Hi guys , I have a 05 mcs and am thinking about blacking out all the silver trims , its chiili red with a black roof , i want to do the belt line , mirror caps , fuel cap , door handles , boot handlle , headlamp rings and grill , i think a replacment grill will be the easyest answer for that part but do you have any tips for the rest , vinyl wrap?paint? , any sugestions will be great , thanks jamie..

 

Yes, I did this. A few suggestions:

Don't waste your money on replacing the grill. It comes off pretty easily, as do the chrome bits above and below it. Just work at it gently but firmly (a few flat-blade screwdrivers help to pry it off) and you should be able to get it off without too much difficulty.

The headlight rings, however, are a different story. From what I've heard, they're a real PITA to get off without breaking the little clips behind them, so I decided to mask mine and spray them in place. Easy way to mask the headlight rings: Tape newspaper around the outside of the rings, leaving about 1cm or so of red paint showing between the edge of your masking tape and the headlight ring. Next, just take the widest painters tape you can find, and completely cover the headlight, covering from the tape on one side all the way across it to the tape on the other. Now, grab an x-acto knife or similar sharp knife and insert it between the ring and the body, and just cut the tape all around. Do the same thing between the headlight lens and the ring, and then you will be able to remove the tape from the ring whilst the rest of it remains perfectly masked.

The fuel cap, just open it and unscrew the cap from the hinge with the proper torx driver.

I see you left your side scuttles off of the list, but these are (IMO) the best looking once you black them. They pop out pretty easily if you apply pressure from the inside, and then you can just twist the light to remove it. Now, you can remove the black grille from the back as well as the red 'S'. When I did mine, I left the S red while blacking out the chrome behind it and it looks pretty awesome.

Beltline, just carefully mask it and spray.

I didn't do my boot handle, so I haven't got any suggestions for you in that department.

As a final note, I used plasti-dip to do my blacking out. 10k miles later, I have a few chips in my grill, but the rest of it is in perfect shape still.

If you want more info or pictures, just ask as I took a bunch of pictures of the process and am willing to post them up if people want them.

 

I used the black tape for the beltline, and Plasti dip for the scuttles,door handles,gas cap and headlight rings. To be honest the headlight rings were a PITA and did not really come out the best

 

Did you take them out, or mask and spray them in place?
I masked mine and sprayed them per the above instructions, and they came out looking great.

 

That sounds good , if you could post a few pics that would be great , how was the "plasti-dip" to work with ? how many coats? , prep and dry time? , thanks so much for your help i realy appriciate it .. jamie.

 

I used two coats, which worked well coverage wise. I might recommend three for the forward facing bits (grill and headlight rings) because they need to be more robust. It works just like spray paint basically. It took me about two hours to get everything off the car, then I sprayed it and let it dry for four hours, then sprayed again, let that dry, and put it back on that night. Granted I did this in the summer when it was warm and fairly dry all day so it might be a two-day process this time of year. I will post more pictures as soon as I find them (gotta dig them up off an old hard drive )

 

I did 3 to 4 coats on the rings, did them on the car. the gas cap and door handles I did 6 or 7, always letting them dry for at least an hour, I also put a 1000 watt shop lamp close by to aid in the drying time.

 

I'm like NightFlyR. It's best to take the parts off. I took my headlight rings off an achieved perfect results. However, I masked off the grill surround and didn't achieve the best results.

 

I was afraid to take off my rings, lest I break the clips that held them in. I got better results on the rings (which I masked and painted in place) than I did on the grill which I took off. So, I guess it's partially just random chance?

I guess it just comes down to what you're comfortable with doing.

 

That's true, but it also might be the temp and environment. I did the grill on a humid day in VA outside in my parents driveway. The rings were done in my garage away from humidity and the elements. This is a factor to remember.

 

Why do you want to murder out your mini? Remember, less is more.

 

I agree, less chrome is more

 

I have a plan , im going to use 3m striping tape for the belt line chrome strip , and the rest will be done with plasti-dip , thanks for everyone's imput , and i agree less chrome is better.....Jamie..

 

Any chrome you'll want to paint will have to be thoroughly sanded and prepped for the paint to stick. Since mine was in the shop anyway and the shop had to remove the rings, I had them sand and paint them.

For the door handles, I also had them painted. However, since sanding them was going to be a pain, even though they were off the car, I bought an extra set to experiment with and ended up being able to simply peel all the chrome off the handles. A light sanding, paint with body color, and the shop put them back on the car for me. My grill is already blacked out 'cause it's a JCW car with full aero package.

I understand there's someone making handle covers in black and body color. Just slip over your existing handles.

I also bought an extra set of side marker light grills. Though the car had the chrome ones with the red S, I bought the plain black ones and then had them painted body color as well. Turned out nice.