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Anyone paint or dip (not wrap) their chrome window trim?
Hi all. I have an ultra white RC 350 FS and I am really considering changing the chrome window trim to black because it looks more sporty especially on a coupe. I don't want to wrap it because the chrome is actually two pieces that butt up against each other above the windows and not a single piece so it wouldn't look right by wrapping because the separation which show underneath.
Has anyone here painted or dipped their windows trims? What did you choose and what were your results? The plasti dip is probably the best bet in terms of reversibility, but the flat sheen has a tendency to look blah. There's a plasti dip Glossifier that can be applied as a top coat that would give it a nice shine and fade resistance that I'd probably use for a nicer look. The other option would be permanently spray paint as a satin black, which would look most professional but permanent.
Disadvantage - Unless you remove all the chrome and spray it the seams between each piece will become one, and not sure how that would look. It is still a rattle can product, and again depending on the amount of prep work you do, and taping off the entire car as to not get overspray over everything depends on you.
Paint:
Advantage: Will have a more professional look, and can be clear coated satin to last forever.
Disadvantage: Cost; Can't change your mind as with plastic dip and if you do each part has to have all the paint removed, which can be very expensive. It is still a rattle can product, and again depending on the amount of prep work you do, and taping off the entire car as to not get overspray over everything depends on you.
The ultimate decision is yours, and just make sure you look at the +/- of each option.
Disadvantage - Unless you remove all the chrome and spray it the seams between each piece will become one, and not sure how that would look. It is still a rattle can product, and again depending on the amount of prep work you do, and taping off the entire car as to not get overspray over everything depends on you.
Paint:
Advantage: Will have a more professional look, and can be clear coated satin to last forever.
Disadvantage: Cost; Can't change your mind as with plastic dip and if you do each part has to have all the paint removed, which can be very expensive. It is still a rattle can product, and again depending on the amount of prep work you do, and taping off the entire car as to not get overspray over everything depends on you.
The ultimate decision is yours, and just make sure you look at the +/- of each option.
Thanks for the info! My concern with the plasti-dip is getting it on correctly between the weather stripping. I'm afraid if I overspray and peel, that it will not come off in a clean line where the rubber stripping lays over the chrome on the top and bottom. That's why I was wondering if anyone here attempted doing it.
Tape really well and you should be fine...I oversprayed and the cleanup time took forever.
Originally Posted by FUZCO
Thanks for the info! My concern with the plasti-dip is getting it on correctly between the weather stripping. I'm afraid if I overspray and peel, that it will not come off in a clean line where the rubber stripping lays over the chrome on the top and bottom. That's why I was wondering if anyone here attempted doing it.
Tape really well and you should be fine...I oversprayed and the cleanup time took forever.
That looks really clean, thinking about doing that to mine which is a black vehicle. With plasti dip do you notice any chips or is it more resilient than in the past. Thanks.
I found it easy to do, but within a week it started lifting off the chrome
That's a bummer. I have plasti-dipped chrome accent pieces on prior cars without issue.
I'm just curious, did you clean/prep the surface and how many coats did you do?
On my 13 gs350 I dipped my front bumper, wheels, window trim,fog light bezels, trunk trim, exhaust cut outs and rear employ all matte black. Turned out great. Eliminating all the chrome makes it look more aggressive. The overspray is easy in the thick spray areas but the splatter or finer particles are difficult. I finally figured out the easiest way to remove them is with a microfiber cloth and tr-3 resin glaze.
Although you may not want to hear this, I highly recommend wrapping as an alternative. I've used both plasti-dip and paint on different applications and had mixed results. Not to say they are all negative, but from personal experience find that wrap was the best choice for this application (lexus trims). Both in terms of ease of installation, quality and asthetics. You can check with other members on here as well for their opinion on wrap but below I've included a link to some pictures of how mine came out using a branded carbon fiber I chose to work with. Good luck, whatever you do decide to do.
I dipped the chrome around the grill, around the windows, the "L" and "RC 350" badges on the back and the spoiler all in black...I have a white RC. I had a minor messup when doing the spoiler. I peeled it and the "L" badge off and redid them. All of it looks great. The area around the grill has a few small rock chips in it. I will peel it and redo it once it gets a few more chips. Very happy I did it!!!
08-31-15, 07:41 PM
Anyone paint or dip (not wrap) their chrome window trim?
