Road Runner

Sim,

Nice job.

For what it's worth, I thought I'd chime in that I personally love the black grille look. However, I found that painted grilles don't stay painted for long (<6 months in my case with Hamaan black grilles.... which are the stock ones painted matte black and then the price quadrupled.... or so I found out the hard way).

I later discovered the wonders of vinyl wraps. I had a friend who attended a Mini meet, and there was this guy there wrapping almost anything you wanted in vinyl. Long story short... I have been driving with black vinyl grilles for over a year now and they still look like new (aside from the road dust). I cannot recommend this route highly enough. The vinyl is not what you might think. The grilles do not look like they have vinyl covering them. They look painted. I am not sure of how it works, but it appears to me that the vinyl is heat shrink wrapped over an object.

If you decide that you want to consider this route, the company which helped me out is called Vinyl Styles. I believe they are based in either Colorado or California now. I don't have their contact info atm, but if anyone wants to PM me for it, I can probably dig it up if requested.

What kind of paint did you use? It will be interesting to see what kind of longevity you get out of the paint.

Regards,