paint has its limits, out in the weather 24/7 I put its lifespan at 3-4 years tops but I've been wanting to do this for a few years so I thought I'd give it a try.

Next up, adding chrome trim. I generally don't like chrome but when I see an original Vanagon chrome trimmed grill, esp. Kamz work above, I see exactly what the VW designers intended.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E3K3W66/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And a shiny new badge...

This might get me to do something about the seam rust and bondo...in 6 years or so...
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- Jim

[jimf909]

[jlrftype7]

What’s interesting is how much larger the lights look once you applied the black around them versus when the grill had faded.
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[VicVan]

Indeed! It makes for a much more aggressive look. I like it!
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[Nuthin2It]

In 2012 I took some pictures of the grill on my 1985 after I cleaned it up but before I painted it. It's interesting that the silver, which appears to be paint, filled the edge. The grills in this thread have silver on just the raised portion.

Also, the silver is on the top of the headlight opening:

But not the bottom:

As the original owner, I know that this is the paint scheme for the grill on my 1985.
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1985 Westfalia 15 degree EA288 Boxeer

[Ahwahnee]