ive heard lotsa of talk about blacking out this chrome, but i'm not too sure how i want to go at doing it. ive heard 3m tape, painting and a few other things, but i think i would go with the tape. but i think 3m tape might look a bit hokey and i dont really wanna have to paint them.



any sugguestions?

 

vinyl

 

vinyl for like decals?

 

Are you talking about the bumper inserts that are chrome in the front and rear for an MC?
If so then you can get black bumper inserts (OEM parts) to replace the chrome ones. This would be durable.
Talk to Classic Auto Campus (NAM sponsor) about ordering the parts.

 

no, the beltline moulding runs around the cab right below the windows.

 

I know that old car molding with chrome accents can be disassembled. If you could do that with the MINI moldings you could have them powdercoated black, no?

 

Yah, most people that are saying 3M mean 3M vinyl...not tape.

Just get a long strip and put it along the beltline. You can get any color red or black or whatever you want. It is the stuff used for decals so it will last a long time and take the abuse of weather.

 

Everything besides the beltline is actually just plastic so painting would be better.

The beltline is really metal i believe so it could definitely be powedercoated

 

ok, time to make an autozone run and pick up some vinyl stripe material!!!


i'll post pics when completed...

 

Make sure its the right width...i dont think autozone goes that thick in the color black. The thickest i ever saw was .75 inch which i dont think is enough for the beltline

 

Can you take before and after pictures so we can see how it all looks?

Thanks. Interesting black out appearance- don't forget to tint those side markers on the wheel arches.

 

ok, i'm gonna go to a good decal shop tomarrow and get it in exactly the width i need.

for right now, i went out and got black bumper coating (satin, slightly textured) and painted just the bars in the grill in front. the surround is still chrome. i'm just gonna paint the side markers black also, id rather have them look like euro flares w/o markers rather than smoked or clear.....if its illigal, i dont care lol.

i'll post pics tomarrow, i wanna let the car sit and let the paint cure for now...

heres my "before pic"

 

hey, i almost forgot.

i saw some new side stripe material at autozone too......chamelon. it looks pretty cool and might make a nice stripe on a pepper white or silver cooper....just a thought



might look cool lineing a white bonnet stripe on a black cooper

 

There is a tint available that completely hides the side reflectors AND lets them show though so that your car is still legal and actually safe to drive at night :smile:


This is my car minus the grill surround thats now on it...notice the tinted sidemarkers are hiddne completely...i got mine from mossmini


here is a pic of blacked-out beltline....he's a member on here, i just forget his screen name I like the flat black finish opposed to the glossy black

 

how is the flat black done? is that painted?


i'm gonna take off one of mt windshield mouldings tonight and take a closer look at what i might be able to do with it...

 

you can get flat black vinyl

haha just noticed you painted the grill slats of you car.....dont copy my car too hard...we live pretty close to eachother First the cooper bumpers and stripes....now the flat black slats and tinted sidemarkers

 

I have a jet black S on order, planning on de-chroming. I have done some research into this on the vary-ing boards. It seems that the two approaches are paint and vinyl. Vinyl seemed to have more followers.

A popular product is Trimbrite Blackout (<--oxymoron!) tape. Which can be found here:

http://www.trimbrite.com/

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...48669?v=glance

Have not read any reviews as to durabilty. Me thinks that if it a quality product it should stay seated for some time. Anyone have experieince?

 

here's a link to an article of that mini with the blacked-out beltline. i think it is absolutely stunning

http://www.mwerks.com/artman/publish...icle_524.shtml

 

now we gotta meet up rally, we gotta introduce the twins to eacheother lol


(i think you and me have simmilar tastes lol)




i'm going to try and paint my S side vents black but leave them S vents. my car is the rare S without the supercharger, only 3 were made and i got one!


(i'm also considering painting all my chrome black too, but i'm gonna wait on that)

 

my mini doesnt like to be a twin....luckily its awaiting a whole overhaul when spring finally gets here...but lets definitely meet up...i have some fun twisties sorta close to summit

 

sounds good to me, i cant wait to go motoring. well, it looks like my non superchaged S is different than yours, so.....



hehehe

 

I've been pondering how to do this correctly on my PW/PW MCS since the day i got it since i don't like the beltline chrome.

I've always wanted to paint the chrome door handles and other parts with "black chrome" look. Some people also call it candy black, basically a slightly clear black paint which kind of looks like tint. I might have my ClearBra installer try to apply a smoke vinyl to the chrome beltline to see what it looks like.

 

Hey rednwhitecooper,

Any progress on this mod? :smile:

 

i'l still thinking wether or not to black it out or go with a red to match the body, make it blend in better. as of now, ive painted my fender reflectors in a slightly textured matte black. the look like euro fenders now. you dont notice they are there until about 3 feet away.....i'll post pics soon...

 

have you decided whether or not to go paint or vinyl? Im trying to figure out how to take that trim off, but it seems i have to "rip" it off. If this is the case, then vinyl and a razor blade is my next mod!