Custom Colored Tower Speakers

[Booms]

Ok I am having a problem forking over ~$500-$600 for custom colored speakers to match our tower or boat color.

Has anyone painted the speakers themselves?
If so can the speaker housing of a rev10 be powder coated (meaning go through a oven at +400F)?
Or did you take them to a body shop to have them painted? If so what was the cost?

I know I am sweeting the small stuff but I just think that is crazy expensive!

Plus the activity on the site has been slow so let's debat/discuss this...

[chpthril]

No, do not power coat the plastic pods. Just have them painted as if they were an automotive ABS bumper cover. You can either tape off the SS grill insert, or if you are patient and careful, the insert can be removed. I had a pair of small 4" pods done for $125. The only painted Rev-10's ive delt with, the owner had them painted himself. He works at an body shop, so he had them sprayed by his painter. Id say inside of $350 if you did the tear down and dealt with the grill and just had the painter prep and spray.

[Booms]

So it is expensive no matter what I do. Damn

[boardman74]

Had a buddy who had his 10's done 2 summers back for right around $200. They looked great.

[Smcqueen]

I just finished painting my four Rev-10's with a little help from my friends. We used PPG DCC acrylic urethane automotive paint. You absolutely cannot powdercoat since they are made of plastic. Also, it was recommended to put down a primer first because the paint will have a hard time adhearing directly to the plastic. I bought 1 pint of paint which was roughly $100. We already had the primer, reducer, and hardner. You can easily spend $200-$300 just for paint supplies. Had we not had the extra supplies, I probably would have taken it to an automotive paint and body to do the work. By the way, taping the speaker covers was a royal pain. Spent more time taping and using a razor blade to cut away the tape for removal than anything else on the project.

[chpthril]

If you are good with a rattle can, you could just spray them your self, but color choices may be limited if you are trying to match your boat. Just keep in mind, if you are having them custom done, the painter needs to add some plasticizer to the base coat, or what ever the correct term is for making the chit flexible .

[Booms]

Smcqueen - Those look awesome! If I was closer to TX I would look you up.

Did you take the driver/speaker out of the housing before you painted them or just tape over the speaker itself? It looks like you might not have to be too careful as the speaker is facing down.

[skippabcool]

I just finished painting my four Rev-10's with a little help from my friends. We used PPG DCC acrylic urethane automotive paint. You absolutely cannot powdercoat since they are made of plastic. Also, it was recommended to put down a primer first because the paint will have a hard time adhearing directly to the plastic. I bought 1 pint of paint which was roughly $100. We already had the primer, reducer, and hardner. You can easily spend $200-$300 just for paint supplies. Had we not had the extra supplies, I probably would have taken it to an automotive paint and body to do the work. By the way, taping the speaker covers was a royal pain. Spent more time taping and using a razor blade to cut away the tape for removal than anything else on the project.

Looks good. I like the color. Now to see them on the boat.

[chpthril]

I would take the driver out. You need to paint around the lip of the pod and over spray would coat the driver. Only 4 screws and the driver will carefully pop out.

[ddutcher]

I had my Icon's painted to match the pearl green on my boat and love them. We get alot of compliments. Everything was removed from the housing prior to being sent to the painter.

Delta 2014 231.jpgDelta 2014 236.jpgBoat Photos 001.jpg

[Smcqueen]

Easy enough to get the driver out once I figured out how to bump it to free it up. I have three of the speakers mounted, ran out of RGB cable, picking up some more today. Will get some pics up in a day or so.

[Booms]

Great Pictures everyone! I am happy I am not the only one that has done this.

I was quoted $300 today by a friend of mine that has a body shop to use his spectrometer to match the boat color. I think that is reasonable seeing it is a 50% reduction in price from Tige.

[Booms]

Just called another buddy of mine that owns a body shop. He quoted me $100-$200 for the pair. It is good to have friends in the right places. Now I might get the speakers one color and the grills another. hmmmm.

[Smcqueen]

Some pictures of my painted speakers mounted. I would actually recommend someone who paints as a professional. The speakers are not very big, but difficult to paint because of the heavy curvature as well as the shape of the speaker rings. Real easy to get runs or poor coverage.

photo 64.JPGphoto 59.JPGphoto 53.JPGphoto 61.JPG

[IDBoating]

You absolutely cannot powdercoat since they are made of plastic.

There are some powdercoating processes that work on plastic. They lay down a conductive layer first. Would completely eliminate the risk of runs and drips. Might be worth a look.