New Honeycomb Grill?

[SANDEGTI]

Decided to freshen up some of the exterior this winter for the old girl, just curious to see what people have done with their front grill?

My GTI is an 05 so you can imagine just how grey that "black" plastic really is. When I was detailing it in the summer I would use Back To Black and it did a good job for about two weeks, until that unbearable grey came through. I've considered spraying it however I'm concerned that it will simply chip off a year down the line since they're so difficult to prep without destroying it.

I've also looked at new ones (entire kits) however they don't come with the number plate holder. I don't like the sound of magnets/suction cups and then having to replace my new plates just to get them to fit.

Does anyone have a good, affordable solution? Thanks!

[Clarkj93]

Personally I would just use rivnuts or another good fastener to secure your current plate and holder to new grille. If you drill out the fastener holes in the plate holder they just pop out and you can add new ones in to secure it to the new grille Or you can just rivnut your entire plate directly to the grille. Just do your research on getting the correct fastener and you will find the solution you're after.

[MattC]

Gtechniq C4 trim restorer. Goes a long way for the price, you'd do the whole car twice over.
I didn't know about C4 when I sprayed my grill with black bumper paint but all the other plastics restored nicely. Just make sure to clean the plastics thoroughly!

[SANDEGTI]

Personally I would just use rivnuts or another good fastener to secure your current plate and holder to new grille. If you drill out the fastener holes in the plate holder they just pop out and you can add new ones in to secure it to the new grille Or you can just rivnut your entire plate directly to the grille. Just do your research on getting the correct fastener and you will find the solution you're after.

Thanks I overlooked the use of rivnuts! I'll consider this in future if I can't get the C4 to work. Might be the proper solution...

[SANDEGTI]

Gtechniq C4 trim restorer. Goes a long way for the price, you'd do the whole car twice over.
I didn't know about C4 when I sprayed my grill with black bumper paint but all the other plastics restored nicely. Just make sure to clean the plastics thoroughly!

Completely forgot about C4 I just ordered some, let's see if it's really as good as everyone was saying! I looked at some results after the 6 month period and it's impressive. If it lasts a year or more I'm happy with that. Any less and I can't be bothered with the faff honestly. Thank you! Will update with results.

[gj124]

I rubbed mine down with some scotchbrite (took a while to get in all the honeycombs) and painted it with plastikote satin black. Still looks good and it was a year and a half ago. Considered using G4 etc but you'll just have to keep applying it to keep it looking black. If you're doing the main grille, consider changing the lower one as well to 'complete the look'. They're only around £20 on ebay so might as well do it while you're there.

[SANDEGTI]

Managed to find a very cheap brand new bottom grill so replaced it as suggested, the previous one had a bunch of stone chips and scratches anyway. The difference in colour is like night and day, I ordered some C4 and I'm hoping everything will match in and if it doesn't they're getting replaced too.

Bottom grill was a genuine pain in the a*s to remove, not sure if it's supposed to be that difficult or what but one thing I've learnt in my ownership of VW's is that you just have to yank it until it budges.