Chrome window trim - paint, wrap, or dip?
 

This chrome window trim bothers me a lot and want to make it black. What's the best route? My tint shop quoted me $260 to wrap both sides. I'm not sure I trust myself dipping something I cannot easily remove. Is painting a cheaper and longer lasting option? What did you do with yours and how is it holding up?

I'm in the same boat as you. Tried plastidip on the emblems and they only look ok after three tries.Still cant get it to stick well to the Mercedes emblem, just the C63 and AMG. Suspect it may have something to do with the extreme heat and humidity we have been having here in Charleston. Wrapped the big chrome trunk piece and front grill with matte black vinyl because that's all i had on hand, and it looks good, but I wanted it wrapped gloss black to match the rest of gloss black accents. Started wrapping the window trim in gloss black vinyl from shadowlinetrim.com and it looks like crap. Started removing the window trim and it leaves behind a sticky mess. Took it to a wrap shop yesterday and was quoted $270 to do a full chrome delete with 3M or Avery vinyl. At this point I think I am going to go that route because I cant stand the look of the little creases and bubbles the current stuff has.

I'm just dipping my front grill and DRL plates, I think they've come out great. Before my grill and DRL plate looked almost sandblasted from small rock chips. Now it's better. At least no more white specks.

I had my tint shop wrap the chrome bar in the back for $20. That was money well spent.

Wrap it.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...48c05b45f5.jpg

Seconded on the wrap. I did my window trim, it wasnt too hard.

hey Gtracer, did you do the grill surround yourself? Any tips/tricks? I bought 2" wide 3m to do my window trim, but due to the curves on the grill I haven't attempted it . I figure I'm better off buying a sheet of vinyl for that job.

Yes. I used a 3'' wide piece. Was not easy. I ended up cutting it in the middle and doing the second half with another piece. Barely shows, same for the trims, it joins where the doors join on the B-pillar. I removed the chrome trim from the grill so that I could wrap it properly but its tricky to manipulate as its thin and not resillient. Dont want to break it. Having a sheet of vinyl big enough to cover the whole grill would be the easiest.

Pics for clicks.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...c0d6eb7f7c.jpg

Car looks awesome thanks for the tips!

Definitely wrap, because it's easily reversible for later on.

You represent the elitist plague among enthusiasts.

How about accepting the fact that we havent all been here since the beginning? Search is everyones friend but damn bro....you are way too negative. We are here because we enjoy the same thing. Creating the environment that you do doesnt make this enjoyable for most. Lighten up....its a hobby....a passion...we all share some form of it. Not everyone can be the best...just enjoy being at the top looking down...no reason to be so condescending...like ALL THE TIME.

ON TOPIC:
I would def wrap the chrome. Im trying to decide what to do with mine...was thinking to try and match the grey on the OEM wheels/Calipers and do it like that...
Anyone else do that?

I painted my window trim. I like it. :y

Did you do it yourself? If not would you mind sharing how much it costs? If it's cheaper than wrapping I'll go the paint route.

How do you paint over chrome? Must have been a lot of prep work.

Vinyl wrap would work the best for window trim. I have had more people come by my shop to wrap their window trim pieces after their plasti dip attempts did not hold up. I offer plasti dipping as well, but the window trim is something I would never consider plasti dipping over wrapping. Not saying it can't work out, but it's like driving a car in reverse on the streets. It is possible, but why work harder than you need to. As far as painting goes. Generally speaking, chrome has a fairly hard surface, making it difficult to prep properly to have the paint adhere to. Bring in the addition that to paint the trim pieces they're either going to have to mask off perfectly each and every trim piece on the car or carefully remove the thin aluminum pieces from the car without bending anything.

I offer all 3 services, so I don't have a bias towards one or another, but that's just my personal experience/thoughts on it with working with people all the time on figuring out what the best options are for their cars and what they're looking to have done.

It's easier than you would think. I guess experience is key here. It's imperative to scuff the chrome-like finish on the trim - this will keep the paint stuck on over the years. It's doable without scuffing the surface, but I suspect that longevity might take a hit.

First coat of primer needs to be a dust coat. 10-12 inches away, pre-heat the can so that it has vtec and lightly coat the surface. It'll need 2-3 of these before you can do a slightly heavier coat. Once you have a good primer base built up, the black paint of your choice will happily bond to the surface and they will harden together.

I used a gloss black on top of grey primer. 2+ years, lots of cold n cruddy UK weather and many pressure washer washes. It has held up just fine and cost me less than £10, albeit took me a whole afternoon.

Scotch brite? Assuming trim removed?

I think I used something like...600 grit - dry sanding. Occasionally I dabbed the paper in water to clear out the dust from smoothing out the paper surface.

No I didn't remove the trim. I'd have liked to have...but didn't know how to, nor did I want to risk damaging anything back then. I however did mask it up to a T and I was very careful. Actually....I tell a lie. I removed the top trim that goes around the upper perimeter. It was the lower straight pieces that I didn't know how to get off.

Old pic at my friends wedding last summer. Looks good to me:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...502467da50.jpg

Easy-Off oven cleaner strips chrome off plastic trim FYI

I have heard of that process for the inside of headlight housings where it's just chrome sprayed. Does it also work on chrome plating? No idea bout the trim, but the stuff on the fog light housings had a thin piece of metal, maybe for durability.

I dipped them myself. 3 cans of plasti dip and it's done. Nothing difficult to do. Trims are easy to remove before painting. Tried to wrap them but it takes too much time and effort. And I didn't like the result.




https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...1afb298ff5.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...32bc64f1da.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...eaaa6a7aa4.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...2668c80552.jpg

WOW! Awesome looking C! The black and white contrast is perfect and nothing is under or overdone. My car is Iridium silver and I wonder if it would look as good as that with the same black additions. Also love those wheels! Good job!

Thanks! Still need to paint front fog light trims and front fender emblems
I believe that Iridium silver should be much better with black trims (compare to the chrome ones). Don't know why they even decided to use chrome on such car

You can also do the chrome on the top of your door handles. I had mine wrapped by Don Nguyen and it looks amazing!