Am I the only one who doesn't like the little chrome bar above the grille? I like the looks of it in black much better, which is how it came on ES's and P5's. I think all the 03 sedans have the black bar now, so I guess I'm not alone.

Anyway, one way or another I wanna get rid of the chrome. I think the piece just snaps on there, so I could just order a black one from the dealer. But before I go that far, I want to try to paint it. Has anyone done this? Any suggestions on what type of paint to use? Thanks.

 

I don't like it, as well as the one on the rear. I'm thinking about having them painted the same color as my car. Can this be done?

 

Look what I found.

 

Thats odd, my bar is black and its a 2002. Hmm, I dunno

 

I'm not crazy about the crome and I've wondered from time to time about mine, wondering why mine is black. My car is a silver 02 LX and the bar is black. I'm glad becasue I didn't like the crome car either and was glad to see that my car has a black bar. Anyone know why mine is black and all the other 02 LX's I see are crome?

 

the 2002.5 proteges have the black bar.. and the older ones have the chrome one.. so the newer ones also have the side marker signals and the better cup holders..

 

Wait... Blackout grille trim, AND better cupholders?
Grrrrrr. I should have waited a couple months.

Anyway, if you want to paint the chrome bar, you'll want to sand off the chrome first. Paint won't stick to it or very long. Sand it off, prime it, and sand it smooth, and you should have no problems. I did that to all the trim on my old Golf, and it worked great.

 

I replaced the front bumper on my ES to the MP3 one, I have a black grill available. If you're interested, my email is protege01es@yahoo.com.

 

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