Best way to black out trim and grille?

I’m looking at refreshing all the existing plastic, black trim on the front/rear bumpers. I also want to black out my all-white grille.

I’m sure it’s all been discussed and figured out by the community, so I’d appreciate any links to other discussions, or the best way to get this done.

I want it to look nice, so I’m looking for something better than what I used to use, plastidip.

Thanks!

 

I have used Rustoleum bed liner on my side moldings, and my wheel well arches. Has some grit to it when it dries. Keep that in mind.

 

Well, first of all, realize your trim was never actually black. It was more of a dark charcoal grey. If you go full-on black it may look weird.

There is a restoration product that actually works to get your trim back to charcoal grey again - maybe not quite DARK charcoal grey, but it’ll get it pretty damn close. A few of us on here swear by it. @NickB_01TRD can chime in. I’m not gonna re-post my results again. The other “trim black” products are bullshit compared to this stuff:

 

I actually just finally used it last weekend, I think. Torched my front bumper plastics to bring back the black color and hoping that it will stay this time. My truck does sit outside so we'll see how it works out

 

Just ordered it.

Any advice on modifying my grille? I have the all white, and was thinking I would try to get it color matched with the trim. Trim could also be matched if I ended up using vinyl or paint.

 

Big Sharpie. !!!!!

 

Agreed. Magnum Sharpie.
https://www.amazon.com/Magnum-Oversized-Permanent-Marker-Chisel/dp/B00U1I5CJA

 

Search the interwebz for "chrome delete wrap," they sell tape made by 3M and others and that's what it's used for. Here is one site. Could at least try it and, if you don't like it, my understanding is that you can always peel it off. They come in lots of finishes too, like high gloss, weird patterns like carbon fiber, etc.

 

Please post pics, last time I had two seconds to rub together and was planning to do this, it started raining, plus right now it's oak and elm pollen season and everything's covered in a green cloud. Would love to see what this does to your truck since it's dang-near the same as mine.

 

Are you guys being serious?

I am going for a nice looking finished product, so not sure if this would cut it

 

Well my front bumper and plastics have been replaced with aftermarket at some point so the plastics didn't hold up as well as OEM. Here's a pic of when I got the truck.


Your truck is a limited isn't it? You shouldn't have much black plastic right?

Using a propane torch brings back the color but it fades really quick so I'm hoping the griots garage stuff will let the color hold longer. I don't have any after pics at the moment though and I'm not home to get any.

 

I think it’s a base, or ‘work truck’. Trim looks similar to yours, but it’s an 05’ with no fog lights. Different grille too.

 

Yes, @NickB_01TRD, Limited. Here’s some of PO’s pics of mine showing color-matched flares and bumper valance:

 

I've used this and had really nice (OEM like, no gloss) finish results that last:

https://www.duplicolor.com/product/trim-bumper-paint/

 

Yeah it doesn't look like you'd gain a whole lot with the trim restorer. Unless you're just trying to clean up your mud flaps.

@Nick244 is your upper front bumper trim faded in the corners by the headlights? It looks like it in the pic. It may be good with just a good coating of the Griots Garage stuff. Worth a shot first if you don't want to buy new or paint. Otherwise give the torch method a try with the Griots stuff.

 

No I was kidding, my sense of humor is skewed a bit....

 

Yes, of course I was kidding. LOL