Black vantage grill, swap?

[Chris.Owen]

Morning all, I was looking at my very blacked out vantage yesterday, and whilst I love her, I think she’s toooooo black! Black paint, black grill, black lower mesh. I liked the look when I first got her, I think it takes away from the iconic shape of the front end.

So before I undertake some kind of of DIY colour change, does anybody have one they’d like to swap, px?

Just a thought

[Jon39]

If yours is a 6 Bar Bright Finish grille which has been painted black, would it be possible to just remove the paint with paint stripper?
I think those grilles are made of metal, so presumably it is safe to use paint stripper.

I agree with you, that it can be too black at the front.
I have already told my story, about being followed by a very black sports car. Looking in my mirrors, I guessed Jaguar. When it overtook me, it turned out to be a Vantage.

How awful, being mistaken for a Jaguar by an Aston Martin owner.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 20th May 09:32

[steveway]

I have to disagree with both of you, think all black just looks so stealth like

[Chris.Owen]

Steve, yours looks stunning! I do love that grill! And again it’s because you can see the shape! I like the black look mine has, but the opening on mine just gets lost.

Maybe a gun metal grey would suit?

[LLaPGoCh]

The original bright finish grilles are anodised(electroplated) polished aluminium which gives them the translucent effect. I had a scuff and a couple of chips on mine, nothing major but enough to be an annoyance to my eyes anyway.
Trying to find somewhere to redo this proved quite tricky as car body repairers would only paint them and it wouldn't be the same finish, you could have them powder coated as per alloy wheel refurbs but again not like the original.
I contacted a few specialist anodisers but most only seem to carry out industrial scale work so 6 slats wasn't worth their while.
One did reply, Badger Anodising in Birmingham ( https://www.badgeranodising.co.uk/ ) and after a quick chat to their engineer Pete Walsh they were more than happy to carry out the work for £120(cheaper than £600 for a new one!).
The process involves stripping the existing coating, re-polishing and then re-anodising, not sure if your grille looks painted but I would imagine that the acid stripping process will remove this without any problems but have a word with Pete who's really knowledgeable and good to talk to also.
I was going to post on here about this but I've not had mine back yet, it takes a couple of weeks so will post a pic of the results when I get them. The hardest part was removing the slats from the grille, which you need to do before they'll work on them as some of the are wedged into the plastic slats tightly but they do come out.. after a lot of cussing....

You can also have them anodised to different colours ( https://www.badgeranodising.co.uk/services/anodisi... ) to give your car a completely different look.. and if you don't like it, just get it re-anodised again .

Hope this helps

[Jibberingloon]

I would swap my Shiny for a Black one

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/parts-and-...


Or you could just buy it

[Chris.Owen]

Ah! I recognise it from eBay, I almost messaged to ask if you’d swap but thought I better not!!

[Jibberingloon]

wasnt on eBay!

Been sat in the garage!



Happy to swap if you are interested

[prefurbia]

I took my grill out (15 minute effort), and had it bronze coated ($100). Lots of compliments at Cars and Coffee!

[oceantools]

Morning all

I was looking for inspiration for changing the rear grill on my 2009 V8V and came across this thread. Do any of you have experience at changing it out? Mine repeatedly suffers corrosion (salty Scottish roads!) and I was wondering if there was an aftermarket stainless steel version? Or perhaps the carbon fibre diffuser? Any thoughts or opinions appreciated.

Thanks.