Quick question, is the Black Grill Surround available anywhere to buy or is it a case of rubbing down and painting your old grille.

As far as I am aware its a DIY job only.

Im in the process of stripping the chrome from my grill surround in a bucket of bleach. be warned though this takes ages to work, so far my surround has

been in bleach for the better part of 2 weeks!! Still it should be finished in time for spraying at the weekend.

I did not bleach mine.

I sanded the chrome with medium grade sand paper, put on two layers of primer the 3 (bad layers) of black satin.

So far so good.

I used this stuff on mine:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150503120789

pretty easy to do and the finish is great. best thing too is that you can of course peel it off if you ever want to sell the car

I did not bleach mine.

I sanded the chrome with medium grade sand paper, put on two layers of primer the 3 (bad layers) of black satin.

So far so good.

Do you mean you sanded all the chrome off. or just keyed the chrome plating for spraying?

Also what primer are you using?

As I have understood it if you do not remove all the chrome plating then you need to use acid etch primer.

I used this stuff on mine:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150503120789

pretty easy to do and the finish is great. best thing too is that you can of course peel it off if you ever want to sell the car

I did consider covering mine in that carbon fibre covering, but decided that colour coding in black magic to match the rest of the car would look better.

As far as selling my Octavia Vrs Mk1 never going to happen :D

I rubbed mine down to rough up the chrome and used 2-3 coats of primer.

No issues after over 12 months.

Thanks all

I will see if I can get mine covered / wrapped in vinyl if not then spraying it is the next option.

Edited 12 May, 201115 yr by wayned

I rubbed mine down to rough up the chrome and used 2-3 coats of primer.

No issues after over 12 months.

What type of primer did you use Rob?

Just plastic primer, nothing fancy.

Just plastic primer, nothing fancy.

Ok, only lots of threads on this forum mentioned stone chipping and flaking paint due to not stripping the chrome/using the wrong primer.

It has a couple of stone chips on it - but so do my bonnet, wings, windscreen, A pillars and roof.

It has a couple of stone chips on it - but so do my bonnet, wings, windscreen, A pillars and roof.

Ok, only lots of threads on this forum mentioned stone chipping and flaking paint due to not stripping the chrome/using the wrong primer.

You will get stone chips regardless of how you prep the plastic. The stone chips are not because the primer did not adhere to the plastic. A light rubbing to roughen up the surface is good enough. A few coats of plastic primer and then 2-3 coats of top coat are enough. Depending on the finish if you want gloss then you can apply lacquer which will toughen the paint surface also. I may go satin black but also use laquer to protect better.

You will get stone chips regardless of how you prep the plastic. The stone chips are not because the primer did not adhere to the plastic. A light rubbing to roughen up the surface is good enough. A few coats of plastic primer and then 2-3 coats of top coat are enough. Depending on the finish if you want gloss then you can apply lacquer which will toughen the paint surface also. I may go satin black but also use laquer to protect better.

Oh well, most of my chrome has now come off anyway. Although Im starting to wish I hadnt bothered wasting all that bleach and time!

Never mind.

I bought plastic primer, black magic paint and clear laquor from halfords. I'll probably spray it this weekend so will post some piccies.

I Wrapped mine over the easter holiday and i have to say it was a right pain in the backside, you need to really really stretch it and so i thought right, i'll use a hairdryer to heat it up but that made it worse, it shrank sooo much. so I did it again without heat and it seemed to go on slightly easier. The hardest part is trying not to get any bubbles but I had about 3 or 4 small ones. If you ever come to sell the car you can always rip it off and go back to standard

Rub in down with wet and dry, about a 280 grit

One coat of primer, you dont get any benifit from putting more coats on ! as long as all the old crome is covered!

Then layer up the black in light coats letting it dry between each.

Dont need any speical paint, just Halford own will do, job done!

I Wrapped mine over the easter holiday and i have to say it was a right pain in the backside, you need to really really stretch it and so i thought right, i'll use a hairdryer to heat it up but that made it worse, it shrank sooo much. so I did it again without heat and it seemed to go on slightly easier. The hardest part is trying not to get any bubbles but I had about 3 or 4 small ones. If you ever come to sell the car you can always rip it off and go back to standard

u need a hair dryer with ajustable heat so it walms it slightly just enuff to make it strech!! i managed this on my first atempt but has started to lift in the deep curves.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5441/014wex.jpg

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/928/015ew.jpg

im planing on the grill surround next.

Edited 13 May, 201115 yr by ricksy

u need a hair dryer with ajustable heat so it walms it slightly just enuff to make it strech!! i managed this on my first atempt but has started to lift in the deep curves.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5441/014wex.jpg

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/928/015ew.jpg

im planing on the grill surround next.

That actually looks rather nice

You will get stone chips regardless of how you prep the plastic. The stone chips are not because the primer did not adhere to the plastic. A light rubbing to roughen up the surface is good enough. A few coats of plastic primer and then 2-3 coats of top coat are enough. Depending on the finish if you want gloss then you can apply lacquer which will toughen the paint surface also. I may go satin black but also use laquer to protect better.

+1, I used Halfords primer and Satin black.

As Rob also said, it will chip, but so does the chrome, you just dont notice it as much.

Vinyl idea looks good as well!

I'm planning on wrapping my grill in carbon(little side line I have.) I did it on my S2 and it looks really good.

The engine cover looks good but I don't think it will last long with the heat from the engine. Keep us informed on how it is in a few weeks please.

Mine painted with primer, black magic paint and laquered with cans from halfords.

Tim

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they wheels are really nice