is the front gille painted from the factory?

and go me, i spelled "grille" wrong in the subject. i rule!

anyway, lil background here:
my girlfriend bought an 04 350Z back in may. not a week after she bought it, we were heading up a freeway ramp when the woman in the saturn in front of us drove over soem debris, kicking it up at my gf's perfect new car. the debris was a piece of angle iron that had broken off to a jagged edge and it proceeded to SPEAR itself into the front of her car. it went through the grille, the radiator and A/C condensor.

so, she took the car in to a supposedly reputable shop (the majority of their clients are mercedes owners). they fixed it, but they did a terrible job masking the grille and there was overspray all over it. so about 3 weeks later, she took it back so they could fix their shabby paint job. they did- sort of. 2 weeks after she got the car back, she noticed that there were runs and drips in the paint and that the paint was again peeling around the grille.

the car went in a third time to have those issues addressed. it came back looking great (FINALLY) and all was well with the world. until today. while washing it, she noticed that the paint on the grille (they painted the grille black- i was under the impression that it was just naked plastic from the factory) was ONCE AGAIN peeling. you could chip it off just by rubbing it, showing the silver paint underneath. my guess is they just resprayed the whole nose silver, then sprayed teh grille black. either way, it's going back ANOTHER time to get fixed and we'd like to know if the grille is just supposed to be black plastic or if it's painted from the factory.

anyone had any similar issues with painting? any suggestions as to what she should do? any and all advice is greatly appreciated. she just wants her car to look perfect. thanks!

The black part is bare plastic. I just had mine painted all blue after I had it replaced.

The black is indeed unpainted plastic. Odds are, no one proceeded to prime it (with primer designed for plastics) and coat it with a quality topcoat (includes an ingredient that allows the paint to flex--useful on plastics, especially bumpers). I've never paid too much attention to it (had mine cutout--looks good with the intercooler there), but I'm wondering if its a piece that can be replaced or is it a molded piece in the bumper that requires a new bumper? Westpak: what's the verdict?

Courtesy of your local Sherwin-Williams paint rep ;)

G

It is all part of the bumper. I kept mine stealth.
http://www.sfzcc.com/gus/install%20014.jpg

that is one beautiful front end of a 350z. too bad most of the people you race wont be seeing that view. :naughty:

BTW: didnt we come to an agreement that we were going to trade z32's??? i swear i remember that. :lol:

love the grille repaint westpak, i just might get mine done that way, it looks very stealthy :)