Toyota grill restoration with Peel Coat!

[KirkH]

2005 Toyota Highlander in for Resale Detail service. The car is in great shape but has a trashed grill. It had fading, chipping and other problems.

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I did a quick test and advised the customer that I thought covering it with a rubberized paint would help the resale value of this car. She said it looks good, lets do it!


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I cleaned the surface with Chemical Guys EcoSmart Waterless wash and clayed the surface with Chemical Guys Light Clay Bar and Chemical Guys Synthetic Detailer for clay lubrication. I dried it thoroughly and taped off the area with blue painter's tape and plastic sheeting.


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I sprayed five coats of black Rustoleum Peel Coat, 30 minutes between each coat. After drying overnight, I applied two Perfomux PlastiDip Glossifier, 30 minutes between each coat. After the gloss dried, I carefully peeled off the tape, using a razor knife to cut the paint away from the tape. It looks really good in real life. Since many grills are plastic, the pebbly appearance of the Peel Coat does not look out of place.


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I did this same process on the Chevrolet Bowtie emblem on the front of my car. It has lasted for a year with no signs of deterioration.
While I was doing this job, a guy stopped his car and asked me to do the same on his Dodge Ram!

Let me know what you think!

[Buster906]

You did a good job and what matters is the customer opinion

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[KirkH]

Oh she was ecstatic! It was the only real problem with the car except for a dent in rear quarter panel with no paint damage.

[custmsprty]

Nice work!

[Dmb5450]

Awesome save, I think that actually looks better than the original chrome.


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[dcjredline]

Probably wasnt possible but I would rather have kept the "wings" body color and just had the inside of the grill surround black. I think the black all the way to the lights looks a little out of place. BUT you did a great job on it, I am not trying to take away at all from your quality of work and can see from the first pic that the wings were pretty beat up too.

[KirkH]

Yeah, you are correct. They were as bad as the rest.


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[KirkH]

BUT the great thing about Peel Coat is...

Don't like it? Peel it off!


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[evo77]

It looks like the glossifier didn't add any gloss at all?

[KirkH]

It looks like the glossifier didn't add any gloss at all?

It's hard to tell. It is called "glossifier" but it purports to protect from UV. You pretty much always want to use it on plastidip.

[KirkH]

I may have forgotten to do a good before/after glossifier picture.


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[GSKR]

Looks great.

[rlmccarty2000]

Looks real good. Definitely upped the sale price.