Thinking about covering up all chrome trim

[josj]

Hi.

I have a white Superb FL (model year 2014) which has chrome trim on the door sides and around the windows, as well as the grille. I don't like chrome very much, so I'm thinking about letting a local shop cover all the chrome with matte black foil. I'm not sure what you call it in the UK, but the company does wrapping/foiling of cars to change the appearance, and they have told me that it would work fine to do it on just the chrome.

Has anyone does something like that? I worry that the foil would peel off when washing the car or similar. They gave me a price of about €300 for doing just the chrome, so it's not cheap but not extremely expensive either.

I have tried to find some image of cars where this, or something similar, has been done. I'm thinking that maybe it will look weird with the matte black trim on the door sides or something. If I understand correctly, there's (been) a "Monte Carlo" edition with black trim, but maybe not for the FL version?

 

Or is it possible to just remove the chrome trim on the door sides, and get a "cleaner" look?

 

[kriglo]

I may reccomend that you try Plasti Dip :-)

Something like this http://biltema.se/sv/Bilvard/Farg-och-Lack/Gummifarg-3654/

 

But I would try it on something that's not supposed to go on the car first, in case it won't work.

This is very easy to use, and very simple to take off again if you change your mind about the look :-)

 

And it's cheap ;-)

 

Do post pictures if you decide to go for it :clap:

[Hedgecutter]

I`m not keen on chrome, either. It`s a bit blingy.  +1 for pictures.

[DxJ]

Plastidip on my grille.

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[josj]

Looking good, I will look into plastidip as a cheaper option. How is the durability when you clean the car?

[Hedgecutter]

That looks excellent

[josj]

Plastidip on my grille.

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Did you remove the grille when painting it, or did you do it in place?

[guyblue10]

Hi

 

I've plastidipped all my chrome bits http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/314532-black-36-v6-estate/

 

They've survived about a year with no sign of wear and will stand up to a reasonable pressure washing

 

Guy

[DxJ]

Painted it in place.

No problems whit washing.

A little bit careful whit the high preassure washer.

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[JakeBlade]

How much plastidip do you think you used on the grille?

Did you do your wing mirrors as well?

[DxJ]

Less then one can plastidip as I remember.

Mirrors are oem black metallic Skoda covers. Replaces the standard white.

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[josj]

Looking great guyblue10.

I'm thinking that maybe matte black trim around the windows will look strange together with the glossy black pieces between the front and rear windows, on a white car. On yours it looks good, but the paint on your car matches the glossy black plastic. Of course I could plastidip those pieces too, to get them all matte.

How much work was it to mask the curved chrome pieces around the windows? Or can you use plastidip without masking perfectly, and just remove any paint that's come outside of the intended surface?

[guyblue10]

Thanks

 

You can get another plastidip product called glossifier that you spray onto the matt black plastidip that gives it a slightly glossy appearance.  I played around with it but decided it looked better without.

 

The key to plastidip seems to be to mask only where there isn't a natural groove or break in the surface - so if you think about the rear side window you need to mask where it touches the rubber, but not the lower edge because it falls into a dip - on the lower edge just spray the chrome and onto the paint, then peel off any overspray on to the paint.......having said that, only leave 1-2cm of paint exposed, then mask it - and spray a reasonable amount onto the paint - this will give you a clean edge to peel off, and a reasonable thickness of plastidip to peel off, because if you don't it'll break up and be difficult to peel off.  Sounds a bit counter intuitive, but give it a try

 

I also found flexible yellow masking tape used in model making gave a much cleaner curved line than the B and Q stuff.  Also take off the masking tape while the last coat of plastidip is still wet - you'll get a much cleaner edge

 

There are some videos on youtube done by a bloke called fonzi that are useful.  It's all trial and error - probably took me a day working out on one or two bits how best to do it, and another day doing everything

[josj]

Regarding the chrome trim on the door sides, has anyone removed it? I'm thinking that might be the most clean look, but I'm not sure it would look good without it. How is it attached, are there any holes or just double sided tape?

[SnailUK]

Having wrapped all the chrome on my previous Audi, and now played with Plastidip on my Skoda, I'd definitely wrap given the choice. I'm rubbish at DIY, yet did a reasonable job wrapping, yet the edges of my plastidip are rubbish.

I might use plastidip on stuff completely removed from the car, but not in situ.

My wrap lasted a couple of years and only showed wear around some shoddy workmanship on the one part that constantly got contact when opening closing doors.

[josj]

Having wrapped all the chrome on my previous Audi, and now played with Plastidip on my Skoda, I'd definitely wrap given the choice. I'm rubbish at DIY, yet did a reasonable job wrapping, yet the edges of my plastidip are rubbish.

I might use plastidip on stuff completely removed from the car, but not in situ.

My wrap lasted a couple of years and only showed wear around some shoddy workmanship on the one part that constantly got contact when opening closing doors.

It seems like a lot of work to wrap myself, and get nice cuts etc, but maybe it's easy? I'll be worried about damaging the paint when cutting the wrap foil.

[SnailUK]

I mocked up with paper, and used a very steady hand, and extremely sharp knife for tidying.

 

I'm a DIY disaster, and still made a good job of it.