Grill Restoration

As is typical i was surfing the pages of the fourms trying to gain a little insight on whatever lies ahead for the components i have yet to work on...there i found a member's ingenious idea of restoring the front grill...EXCELLENT idea!

30 years of bugs and road borne sandblasting has taken its toll on this bmw kidney grill.

 

As you can see from the photos above, when you drill the grill rivets out the dis-assembly is pretty straight forward, but it necessary to go slow. If the rivet starts to spin on you as you are drilling, it will melt through the plastic and you will have to find bigger diameter rivets that will ultimately show through.

He used a small piece of strategically placed wood and a secured body hammer to work the dents out

The use of steel wool or scotch pad to scuff the surface, then primer and paint the plastic parts.

Polish: with fine steel wool or scuff pad depending on the surface damage, then buffed with polishing compound on dremel or other wheel, then brasso to finish.

The Headlight Grill was scrubbed with a burgandy color Scotch-Brite scuff pad and scuffed all of the exposed areas, removing all the surface dirt and grime, taking all the factory shine off. Then, use some Dupli-Color CM-541 a grease and wax remover with a clean soft cloth. Removing any oils on the grill transfered from my hands.

Then apply some Bulldog Adhesion Promoter, this product promotes paint adhesion. Finally, applying three coats of Dupli-Color Black Arcrylic Enamel paint. This product produces rather than a shiny finish, when dry the result was perfect finish. It's difficult to see in the photograph but the improvement was amazing.

Source: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1671585