Did a search and did not fine what I was looking for. (Dechromed door handles.) I would like to dechrome the door handles. (Make black.) Any ideas on how to go about doing this? Could paint, but would come off. Can they be powder coated? Anybody have pics of there MINI that may be dechromed? I would like to dechrome the handles, headlight trim, molding around lower parts of window and anything else that may be chrome.

 

Did you have a bad experience with chrome when you were a child?

 

I like chrome on motorcycles, but not cars....

 

koolmini did this a few years ago. He had them painted and they look great. I know he is picky about girls with rings being careful, but when I saw his car last weekend the paint was still looking perfect.

 

I am in the process of dechroming my car too. The door handles are next. I know they can be powdercoated, painted, and can also be covered in vinyl. I haven't decided which to do yet.

 

Thanks for the pic Yucca Patrol. I like it!! PARTSMAN109, I would think powder coating would be the most durable of the 3 you mentioned. I guess you would have to remove the chrome. Can that be sand blasted?

 

unfortunately, koolmini is out for a while so I can't ask him, but I believe there was an issue of not being able to powdercoat plastic parts and that is why he ended up painting them.

Even though these parts have chrome on them, they are actually made from plastic. . . n(again, I could be wrong on this but I do remember having the powdercoat vs. paint discussion with him and my failing memory tells me that they are plastic handles)

 

I think the door handles and gas cap are made of steel of some sort.

 

The gas cap is metal and would accept the powder coating, but the door handles are plastic. I just went out and checked both after a cooling rain. The gas cap is definitely all metal, but the door handles did not have a metalic ring when tapped and did not have that cool metallic feel when touched that the gas cap had.

I believe koolmini just had both painted to simplify the process even though he could have had the gas cap powdercoated.

 

The newest edition of MC^2 magazine has a story about a guy with a PW MINI and he got rid of all the chrome and powder coated the door handles, gas cap, and even the MINI wings logo. I wish I had a scanner that was working, but run out to a magazine stand and take a look at the article!

 

That's John Monk's car lilcoopr is referring to, really nice guy, met him at the Dragon this year. The article in MC2 states that he sent two boxes of stuff of to the painter, one marked "black" and one marked "white".

Yucca is probably right, but something tells me that the door handles are made out of the same metal the gas cap is. I just can't see MINI making the handles plastic with all the tugging and pulling going on there, but i've been wrong before and a lot of other cars are running around with plastic door handles.

 

I have a pretty dechromed DS/B MCS and I guarantee the gas cap is metal and can be powder coated (mine is) but the door handles are plastic and cannot be powder coated. You must paint them, or cast the same from metal and powdercoat. Sorry.

cheers,

 

Yucca was right. Thanks for chiming in to confirm.

 

Just dechromed my gas cap, door handles and debadged the MINI wings from the hood. I will post some pics up when I get a chance. Just been raining a bunch here. Yes it rains in AZ

Yes the gas cap is metal
The door handles, and the chrome headlight rings are plastic

 

Looks like you guys have it figured out. You are right, the door handles are plastic and have to be sanded, primed with plastic primer, and painted. I think the wording in the article did make it sound like they were powder coated but they were indeed painted. The only parts that were powder coated were the gas cap and exhaust tips.

 

I wonder how BLACK chrome would look? I know that black chrome wheels look nice.

 

Sport Compact Car worked on a MINI a couple years ago. Part of their effort to "de-cutify" included dealing with the chrome bits. Here's a link.

 

Judging by black chrome used on bikes, black chrome is spendy and fragile. It's not nearly as hard as regular chrome and scratches very easily. It's often hard to find a place willing to do black chrome and when they do it's way more expensive than regular chrome. Less demand, slightly different processing, and they have to have separate vats for the process, so it's pretty much a specialty item.

Having said that, I've had black chrome stuff on bikes from time to time and as long as it's an item that doesn't get much wear and tear or anything rubbing on it, it holds up to weather and such just fine. Don't know if the gas cap would hold up very well, though. I suspect that theres a place on the gas cap that we touch the close it every time and it would wear a thin spot in the chrome right there.

 

the new '06 is getting the blackout treatment posthaste. chrome doesn't belong on a DS/B MCS

 

MiniMargie,

You are correct. I have ordered a DS/B MCS for October delivery and I am already planning on replacing the fronts grills with the M7 black upper, middle and lower grilles. Beltline blackout tape will also be used.

I will probably also powdercoat the gas cap and do something with the door handles. I have named my car Shadow and will remove as much chrome as possible.

 

I powdercoated many of the parts on previous cars because we have a powdercoater in town which does great work. They can pretty much powdercoat anything. As long as the plastic is a thick strong plastic it should not be an issue having it powdercoated. The reason for the concern is due to the heat and they would be afraid the plastic would melt. As for getting the plastic sand-blasted, I'm not to sure on that, that is probably a question for someone with more experience in that field. Good Luck on your choice.

 

How do they powder coat plastic? I wouldn't think that it could be done because it wouldn't be a conductor for the electricity.

 

Your right, you cant powder coat plastic.

 

In order to chrome plate, the item has to conduct electricity. If chroming of plastic parts can be done then powdercoating may be able to be done as well, depending on whether the plastic can withstand the heat in the powdercoat process.

 

I think that they send an electical charge though the item to be coated, the charge forces the powder coating to stick to the item. I haven't done any research but I'm pretty sure that plastic can't be truly powder coated.