After embracing the chrome on my last MINI, I decided it wasn't a good look for Pepper White. So, after lots of masking and several cans of Plasti-dip, my MINI is finally chrome-free. Well, except for the badges. Decided to leave those for now although I am on the lookout for black COOPER letters....

 

 

LOL - mR tRipp.......very good !

One shot DONE !

 

Looks good

 

How does it hold up to the elements and washing the car?

Looks great by the way!

 

very nice.. wish i can do thta but i dun have skills or equipment

 

I was wondering what the grille would look like if you did the whole thing, not just the painted part... Looks good to me. I am going to do my mirror caps (white) and the entire grille. Not sure about the belt line, hood scoop, gas cap or headlight rings though...

 

BTW - your exhaust tips and door handles still have chrome

 

WOW ! It looks great !

I need to ask some questions because I want to do my painted grill on my 06 S.

It is currently painted the same color as the body, but I want to make it BLACK like yours.

Ok, what prep did you do before painting ?

What type of paint did you use ?

I was thinking of a finish not in Gloss or Flat; somewhere in between so it matches the lower plastic grill.

Please reply with the facts so I can get mine started ASAP !

Thanks in Advance ! ! !

 

In the OP, they stated they used Plasti-Dip.

Plasti-Dip is not a paint, it's a rubberized coating. Your surface only has to be perfectly clean, no other prep is needed. It stands up to car washes just fine, but you can only get the one finish. It matches the texture of the other plastic parts on the car, like the wheel arch trim.

It matches your lower grill quite nice as it is. I used plasti dip on my chrome grill, but I took it apart and did it away from the car. My car is black, so the inner grill is already black. I only had to do the outer edge (chrome).

Oh and one tip of advice, once you have your grill done and in the future when you want to clean it, don't use any sort of Bug and Tar remover, it will strip the Plasti-Dip right off. I was using a bug and tar remover on my paint and accidently got a bit on the grill, needless to say I wasnt happy that I had to re-plasti-dip it!

 

At home spray booth so Cool,I just hope the fumes didn't get to bad looks great makes things PoP. Never would have thought of paint, makes yours unique and just the way Ya wanted it It would make me sad to see my chrome go, Kinda Old School that way

 

Looking at the pics again - it looks like your grille's chrome was originally smooth... Did the 05/06 r53s come with smooth chrome on the grille versus the earlier years that have some detail to them? Can you snap a close up shot of the grille?

 

Yes, you're right.

old one:


new one:

 

I did my exhaust tips with pasti-dip about 6 months ago and it has held up well. I also took all my parts off the car. It is worth doing for the price and the wow factor in the change of appearance. The best looking change was the side vents. Black with the red S. Looks factory made.

 

Dang it! So it will probably look stupid if I do it to my 2003...

Does the 05/06 grille fit in the earlier models? does anyone know?

 

Really?

The plasti-dip withstands the high heat of exhaust tips?

Got any pictures? I'd love to see what they look like...

 

+1

I was thinking the same thing.

 

That looks Great!! lots of work put into that.

 

Thanks for all the comments. Actually, since I posted this, I have taken care of the door handles as well. I taped and Plasti-dipped them, but discovered the everyday wear from opening the doors was causing some issues on the edges, so I splurged and bought the molded covers from Aesthetic at MOTD.

It was a lot of work, but I enjoy spending time on the car and won't bat an eyelash at having to re-tape and re-apply when necessary. I've had it on the grille, scoop and headlight rings for several months and have had very little wear or damage. I wash it regularly and just make it a point not to scrub those areas to hard. The only chrome left now is on the exhaust tips and badges. I wasn't sure about the heat on the exhaust tips either. I may give it a try.

We also blacked everything out on our Clubman (the LEGO car for anyone who was at MOTD) and it has held up great too. I'll let you know if I have any major issues as time goes on, but I have talked to several people who did the same thing and everyone seems to like it.

 

I don't have any experience with Plasti-dip (yet) but for the exhaust tips I would recommend either a ceramic header coating (available from places like Autozone) or you can get grill paint (Lowe's, Home Depot)... they are both designed for high temps and will hold up great on exhaust tips. Available in black as well.

 

^^ But with Plasti-Dip, you can remove it and the surface underneath is unharmed.

 

True, I am just not sure how well it will hold up over time but since I don't have first hand experience I can't really say. Worst case is that it comes off but you can always respray.

 

What did you take off to paint? Just the scuttles and gas cap, or other stuff too? I'm about to do this to mine.

 

I'm thinking about painting my exhaust tips black, but I didn't think that plasti-dip would stay intact with the heat. Hmmmm...

 

I did my tips with the grill paint about two years ago and it is holding up great.
All I did was clean and rough with steel wool and paint. No chips or problems.