I'm considering blacking out several chrome aspects of my '07 MC, and am curious, for those of you who've had to remove and replace these parts (headlight rings, front grill and grill borders, tail light rings, door handle, boot handles, etc) what was your experience? This is my first car to ever mod, and I have zilch experience in pulling things off and replacing them. What is involved? Is it as simple as popping things off and on (can't imagine so) or will it involve a lot of going in behind and potentially scratching/breaking things along the way?

Lyle, at lylesvinyl.com (the company I'll probably be using), told me that the door handles were probably pretty difficult to do. Anyone tried them?

I suppose if it's too very difficult, I could just have either my dealership or an autobody shop do it for me - as I'll have the parts and they'll just need to swap them out, but of course if I could save a little cash along the way that's more cash for further mods!

 

Most of the chrome pieces do just "pop" off. I have blacked out the headlight rings, side markers and the front grill and it was all fairly simple. The grill I bought from Outmotoring. com. They sell black JCW grill trim pieces there that you can put on in under 10 minutes. The headlight rings just pop off, but be careful not to break the clips (there are a few threads in the 07 interior section that tell you how to do everything). We blacked out the beltline on my MCS in about 45 minutes and I bought the blackout vinyl from outmotoring.com as well. The tail light rings, door handles and gas cap I am going to have done by vinyl styles though, I have heard nothing but good things about them.

 

Lyle told me the door handles might be quite difficult. Anyone have any experience doing them? They and the front grill are the ones about which I'm most concerned.

 

Door handles in the R56, that is.

 

Oops, I just realized I said "lylesvinyl.com" up there when I meant http://www.lylesvinylstyles.net/mini.

 

I haven't done the door handles yet, they are on my list though. I can tell you that the front grill is easy. All you really need is a screwdriver for a few screws, the rest of it just pops off. I had mine switched out in under 10 minutes and it really changes the look of the car

 

The gas cap is a breeze as are the tail light rings. The gas cap just rotates counterclockwise and pops off. The tail light rings just need a really thin screwdriver and some finesse to not break the tabs.

The door handles, on the other hand, require removing the inner door panel and removing the window in order to get to the handles. That one might be best to have an autobody shop do, although it will be by far the most expensive.

 

Hmm, I suppose I could live with chrome door handles...lol. I don't have to worry about the gas cap yet because I have the standard cover. I would like to get the sport version one of these days and will worry about blacking it out then.

 

AC is making door handle CF overlays... real CF or black out overlays made of fiberglass i believe. They just stick over the existing handles so there is nothing that needs to be removed.

Im actually just going to paint the Grille black. I dont think its worth 80 bucks for another piece of plastic in a different color when a can of paint is just 6 bucks.