PAINT--REAR CHALLENGE GRILL....anyone do it?

I've noticed my Challenge grill (rear) has some fade spots and is almost a flat black. Well, I don't like it. I have a compressor, spray gun, you know, everything I need. There's only one problem; I'm going to need heat resistant paint. I know they sell it in a spray bomb, but don't know if they have it in a mixable version that I can dilute and apply myself. Or, would I be better off buying the spray bombs and going that route. Anyone do this yet???

Around the lights seems okay, primariy where the heat is the hottest is the paint the flattest. Needless to say it makes the car look aged. I'll certainly have to do the whole thing, and I've gotta fix it. Any thoughts you have before I attempt would be appreciated.

Pic attached...it looks worse in person...

B~
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Hi Ray. I've tried several "black" applications, but as soon as the car gets hot it looks like a window with a lot of streaks on it. I've yet to find anything that can keep that shiney black look without responding to the heat in some visual way.

Daniel, BTW, the shields look fantastic! Thanks~ The holes will close up or get congested if you don't dillute the paint, so it will need three or four coats, very thin coats. I've used heat resistant paint before (the spray cans) with very good success as they are very thin to begin with. Not knowing what kind of paint is on there now will force me to prime it to be sure a neutral foundation is down for the paint. I'm tempted to try the spray cans and if it turns out poorly I'll tear it down, sand it, and spray it right.

Drew, I have no idea how powder coat holds up to heat. I've never heard of it being used for high heat areas.

 

I've tried several chemicals to brighten the black,..no luck. I may compound it as a last resort to determine if it can be saved. If not, I'm painting it. The problem is all those damn holes. Can you imagine getting the compounding material out of the holes--oh my. I'll keep you posted.

 

Update...What a mess. I polished with three different levels of polish to get the shine back. It looked fantastic. Them I waxed it to bring out the shine,..incredible results. Two hours later after it had time to set. All the white polish showed its ugly head in the holes. Oh man, I'm in trouble now. I'll never get that crap out. I hit it with a high pressure air hose and nothing happend. I'll use my high pressure washer on it next time around. I tried using a tooth brush, boars hair brush and a couple of scrub brushes. I'll keep you posted.

 

Okay. I'll look into it today.

 

I received an estimate of $60 to sandblast and $175 to powdercoat. They tell me there are 20 different blacks to choose from. I'm just going with a glossy black. I believe it looks fresher with the shiney finish, IMO. I'll take pics as the process is begun sometime late this week.

B~

 

Got an estimate for 120, sandblasted and painted in one day. I'll be taking on next week.

 

I just picked up my grill from having it sandblasted, stripped, sandblasted and powdercoated. They told me the grill was originally powdercoated and required a significant amount of work to remove the old coating (they had to bathe it in paint remover and reblast it). They can tell if it was previously powdercoated as when they are sandblasting the old finish, it lets off sparks as they hit it. And it sparked a lot.

It's hard to tell exactly where the finish was when the grill was new as it's probably been on the car sucking up heat from the muffler for several years. So, I matched the current color and took it up one notch to try to replicate whatever gloss was there. The results are absolutely fantastic. I am very, very happy and want to thank those who suggested powdercoating as a means of repainting the grill.

I'll post pics tomorrow of it. If you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, these guys do fantastic powdercoating work.

B~

 

Pics of before, during and after. I'm very pleased.

Cheers~
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Thanks for the comments. It really looks better in person than in the pics, but I wanted to show that it is worth the time to udertake this project as it freshens up the car's appearance dramatically.