Grille painting cost

[TW2904]

I’ve just had a quote from my local body shop to paint my OEM grills in gloss black, with a red insert in the lower grill for £384.

Just wandering if this is similar to what others have paid? The equivalent from Travelin Lite is £255 and the quote feels expensive!

 

[Minimucks]

I’ve just had a quote from my local body shop to paint my OEM grills in gloss black, with a red insert in the lower grill for £384.

Just wandering if this is similar to what others have paid? The equivalent from Travelin Lite is £255 and the quote feels expensive!

There's a lot of prep work that goes into such a small job. Your also having two different colours. Between £300-£400 is in the right area I think.
I'm sure some people are happy to use rattle cans and risk it peeling off with the jetwasher..

Pay the money and live a happy life knowing it's done properly! You can always offer to pay cash to save a few ££.

 

[fezza68]

Have you thought about having them wrapped?.

I’ve just had a quote from my local body shop to paint my OEM grills in gloss black, with a red insert in the lower grill for £384.

Just wandering if this is similar to what others have paid? The equivalent from Travelin Lite is £255 and the quote feels expensive!

 

[TW2904]

There's a lot of prep work that goes into such a small job. Your also having two different colours. Between £300-£400 is in the right area I think.
I'm sure some people are happy to use rattle cans and risk it peeling off with the jetwasher..

Pay the money and live a happy life knowing it's done properly! You can always offer to pay cash to save a few ££.

Thanks @Minimucks. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t being being hit with T6 price inflation! I thought that when I looked at the lower grill. Plenty of prep! The reason I went to this body shop is that they do a lot of work for a local converters and they rate him.

I’ll see if I can bring him down a little with a cash offer.

 

[DaveD]

There's a lot of prep work that goes into such a small job. Your also having two different colours. Between £300-£400 is in the right area I think.
I'm sure some people are happy to use rattle cans and risk it peeling off with the jetwasher..

Pay the money and live a happy life knowing it's done properly! You can always offer to pay cash to save a few ££.

I'm not sure why it might peel off if you do the job properly with a rattle can, the prep is the important bit and you can do it properly yourself and save a lot of money.

 

[TW2904]

Have you thought about having them wrapped?.

Not even thought of wrapping.

How does it look? Is it durable?

 

[fezza68]

It looks very good and its durable if you buy the decent vinyl wrap or use a good firm that does.

 

[TW2904]

I'm not sure why it might peel off if you do the job properly with a rattle can, the prep is the important bit and you can do it properly yourself and save a lot of money.

I did have a go with an aerosol on a lower grill I picked up on eBay. It looked okay at a distance but didn’t pass T6 Quality Control! Not sure I used the right primer.

 

[TW2904]

It looks very good and its durable if you buy the decent vinyl wrap or use a good firm that does.

Thanks @fezza68. Will look into it!

Anyone got any photos of wrapped grilles?

 

[DaveD]

I did have a go with an aerosol on a lower grill I picked up on eBay. It looked okay at a distance but didn’t pass T6 Quality Control! Not sure I used the right primer.

Ah, I've only done small repairs on my three daughters cars, and I buy my rattle cans from a company called "Nuagane" who mix the paint in front of me while I wait 5 minutes, they sell mainly to the car trade. It's good stuff and always does a decent job, some of the repairs I've done still look good five years later after plenty of pressure washing.
There's rattle cans and there's rattle cans!

Nuagane | One of the Uk's Leading Paint Manufacturers

 

[Minimucks]

Rattle cans have their purpose but higher pressure from an air compressor plus the addition of being baked to harden.
As previously mentioned certain companies don't like to do the job through previous experiences.

 

[borat]

Can anyone give me an idea on cost for professional job on painting front plastics pls? Grill and the lower plastic. I’m weighing up buying the ABS aftermarket or OEM and painting them. from what I’ve read needs a pro job (I wouldn’t risk a rattle can I don’t think)
Also any recommendations or anyone on here who can do it?

Thanks

 

[F2JON]

I had my t6.1 grills painted it cost me £280, not sure what van you have but I was told the after market ones fade and lose they’re shine and also they are not the best fit .

Paintworx Loughbourough

 

[66DOB]

Can anyone give me an idea on cost for professional job on painting front plastics pls? Grill and the lower plastic. I’m weighing up buying the ABS aftermarket or OEM and painting them. from what I’ve read needs a pro job (I wouldn’t risk a rattle can I don’t think)
Also any recommendations or anyone on here who can do it?

Thanks

Borat have you gone ahead and painted your OEM grilles? I've been agonising over this (painting OEM versus buying prefab) ever since I got my T6.1 12 months ago. Would love to see any photos of anyone who has painted OEM lower grille gloss black?

 

[borat]

Borat have you gone ahead and painted your OEM grilles? I've been agonising over this (painting OEM versus buying prefab) ever since I got my T6.1 12 months ago. Would love to see any photos of anyone who has painted OEM lower grille gloss black?

Not yet but I’m about to start getting some quotes so will let you know if I get it done. Unfortunately seems to be a lot of bad experiences of quality with the aftermarket ones so if I can get a reasonable quote for paint I probably will go this way. I’ve got a splitter that I need painting as well so hoping to get it all done together

 

[66DOB]

Thanks for the reply @borat ! Yeah, the more I research it, the more I'm convinced that painting the OEM one is the way to go. Let me know how you get on with a photo or three if possible and I'll do the same? I've got mine booked in to be done on May 23, so I'm gonna try to do some sanding to get rid of the texture before then.

 

[borat]

So, I got 2 quotes - 1 from paint worx in loughborough who are well known for VW stuff and one from a local firm. The local firm is well recommended and when I spoke to them it turns out they have done a few VW conversion bits and knew what they were talking about. This was for painting an LV-S chin / splitter in Ravenna blue / gloss black and painting the grills / dog bone plastics in gloss black with blue trims, inc fitting to the van. Paint worx quoted 550+vat, my local firm quoted 300+vat. Fairly big difference! I'm going to chance it with the local guys, as they are very well reviewed and its a big price difference. Given what I have seen others have been quoted just for the plastics, that seems like a bit of a bargain, given it would cost me almost 300 for aftermarket ones and I know I would struggle to fit them without breaking something

I'll see what they come out like and post a recommendation if they are good!

ps - Not sure if you planned to get the chrome effect trim painted, but the local guys suggested it would chip easily and wouldn't recommend. When I mentioned to paintworx they said they do it a fair bit and it can work with a lot of prep but they agreed its something that can happen. As a result I am going to get the matt black aftermarket trims and get them painted instead, which paint worx said they've done and works fine

 

[66DOB]

So, I got 2 quotes - 1 from paint worx in loughborough who are well known for VW stuff and one from a local firm. The local firm is well recommended and when I spoke to them it turns out they have done a few VW conversion bits and knew what they were talking about. This was for painting an LV-S chin / splitter in Ravenna blue / gloss black and painting the grills / dog bone plastics in gloss black with blue trims, inc fitting to the van. Paint worx quoted 550+vat, my local firm quoted 300+vat. Fairly big difference! I'm going to chance it with the local guys, as they are very well reviewed and its a big price difference. Given what I have seen others have been quoted just for the plastics, that seems like a bit of a bargain, given it would cost me almost 300 for aftermarket ones and I know I would struggle to fit them without breaking something

I'll see what they come out like and post a recommendation if they are good!

ps - Not sure if you planned to get the chrome effect trim painted, but the local guys suggested it would chip easily and wouldn't recommend. When I mentioned to paintworx they said they do it a fair bit and it can work with a lot of prep but they agreed its something that can happen. As a result I am going to get the matt black aftermarket trims and get them painted instead, which paint worx said they've done and works fine

Hey Borat, so have you had your grilles painted yet? How'd they turn out? Any photos?
BTW, I'm in Queensland, Australia, so no need for the recommendation to your painter, I'm just deeply interested in how they turn out and specifically, whether they can get rid of those pesky texture dimples and have it come out truly gloss black?

 

[borat]

Hey Borat, so have you had your grilles painted yet? How'd they turn out? Any photos?
BTW, I'm in Queensland, Australia, so no need for the recommendation to your painter, I'm just deeply interested in how they turn out and specifically, whether they can get rid of those pesky texture dimples and have it come out truly gloss black?

Hi. They are actually in the paint shop as we speak. I should have them fitted over weekend so will report back and post pics. I’ve seen another one with painted grills and looked good.

 

[66DOB]

Hi. They are actually in the paint shop as we speak. I should have them fitted over weekend so will report back and post pics. I’ve seen another one with painted grills and looked good.

Any pics of your painted grilles yet Borat?