What you need:
1 Can of Plastidip
1 roll of blue Painters tape
Paper to make the overspray
3 regular sized balloons

I know there are plenty of DIY for painting the lower grills however i could not find a solution for solving the overspray on the...

So ingenious - love it!

i just went to home depot and picked up the spray paint that's for plastic...no primer needed. here's a pic. [LEFT BOTTLE]

Super easy and such an innovative workaround with a fantastic outcome. Performed it about a month ago and most of the work was spent taping up the edges of the grilles with painters tape and newspapers for the overspray. The balloons took all of a few minutes to get setup! Great DIY!

For the left and right side mesh, is there nothing behind that will be damaged or affected by the overspray? So no need to protect it as you did with the intercooler right?

i just did this last weekend, but i think i found an even easier and cleaner way of doing this... not to threadjack or anything, and i think the balloon idea is super creative...

i taped off and sprayed the right and left side grills just like the OP. right and left sides don't have anything behind them so no need to prevent overspray.

the kicker: the middle mesh grill can actually be easily removed from the car without tools at all. just push back on the grill starting on the bottom and work your way around, undoing the clips. then slide it to one side, and pull it out at an angle. it is very easy to remove, and you won't feel like you're going to break anything.

i gave everything 2 good coats of krylon for plastic... and it came out great!

Ok, but you can buy black lower grills cheap !

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Wait you can just take out the middle mesh without removing the bumper? Is it easy to re-install once you've painted it?

Where and how much? I think I remember seeing that Tischer sold black lower mesh grills for around $60. Not a lot of money, but would rather not spend it if all I need to do is spend an hour or two to paint them myself! Also I think to remove the side grills you definitely need to take off the front bumper.

29$ for 24X98CM in Europe.

And it´s much nicer then the OEM grill !

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Yes. Everyone!!! It's extremely easy to remove the middle mesh without removing the bumper. Took me 45 seconds, no tools, no damage. It's a little tougher getting it back in... maybe 90 seconds, but that's just bc u want to be a bit more careful not to scratch the paint. I'll post pics later if I remember...

Here are the pics...

Remove your license plate bracket first if you have one. It's ugly anyways, worth the risk of getting a ticket IMO. I've since plugged the unsightly holes in the bumper with plugs from O'Reilly for $2.48. Perfect black color match too

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How about the plastic grill on each side? Same technique?

Awesome thanks zombie!

I'm pretty sure the side ones you cannot remove unless you take off the front bumper. But if you are just painting, then you don't have to worry about overspray like you do with the center one because there is nothing behind the side grills.

Good to know! I think "Plastic Dip" (something like this) is the ideal paint, right?

right, just paint in place. nothing behind them to worry about overspray. good luck guys!

i just used krylon for plastic... available at walmart, home depot, ACE, etc.

two coats, no primer, no sanding. it looks great!

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Just finished doing my lower grills. I removed the middle one and it was really easy. I was using Plasti-dip and put about 5 coats on all the pieces. Turned out great. When removing the paint watch the coating sticking to the tape and the grill. Remove it slowly and you should have no problems.

Yeah, Krylon Fusion is perfect for jobs like this.

OK - so it's easy to remove the middle grill, but how do you reinstall it?

That was definatly a good idea.