I had originally contacted A.P.C. Chrome Plating in Palatine, Illinois because they work with chrome plating plastic. Unfortunately, the are not doing any plating on plastics at this time. The gentleman I was speaking with referred me to N.P.C. (National Plating Corporation) in Cleveland, Ohio for this type work. I just left a voice message asking them to return my call about plastic chrome plating. We'll see what comes of it. I assume you're interested, spiney.

 

If the price is reasonable I'm in. The ducts themselves are about $20 each in black.

 

I'll let you know as soon as I hear something back from them.

 

There's always this stuff:
available here.

 

Tried the chrome grille, and it didn't fit. You can go here for more details.

I'm not actually that disappointed now I've seen it, it doesn't quite work:


I'll look at other grille options if I can find any, but this option is off the table now.

 

Well, all that grilling yesterday got me enthused to put the chrome hood scoop on. Really easy, would have been 15 minutes if I hadn't got the underbonnet insulation fitted which needed to be removed. There's one plastic body clip in the centre of the scoop to remove from underneath, other than that it just pulls up. The chrome one has a captive nut in that position, so to refit I just used a small machine screw, no idea what size.

Here are a couple of shots:


Really happy, it looks fabulous. I have a touchup kit coming, and once I find a bra installer I'll touchup the stone chips, then it's de-stripe time.

 

This looks great, spiney. After revisiting the pic with the Justa grill, I must say it really didn't fit the feel of your Roadster. I think the chrome scoop looks fantastic. I also think that chrome brake ducts could really finish off this look.

 

Looks good. Glad you got it on and it fits.

 

This is what I decided to do for a grille, from Zunsport in the UK (see here). It comes with a lower section as well, but I'm not sure if I'm going to use that. This is photo-edit, real thing shows up in a few days:

 

It looks great, spiney! I would still be interested in seeing what the JCW standard grill looks like chromed. This has definitely given the chrome theme interest.

 

I have one question, spiney, is this grill a complete replacement or does it fit over the existing grill?

 

It fits over the existing. Depending on how it looks close-up I might get a spare grille from MINI and cut the centre out and see if it looks better.

The upper and lower together was about $160 shipped from the UK, so it's not the end of the world if I end up not liking it, I'm sure I can sell it on.

 

Here we are with upper and lower photo-edited in. The lower isn't as good an edit as I had to try to compensate for the original picture having a European front plate. I like it, I need to see it for real to be sure though...

 

I've had a grill just like this one, for about a year now. Got it from M7 but it is made by Grillcraft.

 

That one looks great. Is it a replacement, or does it fit on top of the existing one?

 

You have to cut out your stock grill and then dremel flat the edges. The new one then mounts to your old grill frame with a few screws. Not that hard to do, and not to expensive to fix if you mess up. Once the hood is closed it looks great. But the new metal grill is alittle flatter then the stock one. So when you open the hood it doesn't follow the frame exactly. Overall I like it.

 

I think this will look fantastic on your Roadster, spiney. I can't wait to see it installed. I'll be waiting for the reveal.

 

You might want to check this out, if you haven't already, spiney.

 

Thanks for that! I'm even more surprised at the reasonable price now if that's the sort of care they take.

They were super-helpful in the process too, I was back and forth on email with Peter there several times to make sure I was getting the right product, and they shipped within an hour of my order! Can't recommend them highly enough so far. It's already in Newark NJ, having been to France on the way here, so I may have it tomorrow... Pics to follow, of course.

I also got my paint touchup kit yesterday, so it's all coming together. All I need now is a recommendation for a clear bra installer, and some warm weather to get the GP2 diffuser on.

 

I think there's a certain amount of 'tradition' with the stripes. However, both look nice. Either way you can't make a mistake.

 

I'm looking forward to your pics, spiney.

 

 

Patience...
Should have them on this weekend.

 

Did you get them yet and if so, how was the quality?

 

I got them, and they look really good. Very well constructed, and a great shiny stainless finish. I didn't get time at the weekend to fit them, and I'm busy with work this week. Also, I'm going to get the clear bra on the bumper as well so I want to get that on first.