Td5 D2 bodywork - Faded Front Grill

Removed the radiator grill once again the other day while I was re-spraying the offside wing.

As it was lying around the house, it gave me a good opportunity to stare it out and think about what I could do with it...

Apart from the obvious need to treat the faded colour, I looked at the possibility of mounting a camera or even some extra lighting in there. 

For the first time I noticed the recessed vertical 'strakes' between the main horizontal bars and thought they could do with a bit of lifting.

When the grill was last off, I took the opportunity to put a shine on the LR emblem and used some compound to cut through the weathered finish.

This is the grill with the cleaned badge. It's not easy to show 'black' in a photo and although the grill is faded, it doesn't look as faded as the photo would suggest. It is however, just as 'blotchy' looking...

These two photos also show my mockup of the recessed vertical strakes. Chrome finishing strips are available for this purpose. Here, I used some cut down kitchen foil to model the look of the chrome trim. Can't decide whether it's a lift or its 'bling'

Other ideas from the web..

Two versions of the earlier D2 grill. The lower one looks like the official LR 'hot climate' grill often called the 'Saudi' grill. The upper one is again for an early model D2, but has been modified with some rather precise drilling to get that 'supercharged' D4 look going!

Also, its bottom section has been cut away to allow the fitting of a LED light-bar..

Wonder if something like that can be done with the later 'facelift' D2 grill...?

Respraying the Front Grill.

Went ahead and sprayed the grill with matt black 'Pro-Cote'. To prepare the Grill, I masked the badge with blue tape and gave the grill a good cleaning with some baby wipes and a micro-fibre, before a final wipe with meths. Must mention to use gloves while handling the cleaned plastic to avoid greasy smudges.

All that blotchy faded look from the first two photos has gone and the finish looks good. However, the last two photos are taken before any spraying was done!!

It must be a quality of the light, but the sprayed grill looks very similar with only the blue tape sprayed black!...

It was good practice with the spray can. As I have said before, I intend to spray all the faded black trim on Hx and apart from the rear bumper this should be the trickiest shape to deal with. 

The grill was refitted to Hx and it just immediately showed up the faded black panel on the bumper below it!  

One piece at a time...One piece at a time...