I hate plastic chrome with a passion, unfortunately my new JCW seems to have far too much of it! Is it possible to get replacement parts in black, if so where from?
The bits I'm interested in are:
Grill surrounds
Light surrounds (front and back)
The trim around the bottom of the windows
I'd also be interested in getting the door handles in the body colour if possible.
Grille surround - you can buy this in black from MINI. On earlier R56 JCWs, the grill was black by default which I reckoned looked better. Not sure which side scuttles you've got (standard JCW ones are chrome) - you can buy various different styles from MINI, or you could even fit some plain black plastic ones from a MINI One or Cooper.
Light surrounds - again, I think you can get these from your dealer, but they'll be cheaper from here (as will other bits, probably): NewMINIStuff.com
I got rid of the chrome belt line by covering it with half inch thick satin black vinyl (basically 3M tape) - others have done the same. It's fiddly but a cheap mod which looks good!
Handles and filler cap are a bit more involved... you'd probably be best removing them, then having the originals resprayed by a pro. You could also go down the same route on the grille etc. rather than replacing with new parts. That said, while I don't like chrome, I'd be inclined to leave the handles and filler alone - looks a bit OTT if you start colour coding absolutely everything!
I have recently found something alot easier then vinyl and alot cheaper then replacement parts. Its called Plasti-Dip. You simply spray it on (4 - 5 coats) and your done. If you ever get sick of it or it gets damanaged all you have to do is peel it off and redo it. I have done all the chrome on my car with it, the black fender flares becuase they were fading and also my rims. Its easy to do and it looks great! You can get it at Home Depot or Lowes for about $5 a can. Hope this helps.
there is no more chrome on my car ... i went through vinyl style, everything was done great. I Recommend them and as for the door handles asthetic creations. Thats how i murdered out my car ... PM me if you need a DIY as i have a thread on a different forum i can give you.
I hate chrome too so set about dechroming my astro black cooper s. Grilles etc were straight forward , bought from dealer for around £30 .
Filler cap comes off by turning anti clockwise so was easy to paint with flexible vinyl spray .
Back light surrounds pop off so again were easy with vinyl spray but the front light surrounds I had to vinyl wrap which took a while and were difficult to get off ( 6 little toggles which break easily ).
Wheels were powder coated by professional for £45 each and the exhaust tips are getting same treatment but using high temp stuff.
Struggling with roof line though ! any suggestions ?
IMO you need a little bit of chrome left on there just to break up the colour!
If by roof line you mean the bit under the windows (AKA the belt line) then you can purchase kits from Outmotoring in the US...otherwise use vinyl...
I just did mine with one of the Outmotoring kits but have since decided I hate it so shall be removing it (with great difficultly ) at the weekend!!
Its just the human nature requirement to stand out from the crowd, if they came with all black dechromed as standard folk would be fitting chrome bits, if it came with a 3000 BHP engine folk would be wanting to get 4000 BHP out of it.
No one ever likes to look bog standard but with all the MINI's going black everything they will all look a bog standard of their own, in a way.
Coming Soon: MINI “Black Line” Exterior Trim:
"Including the rear taillight trim rings, the rear fog light trim ring, the side scuttles and the headlight trim rings, the “Black Line” will let you take your MINI darker. Look for this to show up as an available option in the Configurator some time soon, and once it does, these parts should be available at your local MINI parts desk and elsewhere for retrofit. No word yet on whether there will be a matching “Black Line” interior package." MotoringFile Archive Coming Soon: MINI “Black Line” Exterior Trim
Polish is nothing special. It had just had its last wash and brush up before the hosepipe ban came into force.
I bought a second set of light surrounds and had them painted by a local body shop (and they have done all the other black painting). Cost about £60 including the surrounds. I chose this route as I wanted a colour matched to the car.
Excuse the poor window tint on the windows (my first attempt) but I valse been playing with the idea of dechroming! I had a go at the rear door handles in my clubman! The finish isn't perfect as I messed up trimming it but looks better then chrome! Just got to tackle the front ones now! Iv done the mirrors aswell and the belt line and headlight rings will be next!
Nice, I have been looking at de-chroming my handles, front and back light bezels, petrol cap, front grille surrounds and the trim under the windows.
I have been looking at getting all the ready made parts from Ebay etc but then I came across a video on youtube of a mini getting the full lot sprayed including the cooper and mini badsges front and back, looks pretty good and could end up being a bit cheaper than buying black parts and having to fit them.
Anyone else took theirs to a sprayshop recently? Approx prices would be ideal as well!
The Plasti-Dip product already mentioned works a treat!
My 10-year old Cooper's black rain gutter (Usually on the sunny side when parked was flaking off (it's some sort of matte finish plastic, painted on) and looking terrible.
About 6 coats of black Plasti-Dip in less than an hour made it look like new: Matte black & 'rubbery'.
Plasti-dip is made by Rustoleum, a quality brand and as pointed out, it can be just peeled off if you don't like it.
Search Plastidip on you-tube - there is a video of blacking the chrome on a Mini's headlights.
Plasti-dip worked well on the chrome filler cap of my R53.
I have use a 'belt-line' vinyl kit but have found over the summer that the vinyl strips have shrunk a bit so that I have 2-5 mms of chrome showing near the ends of the sections.
Although 3M and other vinyls are pretty stable under most conditions, you will tend to stretch the material especially on the rear window curves and the windscreen curves of the belt-line, so if you leave the car in very hot conditions I guess the adhesive warms up enough to allow the vinyl to shrink back.
Still the easiest (and cheapest) way to black out the belt line in my opinion.
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