Grill bar paint gone bad

[Saint D]

I scuffed the center grill bar on my lariat and sprayed it agate black. The paint wrinkled in odd places? I let it dry, scuffed it up again, cleaned it, and sprayed again. Paint wrinkled up again right where the factory silver paint was exposed. At this point there was the black plastic of the grill exposed from scuffing the paint over and over. I can peel the silver paint right off with my fingernail and it’s like the black grill underneath is smooth and shiny like the factory paint didn’t stick because the surface wasn’t prepped/primed. I even tried etching primer and it’s still wrinkling where the factory paint is exposed.

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[fossil]

did you use a primer made for plastic?

 

[Exranger]

Sand it down, 3 light light coats of primer, let dry. Then dusting coat of paint to seal to primer. Then light coats with dry time. Seems like the solvent in your paint is dissolving the base.

 

[sprcoop]

The paint you are spraying sounds like it's incompatible with the surface you are spraying it on. Try "dusting" on the first few coats (spray a very fine mist) then after it is somewhat covered lay it on a little thicker.

I've had to do this in some car painting situations (see avatar). Good luck.

 

[SlowTime2011]

AS Exranger mentioned it sounds like the solvent in your paint is affecting old finish, not uncommon with plastics. Follow his advice on the sequence to paint it.

 

[Saint D]

So, I shot the first coat on super thin and let dry for an hour. Looked great but thin. Very next coat still thin and used half the reducer didn’t work. Primer trying slow thin build up 1 hour intervals and sanding the wrinkles in between but it’s like they never end.

 

[Saint D]

I’m not too scared to try again, thought about using easy off oven cleaner and strip all the paint and start over.

 

[OleFordGuy]

If I try painting anything its gonna look like a kid in kindergarten did it, so I've got no good advice. The only thing I'll pitch out there is maybe try like a vehicle wrap material that's the color you want. I just pitching darts in the air Anyways, I wish you luck and success!

 

[Exranger]

If I try painting anything its gonna look like a kid in kindergarten did it, so I've got no good advice. The only thing I'll pitch out there is maybe try like a vehicle wrap material that's the color you want. I just pitching darts in the air Anyways, I wish you luck and success!

You may be onto something with the wrap. I did carbon fiber on a Honda grill and it turned out great. I didn’t like the chrome.

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