Reconditioning front grille - Any advice please?
Discussion
The only thing spoiling the look of my car is the front grille - it looks like a "shadow" where the number plate plinth used to be.
I contacted Aston Works to get advice on the best way to bring the grille slats back to original and was told by a technician to used a finishing polish. I've tried this but it had no effect:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/223284064578?chn=ps
I also tried to wrap using this, but it doesn't stick:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Quality-Stretchabl...
Ideally I would like a bright finish grille but would settle for getting mine back to original finish (standard grille). At present I don't want to spend around £700 on a replacement grille as mine is virtually perfect condition except for the "shadow".
The sales manager at the AD that I bought this from told me that they used silicon grease to protect the finish of the grille on my car. Maybe this has to be removed before another finish can be applied?
Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers.
I contacted Aston Works to get advice on the best way to bring the grille slats back to original and was told by a technician to used a finishing polish. I've tried this but it had no effect:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/223284064578?chn=ps
I also tried to wrap using this, but it doesn't stick:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Quality-Stretchabl...
Ideally I would like a bright finish grille but would settle for getting mine back to original finish (standard grille). At present I don't want to spend around £700 on a replacement grille as mine is virtually perfect condition except for the "shadow".
The sales manager at the AD that I bought this from told me that they used silicon grease to protect the finish of the grille on my car. Maybe this has to be removed before another finish can be applied?
Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers.
I had mine re-anodised due to a couple of marks(and my OCD....), have attached pic of the results..
Would recommend Badger Anodising( https://www.badgeranodising.co.uk/ ) in Birmingham if you fancy this route. You'll need to dismantle the grille and send the slats, the cost was about £100 to have them all done which was a bargain compared the price of a new grille.
You can also have them anodised different colours including a black finish if you fancy a change....
If you want to talk to someone there ask to speak to Pete, really helpful and knowledgeable chap
Would recommend Badger Anodising( https://www.badgeranodising.co.uk/ ) in Birmingham if you fancy this route. You'll need to dismantle the grille and send the slats, the cost was about £100 to have them all done which was a bargain compared the price of a new grille.
You can also have them anodised different colours including a black finish if you fancy a change....
If you want to talk to someone there ask to speak to Pete, really helpful and knowledgeable chap
V12VMan said:
I’ve used Autosol metal polish on the current Vantage and previous one, from memory my first Vantage grill was in a bit of state but with some elbow grease and autosol got it back to a reasonable finish.
LLaPGoCh said:
I had mine re-anodised due to a couple of marks(and my OCD....), have attached pic of the results..
Would recommend Badger Anodising( https://www.badgeranodising.co.uk/ ) in Birmingham if you fancy this route. You'll need to dismantle the grille and send the slats, the cost was about £100 to have them all done which was a bargain compared the price of a new grille.
You can also have them anodised different colours including a black finish if you fancy a change....
If you want to talk to someone there ask to speak to Pete, really helpful and knowledgeable chap
Would recommend Badger Anodising( https://www.badgeranodising.co.uk/ ) in Birmingham if you fancy this route. You'll need to dismantle the grille and send the slats, the cost was about £100 to have them all done which was a bargain compared the price of a new grille.
You can also have them anodised different colours including a black finish if you fancy a change....
If you want to talk to someone there ask to speak to Pete, really helpful and knowledgeable chap
V12andV8 only said:
I would agree Badger anodising a good place to remove and then reanodise the grille slats
Peter
Thanks to all.Peter
As recommended, I took my grille slats to Badger Anodising. Pete did a superb job at a reasonable price. They're now back on and look brand new (pics don't show them up that well). Highly recommended to anyone who wants a similar job done.
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|https://thumbsnap.com/iDYvPxqE[/url][url]
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[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/iDYvPxqE[/url][url]|https://thumbsnap.com/1SLZeXUl[/url]Just to follow up on this thread and the other active one about refreshing the grille.
The chaps who used Badger Anodising which colour finish did you go for? And would you say the result is anything like the original bright finish from AML?
My grille also has quite a few stone chips on the leading edges, did you have similar issues or was it just a straightforward strip and re-coat?
The chaps who used Badger Anodising which colour finish did you go for? And would you say the result is anything like the original bright finish from AML?
My grille also has quite a few stone chips on the leading edges, did you have similar issues or was it just a straightforward strip and re-coat?
Hi BigMig,
I used Badger and went for a bright finish as per the original, I'd say the finish is probably not as good as the original but not far off and really only noticeable if you've got your nose up against it. This is being critical to be honest and was more than happy with the result for £120.
I didn't really have a lot of stone chips on mine but a scuff that wouldn't polish out, the re-anodising covered everything and I couldn't see anything of the original marks.
If I were you and unsure especially about the stone chips I'd call and ask to speak to Pete Walsh, good to talk to and very helpful and should be able to confirm what they should be able to do. In fact he did do my grille twice cos he wasn't happy with the result the first time.. tells you something about their service.
Hope this helps
I used Badger and went for a bright finish as per the original, I'd say the finish is probably not as good as the original but not far off and really only noticeable if you've got your nose up against it. This is being critical to be honest and was more than happy with the result for £120.
I didn't really have a lot of stone chips on mine but a scuff that wouldn't polish out, the re-anodising covered everything and I couldn't see anything of the original marks.
If I were you and unsure especially about the stone chips I'd call and ask to speak to Pete Walsh, good to talk to and very helpful and should be able to confirm what they should be able to do. In fact he did do my grille twice cos he wasn't happy with the result the first time.. tells you something about their service.
Hope this helps
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