'18 Denali - Replacing Chrome grille and Lower Skid Plate -

surfcityz71 · May 20, 2019

I do not like the Denali grille and all of its honeycomb chrome so I am replacing it with one off a 2018 Elevation package and painting the border of it Mineral Metallic to match my truck, as well as installing the OEM black GMC logo. I will probably have the old Denali grille for sale within a month.

I'm also replacing the lower chrome trim behind the front license plate (the parts catalog calls it a skid plate) with a black one to get rid of what remains of the shiny front end. Not sure what this entails but by the look of the part itself it's not going to be too easy. But hopefully worth it.

After that, I may delete the chrome mirror caps and the window belt mouldings and call it a day. I'll keep the chrome door handles and body side mouldings. Anyone have the black belt line part numbers for a crew cab 1500?

Lastly, I need to deal with the chrome emblems on the tailgate. Are black versions available or do I need to go the Plastidip route? Are they held on by two sided tape so if I remove them there won't be holes to deal with?

Sorry for the newbie questions that have probably been bandied about many time before. Got rid of a 2019 Tacoma and the Denali 4WD with 6.2L is twice the truck that Toyota was. Happy to be out if it.

JimCost2014 · May 21, 2019

4 hours ago, surfcityz71 said:

I do not like the Denali grille and all of its honeycomb chrome so I am replacing it with one off a 2018 Elevation package and painting the border of it Mineral Metallic to match my truck, as well as installing the OEM black GMC logo. I will probably have the old Denali grille for sale within a month.

I'm also replacing the lower chrome trim behind the front license plate (the parts catalog calls it a skid plate) with a black one to get rid of what remains of the shiny front end. Not sure what this entails but by the look of the part itself it's not going to be too easy. But hopefully worth it.

After that, I may delete the chrome mirror caps and the window belt mouldings and call it a day. I'll keep the chrome door handles and body side mouldings. Anyone have the black belt line part numbers for a crew cab 1500?

Lastly, I need to deal with the chrome emblems on the tailgate. Are black versions available or do I need to go the Plastidip route? Are they held on by two sided tape so if I remove them there won't be holes to deal with?

Sorry for the newbie questions that have probably been bandied about many time before. Got rid of a 2019 Tacoma and the Denali 4WD with 6.2L is twice the truck that Toyota was. Happy to be out if it.

One thing I can help you with is that all emblems are held on the truck with the stickiest double sided tape you will ever encounter.

The GMC in the grill would be the only one that is actually "fastened" to the truck.

MHPrior80 · May 21, 2019

I do not like the Denali grille and all of its honeycomb chrome so I am replacing it with one off a 2018 Elevation package and painting the border of it Mineral Metallic to match my truck, as well as installing the OEM black GMC logo. I will probably have the old Denali grille for sale within a month.

I'm also replacing the lower chrome trim behind the front license plate (the parts catalog calls it a skid plate) with a black one to get rid of what remains of the shiny front end. Not sure what this entails but by the look of the part itself it's not going to be too easy. But hopefully worth it.

After that, I may delete the chrome mirror caps and the window belt mouldings and call it a day. I'll keep the chrome door handles and body side mouldings. Anyone have the black belt line part numbers for a crew cab 1500?

Lastly, I need to deal with the chrome emblems on the tailgate. Are black versions available or do I need to go the Plastidip route? Are they held on by two sided tape so if I remove them there won't be holes to deal with?

Sorry for the newbie questions that have probably been bandied about many time before. Got rid of a 2019 Tacoma and the Denali 4WD with 6.2L is twice the truck that Toyota was. Happy to be out if it.

If you decide to sell your Denali grill I would be interested in purchasing if price is right.

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wforrest08 · May 21, 2019

Black emblems are available on either EBay or truck emblem warehouse .com plenty of YouTube videos to show you how to debadge the old ones to replace them. No holes and I recommend fishing line and the 3m eraser wheel or similar to help remove the tape residue.

This thread has the part numbers for the black trim along with the clips if you happen to break/need some.

surfcityz71 · May 24, 2019

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 7:29 AM, MHPrior80 said:

If you decide to sell your Denali grill I would be interested in purchasing if price is right.

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I'll let you know. New grille should be here today and maybe painted by next week.

surfcityz71 · May 28, 2019

Arrived and ready for paint. Wish I knew whether I could install the main portion now and snap the outer trim on after paint. I do not want to do this job twice.

MHPrior80 · May 28, 2019

Arrived and ready for paint. Wish I knew whether I could install the main portion now and snap the outer trim on after paint. I do not want to do this job twice.

Don’t believe you can do that. Just get it painted and do the job once. Gonna save you time

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surfcityz71 · May 28, 2019

18 hours ago, MHPrior80 said:

Don’t believe you can do that. Just get it painted and do the job once. Gonna save you time

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You're right. Upon further inspection, there are four screws that mount from the back of the main part of the grill and thread into the outer portion. Oh well. It'll have to wait.

surfcityz71 · June 4, 2019

New parts have arrived and paint to match body color is complete. Installation today.

Not too difficult, but getting the "upper cap" (the body colored trim that's just above the bumper and just below the grille) to release from the retention tabs was not easy and it resulted in a couple of tabs breaking on the right side retainer. Thankfully, the upper cap wasn't the piece that broke because it's $400 and needs to be painted. The side retainer was $20 but you need to remove the headlight and peel back the inner fender well to replace it.

I also replaced the chrome "skid plate" piece that the front license plate mounts to with a black one. This required removal of the entire bumper because 4 of the umpteen screws that hold it on were hidden behind metal support brackets behind the bumper. Not a big deal to remove the bumper once the grille is out. Six bolts and a wiring connector and harness is all.

Edited June 4, 2019 by surfcityz71

surfcityz71 · June 4, 2019

Edited June 4, 2019 by surfcityz71

surfcityz71 · June 5, 2019

Done.

Just installed it a few minutes ago. I love it. The black skid plate was a must to go along with the mostly blacked out grille and GMC logo.

Part number for the grill with paint to match surround (from the SLT Elevation package) is 84065168 for anyone else who wants to do this.

Job was fairly straightforward for anyone with reasonable auto tech skills. The entire bumper did have to come off in order to install the skid plate but it was a matter of six easy to get to bolts, removing a plate from each side of the back of the bumper, and a bit of wire harness jostling and nothing more. It was worth the effort.

Only thing that could go wrong is the "upper cap" (the big piece of trim between the grill and the bumper) could break tabs when removing it (worst case scenario because it's $400 and needs to be painted) OR (what happened to me) you could break one of the plastic retention pieces at each end of the upper cap. I was going to install the cap with the broken retainer but being OCD I just couldn't do it. Picked up the part at the local dealer for $17.

My stock Denali grille and chrome skid plate are now for sale. They had 250 miles on them when I took them off. Pristine condition. No broken tabs, no broken anything.

Next up, installation of the OEM Borla performance exhaust with rectangular rear-exit tips.

Edited June 5, 2019 by surfcityz71

Donnie1 · June 9, 2019

where are you located and how much for the Denali grille

rah7777777 · June 9, 2019

Looks GREAT!!!!!

ERS · October 10, 2019

Your conversion turned out great! I’ll definitely have to get a black skid plate piece for my denali, the chrome has to go! I’m also interested in purchasing your Denali grill if you still have it. The previous owner swapped the Denali grill for a billet grill that I’m not a fan of. I do like the Denali grill but would have to color match it to get rid of the chrome. Let me know if your is still available, thanks!

Phantom_ss13 · October 12, 2019

On 10/10/2019 at 4:26 PM, ERS said:

Your conversion turned out great! I’ll definitely have to get a black skid plate piece for my denali, the chrome has to go! I’m also interested in purchasing your Denali grill if you still have it. The previous owner swapped the Denali grill for a billet grill that I’m not a fan of. I do like the Denali grill but would have to color match it to get rid of the chrome. Let me know if your is still available, thanks!

I'm selling my denali grill if you're interested.