I hate the way my front end looks with the chrome. I want the all black front end (grill and bumper) Was wondering how to get it dont the cheapest way. I know i can just buy pull offs from any truck (1500, 2500, 3500) But since i already have each item i think just getting them painted is easier. Will just rattle can flat black work? or do i have to buy automotive quality paint? Getting it line-x done came to mind, but it looks about $80 for it.

 

i'd guess it'd be tough to get it to bond to the chrome. Why not sell the chrome and buy pull offs? seems like you may be able to come out ahead?

 

On my 68 Camaro I used PlastiKote flexible Bumper and Trim Adhesion Promoter (kind of like a spray glue) and then painted with PlastiKote flexible Bumper and Trim Gloss Black. Came out great and you cold not scrape it off if you tried. The Adhesion Promoter is the key to making the paint stick.

 

line-x would be interesting. if that's really what you want to do, $80 is a pretty good price. you'd never have to worry about it chipping.

i'd just buy the sport grille and bumper, or have them painted professionally, paint is harder than it looks.

 

if you look or ask your dealer i belive there was work truck lines like bone stock no power nothing had a blaked out 3rd gen grille on my dads work truck its a 3rd gen with a factory black grille

 

The problem with Line-x is it will fade fast. My bed is line-x and its pretty faded (living here in the south). I am going to check a few scrap yards around here to see if i can do a even trade. But yes, the plain black full front is what i want. I think it looks meaner then the chrome ones. I hate that my truck looks too much like a 1500. Thats one thing i wish DC would put some thought into. Neither ford or GM has the same looking 1500 to 2500. Both those you can tell the differance. With dodge, they just slap a diesel engine on a beefier fram and stick the 1500 body on it. That almost kept me from buying a dodge, but I figured I will make it look HD. I saw one truck with the kick panels Line-x and liked the look of that, but then again I am worried about the fading part.



But i have extended cab, with silver kick panel and the 04 style. It looks like i can just rattle can it with a rattle can clear coat. But I will try to see if i can just swap parts with a wrecked one.

 

any of your line x or rhino line sprays can and will hold up in the sun i belive there is a uv protectant they mix in with the spray. ask about that i know people who have there whole truck line x. also try looking around at salvage yard for 3rd gen wrecks that are the sports and see if you can get a grille off them

 

i wanted to black out my truck to go to ebay and type in dodge ram grills and also rhino linings makes a glos coat or there bed linlngs now

 

I wonder how the krylon 'fusion' spray paint would do? Supposed to be plastic specific. I used it on my valve cover and it holds up fine there but I know the grill's surface and material is quite a bit different.

I want to 'black out' my truck as well. I have a laramie and had the chrome trim on the sides but it started to blister with just 15K on the truck so I removed it and debadged the entire truck.
Saw somewhere where someone took the plastic chrome cladding off the stock steel wheels and shot them with gloss black...looked nice.

I want to get my truck where the only chrome on it is the exhaust tip and I plan to reuse the stock chrome center caps over the black wheels. I plan to linex the bumpers when I get my bed done.

 

The only people who can't tell immediately upon looking are the people who would require lots of explaination on why you didn't choose a 1500. Don't sweat the small stuff.

That's one of the things I like about the dodge. The Superduty's look great, or better than the F150s, but by the time you get to four real doors, they're huge! (And I can't tell a HD GM apart from a half ton).