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ALL Black Grill Replacement

K

kegger

SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2002
Messages
347
Location
McPherson Kansas
Hi Guy's,

I have been looking up and down for a grill replacement for my AV. I Hate the Chrome Peice on the front of it. I am wanting to replace out the grill with something all black instead of Chrome. I talked to the Body Shop at the Dealership that i bought my AV at and they said that it is not a good idea to paint over the chrome and they wouldn't guarantee the paint would stick. They quoted about $250 to do the job. I think that is OK, but I have found TONS of other Grill replacement that are almost exactly what i want if I had a 2002 Chevy Silverado.
HELP!!!!!

Thanks for any input
 
If you are talking about the chrome bar where the bowtie sits, you can have it painted for $50 - $100. Some others have put a black vinyl stip over it.

Here's one of the topics:

Is the Chevrolet "Crossbar" paintable?????

If you just want a black bolt-on grille, they are also available from the billet grille companies. Some have also removed and painted their factory grilles (pastic net part above and below the chrome bar).
 
You could take a look at the pictures of the grille setup I have in. It is pretty black. Link is below and there is an album titled about the grille
 
Hey Sparky,

I love your AV, That is ALMOST exactly what I was wanting to do with mine.

What, how, did you get your grill that way, how long have you had it blackened? Is your Cladding Paint, or something else? And your Rim Selection is Nice. Close to what I am wanting to use. Actually, I may be using a set of rims from a 2003 Chevy Siverado SS. I have a friend buying one as soon as they come out and he will always go with other rims.

 
He used black vinyl on the crossbar. I did something similar. I don't have any real pics of what I did yet, but here's a sketch.
Av_Front1.jpg
 
Kegger, I'm with you. I want an all-black front piece as well - grills and bar. Don't want to have to touch them up once or twice a year though. Would love a replacement piece in all black. Tried the vinyl thing, too tough.

Jamie
 
jamie said:
Kegger, I'm with you. I want an all-black front piece as well - grills and bar. Don't want to have to touch them up once or twice a year though. Would love a replacement piece in all black. Tried the vinyl thing, too tough.
Click to expand...


I just got off the phone with the Dealership Body shop and had him do a lookup for replacement Grill's. They ACTUALLY have every color replacement!!! The Black RPO-410 is Part #15085425.
I then called the parts dept and they want to rake it to ya. They want $447.46 for that part.

I may try to give VanDevere today to see what my cost would be through them.

 
Okay, just checked out www.gmpartsdirect.com and there price for that part # is $264.00 and they say wholsale is $335.59. Amazing that the dang dealership wants to mark the price up almost double. :D:

Now, I don't know if I can trust the body shop that that is the RIGHT part # :-[

 
kegger said:
Okay, just checked out www.gmpartsdirect.com and there price for that part # is $264.00 and they say wholsale is $335.59. ?Amazing that the dang dealership wants to mark the price up almost double. ? :D:

Now, I don't know if I can trust the body shop that that is the RIGHT part # ?:-[
Click to expand...

Wait till GMPARTSDIRECT adds on shipping.....then the price will be above wholesale for sure.....

The crossbar has the grill attached..somewhere on here goo posted a pic of one off the avy...
 
Are you saying that you can order a grill assembley that comes with the crossbar, honeycomb grill, and trim painted black?
 
This is the grill assembly removed. It is all one piece.

avalanche_grille.jpg
 
After seeing goos pic again I bet the color code is for those areas that are painted....in goos pic they are shown in that glorious color lt pewter metallic.. >:D

Goo must have an extra hard drive full of pics of avys >:D
 
And to add. They are not really separable (word?). when I removed mine to attempt the black vinyl cover-up, I noticed on the back that the grill is fastened by pins going through holes in the assembly and then having those pins melted over.

my removed grill assembly

Jamie
 
:8:Great! Which means that there is no other way to do a billet grill except for the bolt over type.

I'm gonna go drink myself into a stupor. :D:
 
I've noticed a billet grill on e-bay that is listed as a trenz grill for 2001-2002 Avalanche. It seems to be a complete grill assembly with the billet grill insert instead of the standard mesh insert. Notice it is inset like the standard and not setting on top of the original grill. Does Trenz really make these??

trenzgrill.jpg
 
Thanks for all the info guys.
I went to another body shop today and asked about getting the chrome crossbar painted.
I also mentioned what the GM dealerships bodyshop had told me and the price they quoted me. He shook his head.

He told me he could do it for $75 dollars if I remove the grill and bring it in to him. NO PROBLEM!!!! He said just bring it in in the morning and I could come pick it up in the evening the same day :)

Guess what I am doing on Monday or Tuesday :)

Gonna have my black grill :)

Next on the list is a Nice looking BLACK insert for the Grill. And, then, Light Blackouts :) I am so excited.

I also mentioned to him about painting the cladding and he said that would be NO problem whatsoever. I will probrably be doing a piece here and there on that. Starting with the FRONT bumper.

Again, THANK YOU EVERYONE. With your post and your suggestions I got the info I needed to take with me to get the job done.

I love this club!!! :love: :love: :love: :love:
 
snowslide said:
I've noticed a billet grill on e-bay that is listed as a trenz grill for 2001-2002 Avalanche. ?It seems to be a complete grill assembly with the billet grill insert instead of the standard mesh insert. ?Notice it is inset like the standard and not setting on top of the original grill. ?Does Trenz really make these??

trenzgrill.jpg
Click to expand...

Show me the auction. ?

I am sure the Trenz is also a bolt-on grille (upper and lower inserts). ?It needs the existing grill to mount. ?They are showing you how it looks installed. Compare it to one of my installed pics and it will look the same. I am sure they aren't going to give you the whole assembly. ?Matts_UAV has one and can answer the install question for us.
 
snowslide said:
I've noticed a billet grill on e-bay that is listed as a trenz grill for 2001-2002 Avalanche. ?It seems to be a complete grill assembly with the billet grill insert instead of the standard mesh insert. ?Notice it is inset like the standard and not setting on top of the original grill. ?Does Trenz really make these??

trenzgrill.jpg
Click to expand...
I'll bet it's the regular type of bolt-on grill and it's just been placed in position for the picture. Take a close look, and you can see that most of the plastic wrap hasn't even been removed. Tip that grille forward, and I bet you the inserts would just fall out.

Compare it to Goo's earlier pic of the stock grille:
goo929 said:
This is the grill assembly removed. ?It is all one piece.

avalanche_grille.jpg
Click to expand...
Now I know it's a different camera angle, so it can be deceiving to judge... but, it looks like the recessed area of the stock grille is much deeper than the Trenz grill pic.

Look at the pewter portion above the chrome power bar. On the stock grille it looks like the depth of the recess is about the same as the width of the pewter painted area. On the Trentz grille, it looks like the depth is less than half of the width of that same area.

This just has to be a bolt-on grille on top of the stock plastic mesh.

-- SS
 
jamie said:
Kegger, I'm with you. I want an all-black front piece as well - grills and bar.
Click to expand...
I don't really like the chrome power bar, but I can live with it. However, like jamie, I'm really interested in a black grille. It looks like Carriage Works and others make a black version of the billet grilles. Is there anybody out there who has one?

I would love to see installed pics of one, and also hear about the durability. Does the black chip or flake off over time?

I'm also thinking about the brushed version of the grille, so it matches the fuel door. Anybody have pics of one of these installed?

Going this route, I'm concerned how the brushed grille would look being bisected by that polished power bar. Almost seems like that chrome would have to go away with a brushed grille. Does anybody make indigo blue vinyl to cover it with?

-- SS
 
I just removed my Grill tonight. Ready to take it to the body shop to get painted tommorow. YEE HAW. It was rather painless and quick, EXCEPT the last two clips on the outside bottom. I pulled pretty hard on the grill, and nothing. I didn't want to break anything. I have done that too many times before. I put my muscle in it and snap, i broke something. I finally got a Computer Chip Puller and pried from the backside and got each side to pop right out. I now have it in the back of my bed.
I will be ordering Carriage Works Billit Grill 41263 either tommorow or the next day. Cant wait!!!.

Also thinking about getting the AV Bug shield too.
Need to find a supplier for the headlight and turn signal blackouts too.

 
Looking to buy the billet grill and bowtie, found the number to order on the group web site. But would like to see any pictures if you have this grill and bow tie. This is the bolt on type I believe. Hard to install?
 
MarkA said:
Looking to buy the billet grill and bowtie, found the number to order on the group web site. But would like to see any pictures if you have this grill and bow tie. This is the bolt on type I believe. Hard to install?
Click to expand...
The Carriage Works grille is a bolt-on. ?It is a very good quality grill and you can find pictures in our Billet Grille topic.

Many have not been happy with the quality of the TM Machines Bowtie. ?Some members are choosing to go with the Trenz Bowtie. ?You can read about this in the
New Bowtie topic.
 
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