Has anyone ever sprayed the rim of the aero grilles glossy black? I have many MINI photo's but not one have the grilles made this way. Was looking at the new JCW when i came up with this thought. How do you think it would look?

 

It would probably look kind of glossy. And black.

 

not the whole thing, just the borders of it? wont look good?

 

It's already black. Just give the trim a few coats of DuPont Clear Acrylic Lacquer. Automotive Wholesale paint suppliers sell them for about 17 dollars a can.

I typically do all my small black plastic trim pieces with it. Like the hood vent grilles and MINI front upper and lower grilles....that way I no longer have to treat the MINI's black plastic with Black Wow or Armorall....works especially good for aero grill honey comb openings which otherwise would have to have each opening wiped with freakin Q-Tip....

 

would you post a picture of your front? and the grilles? thanks

 

Minspeed used to sell very similar grills in gloss black. The honey comb was a little different but they're made to fit the stock bumpers. IMO it would look pretty cool if you have a black car but on any other color, not so much. Unless maybe your arches were glossed too.

You can pretty much always find them on ebay too.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mini-...Q5fAccessories

 

Just wipe them with some type of car interior afro-sheen and see how it looks. Then wipe it off and either do it permanent or not.

 

An option (actually it is recommended in MINI's aero kit installation instructions) is to paint the surround in body color (gloss of course). I think body color would look better than gloss black.

 

Having tried flat, matte and gloss black over the years, I can tell you that gloss anything (esp. black) will show every imperfection to the piece. There are several paint manufacturers who make paint specific for plastic. I personally would go with a matte finish over gloss.