What is the best way to get all the black off these and make it nice and chrome? They are peeling off like they are in that pic. So far i have just been attacking it with razor blades, but it is taking forever. Is there an easier way or should i just keep going? I was told thinners would make it a bit easier but im not sure
Take them off and cut/scrape the black off with a stanley knife. You may scratch the stainless so you may have to polish afterwards. I sanded mine and gave them to the panel beater to paint On the sides there is rubber, on the top there is rubber paint. Plan for a few hours of fun.
I am only going to make the windshield ones chrome, the rest will be black. Inbetween the targa's is peeling off too but it might look poo if i chromed that. How have other people tackled this? For example painting it? Stef: Did all the clip's break when you took it off? That is a few hours of fun im not looking forward too
mines already peeling off and i cant be bothered doing anything to it - im more concerned with the rust i have on my car...
It's an absolute b@st@rd to get off. Can't help with how, except it seems the more weathered and more brittle the black plastic coating on the chrome is, the easier it is to peel off with a razor blade, so it might be even easier if you put it through a carwash 100 times first Be careful stripping the bits on the targas because there are rubber weatherstrips on the targa glass side that can be mistaken for the black coating on the chrome strips. Also, on all trims the chrome underneath is easy to scratch, so a razor blade needs to be used very carefully. In the end I removed these trims from the car and stripped them back with a razor blade. I scratched the chrome but that was OK because I was always going to repaint them so I sanded them with like 800 grit then primed and resprayed them in satin black. They look clean and neat. Some of the members here have stripped them back to chrome very tidily without respraying, so there must be a way, I just don't know it. I used a primer (Septone Super Etch primer) then a black satin paint from supercheap - came highly recommended. Evidently the primer is more important than the final coat. Cheers, Peter
Z_FNQ recently had a post where he painted the top strips without removing the strips...he used "plasti dip" http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showthread.php?t=275829 am very tempted to do this...half my black bits are peeling off, and some are dented... so then at least I can have black dented trims, rather than peeling, and dented trims.
Trim them off with a razor so there's no black on them. Go to a sticker shop and get some black pin striping that's a bit thicker than the chrome bit. Take off those strips (tech guide somewhere) and then put the sticker on the carefully and straight and it will look good as new.
its a bitch to get off man, u can really only get it off with a stanley knife etc... try one of those scrapers that adapt a razor in the end should work well... nice handle and gives u good force to put on which beats trying to get it off with a stanley knife. should be able to get these at bunnings etc... also get a heat gun to them, melt them up so they become softer and then get at it with the razor...be carefull not to melt the rubber on the sides etc though...
I must admit I cheated. The (silver TT) car is at the panel beaters and I got him to take them off. I then stripped them and took them back for him to paint. Still a couple of hours work. When I took the strips off a wreck, I broke the clips on the first one, but once you know how they work, it is possible to get them off without breaking them
when i redid mine i pulled them all off, and the prviously owner had done a really bad job of it and just sprayed over the peeling plastic, so i used paint stripper to get rid of the paint (obviously) but to my surprise it liften the plastic straight off aswell then it was just a matter of cleaning them up and spraying them black. i tryed putting them back on with the chromed fimish, but IMO looked out of place and weird
i did this with my mates 300, wats the condision of them atm? are they still reasonable? if they are, break it up alittle with 40 grit sand paper, get a paint brush and apply eposolve, dont get it on ur hands if u can help it, and use a glass scraper, it should come off pretty easy, just keep soaking the tough parts with eposolve. took about 2 hours to do all 6 peices good luck
Trim top only with sharp wood chisel I had the same problem with mine and was not prepared to pay the huge cost of new ones. I used a very sharp wood chisel to to trim the plastic off the top of the strip. The plastic at the sides was and still is in good condition and matches the shape of the glass so I bevelled it off at the radius. The result is shiny chrome on top and plastic on side to the glass with a neat join between. It is almost impossible to do the job without some scratches but extreme care will minimise them. Any attempt to sand or polish with abrasive polishes will cause the loss of the reflective chrome finish. The chrome is really easy to damage. I think it is best to leave the chrome alone if there are not to many scratches. If you do it this way it is not necessary to take the strips off. I did mine about three years ago and it still looks good with no noticeable further deterioration. My car is silver and it looks okay on that.
