posted 10-13-2001 09:09 AM                  

Tools needed: 1 roll of 4" chrome tape (Part# 046-0164)
1 roll of 8" chrome tape
pair of scissors
exact-o knife
1 piece of poster board 14" x 8"
heat gun or high heat hair dryer
1 bottle of rubbing alcahol (mispelled)
1 plastic puddy knife or bondo spreader
(found at Wal-Mart)

Chrome Tape can be ordered from: TexBrite 1-800-231-3258
Retail price on the two rolls is about a $100.00

Remove the grille from the car and all of the attaching brackets. Wash grille removing all dirt. Use the rubbing alcahol to remove any road film or armorall from the surface of the grille.
Using the poster board turn the grille top side down and trace a pattern of the shape. Do this 2 times making a pattern for the lower portion and the top portion. Cut poster board pattern 1/4 inch or slightly more than the width of the grille you just traced. You will need to do this so the tape can be bent over the frt edge of the grille portion you are covering.
I started at the bottom so I'll explain from there.
Using the 4" tape I cut a piece a little bit longer than the grille is wide. I then took a piece of the poster board pattern and laid it on top of the tape to trace a pattern to cut out. Once I cut the tape to match the pattern I placed it to the grille and marked the spot where the vertical reinforcement is for each of the horizontal slats of the grille(the first 4 slats only have one vertical reinf to cut around).I trimmed it to fit using the exact-o knife. Peeling the backing off the tape I then placed it on the grille VERY CAREFULLY. Using the plastic putty knife or Bondo spreader I carefully applied the tape so that there were no air bubbles. THIS IS VERY DIFFICULT!!!! I left about an 1/8th of an inch on the frt edge to roll on the underside. This is important in the way the grille looks in the end. Taking the heat gun or hair dryer, heat the tape up so that it will flex without causing wrinkles and roll the tape on the underside of the slat.The heat will also make the glue on the tape a little softer so that it will stick a little easier.Once the tape is rolled over and sticking to the underside, use the exact-o knife to trim the underneath to about 1/6th from the leading edge. If you dont, you will see UGLY wrinkles showing when looking at the grille from the top. This shows up in the reflection of the slat just below. Trimming each of the grille slats on the sides, your on your own! That will take some practice!! Once you have applied tape to the first 4 rows you will then have to contend with 3 verticle supports on each grille slat.Making the installation more challenging!
You can use the 1st pattern for the first 7 horizontal slats from the bottom. Starting on the 8th slat I had to use the 2nd posterboard pattern. This will take a lot of trial and error to get it right. I personally need to re-do a couple of my slats due to bubbles and scratches while applying. I wish you LUCK when trying this. You will probably get more ideas as you go along on how to do this. This is just a rough draft of my installation.

If anyone does this let me know how it turns out. I would like to know.

posted 10-13-2001 09:21 AM                  

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