fixed that grille

[roddiaz1]

I like it! Great Job.

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[GDN]

Looks nice, but now it just highlights how ugly that milky white light bar is.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

 

[flrsb62]

I like it, looks better that mine. You have given me a better idea. I scratched the crap out of mine some time ago and had PPF installed on the top and bottom.

 

[Bokenator]

Did basically the same thing, but in Antimatter Blue. I got a "friend and family discount" and only paid in the $200-$250 range. Everything is cheaper in the South!

I agree that the lightbar still bother's me, but not enough to do something about it...yet. Keep hoping somebody will come out with a tint kit as my local tint shops are scared to tackle it.

 

[RichB-HTX]

I really like the look but it would not work nearly as well for mine as my truck is Antimatter Blue…very dark.

 

[RichB-HTX]

Did basically the same thing, but in Antimatter Blue. I got a "friend and family discount" and only paid in the $200-$250 range. Everything is cheaper in the South!

I agree that the lightbar still bother's me, but not enough to do something about it...yet. Keep hoping somebody will come out with a tint kit as my local tint shops are scared to tackle it.

Imhave antimatter blue also. I can’t tell from the photo which sections you did in the antimatter blue. Can you clarify. Does it show well in person!

 

[Bokenator]

I have antimatter blue also. I can’t tell from the photo which sections you did in the antimatter blue. Can you clarify. Does it show well in person!

I did the same paint pattern as SneakyPetie78 shows in post 18; anywhere that is white in his photo is what I had painted Anti-matter blue. However the part that appears to be gray in his photo I had painted a gloss black. It looks like it should have looked from the factory. I've had it painted for about a year, and have a small chip in the black that was easy to touch up. Only got thru the paint and not the OEM gray finish. Nobody else probably even would have noticed. I have heard that if you get deep chips in the OEM grille it actually is a white piece of plastic!

I think it looks better than the OEM gray. Was it worth $250? Yes. Would it have been worth $1200 the OP paid for the blue version? Not in my opinion, as the gray/blue/black are only marginally different. I also will note that I took the grille off myself and handed it to the guy to paint, which is why my cost might be lower than the original poster. It takes about 20 minutes to do if you are handy and have a cordless drill/driver. Here is the link on how to do that:

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...lightning-front-grille-in-4-easy-steps.15367/

Another advantage: it also allows you to drive the truck while your painter is puttering around with it.

Please note that I originally tried a $25 solution, which was Plastidip. I definitely would NOT recommend that, as the bug guts eat it up, and the grille looked like it had a bad case of eczema after one good summer road trip.

I am happy with paint job as it stands now. If you can get it done for under $500 it probably is worth it if the plastic looking OEM grille bothers you as much as it did me.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

I did the same paint pattern as SneakyPetie78 shows in post 18; anywhere that is white in his photo is what I had painted Anti-matter blue. However the part that appears to be gray in his photo I had painted a gloss black. It looks like it should have looked from the factory. I've had it painted for about a year, and have a small chip in the black that was easy to touch up. Only got thru the paint and not the OEM gray finish. Nobody else probably even would have noticed. I have heard that if you get deep chips in the OEM grille it actually is a white piece of plastic!

I think it looks better than the OEM gray. Was it worth $250? Yes. Would it have been worth $1200 the OP paid for the blue version? Not in my opinion, as the gray/blue/black are only marginally different. I also will note that I took the grille off myself and handed it to the guy to paint, which is why my cost might be lower than the original poster. It takes about 20 minutes to do if you are handy and have a cordless drill/driver. Here is the link on how to do that:

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...lightning-front-grille-in-4-easy-steps.15367/

Another advantage: it also allows you to drive the truck while your painter is puttering around with it.

Please note that I originally tried a $25 solution, which was Plastidip. I definitely would NOT recommend that, as the bug guts eat it up, and the grille looked like it had a bad case of eczema after one good summer road trip.

I am happy with paint job as it stands now. If you can get it done for under $500 it probably is worth it if the plastic looking OEM grille bothers you as much as it did me.

That $1200 included painting a bumper piece as well, and this white is a 2 or 3 coat process (increasing labor and materials as well). I removed the grill myself too, as the 1-1/2 weeks the painter had it, I was still able to use the truck. Although I was almost ashamed to drive around looking the way it did. One neighbor said to me: "hey, your RC car os broken!"

 

[Sneakypetie78]

Btw.... i think the 24 has a slightly different grille...

 

[GDN]

Btw.... i think the 24 has a slightly different grille...

Not surprising - there have only been 2 other year models, but yeah - Ford mucks say let's spend some money redesigning these parts vs spending some money on software. There is likely already a lot known they won't share, but this truck was only supposed to have 3 model years, but here we are.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

Not surprising - there have only been 2 other year models, but yeah - Ford mucks say let's spend some money redesigning these parts vs spending some money on software. There is likely already a lot known they won't share, but this truck was only supposed to have 3 model years, but here we are.

My hope is that software is being looked at seriously as well. It would be hard to believe that they don't notice/ hear the same sentiment from everyone.

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