Long story is that I have a chrome bar on my grille that I want to be black. GM made a black grille, but only for sealed beam vans and it won't fit. I could go through the process of stripping chrome from plastic, but I figured that's pretty extreme. It's about 4" tall and 4' wide and I figure I could buy some wrap vinyl and for $20 I would have enough material to try and get it right 4 times.
Looking for matte or satin black. Nothing special as far as finish, but I want something durable, and are certain brands more forgiving/thinner/thicker/stronger/better adhesive than others?
Which one should I get from Amazon? Or does it matter?
I've found that they do a black crossbar for sealed beam applications on work vans, but all of the bucket/bulb LS and LT vans got the chrome bar like mine. I haven't been able to find a not-chrome LS/LT grille, so I'm just going to vinyl wrap my chrome bar.
Plastidip the whole thing and it will look better than vinyl unless you wanted to do a non-black color.
Otherwise pick an actual wrap vinyl from sign warehouse. There is a difference between the good stuff and the amazon stuff.
With plasti-dip on chrome, I'm afraid the first mosquito or twig that touches it, I'll have a big chrome scratch.
I called three different sign places near me (the only three I've found) and asked to buy a 1' scrap and they all acted like I was speaking Swahili.
I quick searched for you on car-part. This yard is asking $100.
http://Bruce Moore Auto Salvage USA-PA(Myerstown)
No picture given but this other yard is asking only $50
http://All Auto USA-PA(Cumbola) This would be a full service yard that would likely have the grille off for you in advance and have it waiting in the office for you to pick up.
Sure, $50 is more than just $20. You might consider listing yours on FB for $100 and see what happens...make'n money! Speaking of FB, is there anyone parting out a van locally?
The only vinyl I ever bought was Vvivid brand off Amazon
In reply to John Welsh :
That's the sealed beam version that Curtis said won't fit.
He needs the lower version in his post, but in black.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
With plasti-dip on chrome, I'm afraid the first mosquito or twig that touches it, I'll have a big chrome scratch.
I called three different sign places near me (the only three I've found) and asked to buy a 1' scrap and they all acted like I was speaking Swahili.
If I'm not mistaken, you can respray the plasti dip. Tape off, touch up scratch. Any sporting goods, taxidermi, gunshops near you? Some put some form of wrap on European mounts and firearms. Might be worth a shot, plus you can ogle at their inventory.
I'd plastidip it; easy and if it scratches easy to fix. If you are dead set against it a sheet of vinyl off eBay is $20
I've used 3M 1080 and 2080 on rally cars and both hold up pretty well considering the conditions they see.
Oops. Reading comprehension failure on my part! Good, because I think the sealed beam front is ugly.
I did my race car hood with dip and I've had some interesting things bounce off the front and it seems to take damage much better than paint.
Spray the chrome with oven cleaner and it should come right off. Otherwise, try calling a tint shop instead of a sign shop. In my experience they've been much easier to talk to about random things outside their business orbit.
Plasti-dip is a lot tougher than you may think. Do lots of light coats instead of a a few heavy coats.
Parker with too many Projects said:
Spray the chrome with oven cleaner and it should come right off.
Mind blown. Didn't know that was a thing.
I plastidipped the wheels on my C5 and they looked awesome for years until I sold it - not black either.
I think I'll try the oven cleaner thing first. If it doesn't work I'll either wrap it or *gasp* plastidip.
I wouldnt oven cleaner. A few reasons:
- when it turns your grille into a pile of goop, you will need to source a new one.
- Its not "chrome-b-gone" and who knows what is under the chrome. Adhesive - mold lines - you name it.
Plasti-dip today. Let's see how it holds up to bugs and chips. Now I just need to find a black bumper
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
Parker with too many Projects said:
Spray the chrome with oven cleaner and it should come right off.
Mind blown. Didn't know that was a thing.
If you have a Dodge, you don't even need the oven cleaner.
That turned out great. The black looks good with that color. If it holds up I'm going to try this on my '05 Silverado.
In reply to WillG80 :
I have a black rear bumper ready to go on (once I scuff off the surface rust and hit it with a fresh coat of black) so now I just need to find a decent black front bumper. Then the chrome is all gone.
It's not that I mind chrome, it just looks strange with the bronze wheels.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
Parker with too many Projects said:
Spray the chrome with oven cleaner and it should come right off.
Mind blown. Didn't know that was a thing.
They also call it aircraft stripper from what ive seen. It takes the chrome off just about anything with enough time.
I ordered an aircraft stripper once. She never showed.
I heard about that one, supposedly she could take the chrome off a hitch ball. Anyway, the grille came out nice, hopefully it holds up well.
Plastidip the bumper too.
Will work great.
Glad you didn't go oven cleaner.
I'll wait on the bumper. Both the front and rear are starting to rust through which is one of the reasons I'm going with clean junkyard pieces instead.
I'm also going to do gooder hitches front and rear. The only available hitches for the rear of these vans hang really low, and I'll be cutting the front bumper to add a front hitch. It would be nice to start with non-crusty versions.
I'm also waiting for the plasti-dip to be not sticky. It seems to have dried/set up just fine, but it is sticky AF. Even dust is sticking to it. I go to wipe it off and it's like the cloth gets velcroed to the grille.
