Shadowlining the Chrome

[APT 194]

I have shadowlind the chrome on my other e30 but know im going to give it a shot by trying to remove the whole chrome trimmings and preping and painting it like that to give it a better finish, does anybody know how to remove the top trim above the windows ? the ones at the bottom slide out so its not too hard.

or is it not really worth the effort ?

Cheers

Andrew

[bmw_guy 0]

Brook e30 where you at?

This is your thread my man haha

*he just did his without taking it all off*

[APT 194]

Thats how i did my other ones but it didnt come up to clean you know.

Has anybody tried black electrical tape permenantly ?

[tire 10]

Why go to the effort of taking it all off to prep. Just mask em up and leave them on. Its really easy to bend those trims when your taking them off and putting them on.

[e30plz 1]

+1 to tastic, just mask it carefully.

[bmw_guy 0]

As a wise man once told me,

do it once, do it right.

[SIR E30 68]

Silent Plug is it brook!?

Yea you should take them off, just pop the first bit by the wingmirror off with a screwdriver. The part thats on the windscreen angle will come off, then the stuff that runs along the roof you kind of need to bend upwards and towards the centre of the car. Its not too bad to get off, its putting it back on thats the prick!

[Andre3000 55]

Its not hard at all if you understand what you need to do. The back bit pops out, easy as, the bits above and infront of the frnt windows sort of "roll" upwards. im sure there's a few tutorials on pelican parts.

[Mark 178]

Electrical tape is too glossy, won't stick permanently and isn't the right width. You can buy special shadowline tape but not in NZ.

I just masked mine up and painted mine. Just make sure you scuff the plastic with a fine grit sandpaper first, use plastic adhesion primer and then your choice of topcoat (I used matte black acrylic).

[Lucan 196]

I found some Satin finish thick tape in an electrical store.

Looks exactly like that tape some guy sells on ebay?

I shadowlined mine this week, you saw it Andrew....dont take the strip off the car if your gonna use tape, once you bend it it'll look crap, and it's easier if you want to put the tape on.

If you want to paint though....

[APT 194]

Yer i saw the finish on yours Lucan which is pretty much what i wanted aye.

youve got one of the nicest e30's in NZ

[Lucan 196]

HAHA! i dunno about that...we'll see how she turns out this weekend, finally got everything painted up just need to put back together

[Brook-e30 0]

Brook e30 where you at?

Haha im hear now. Beter late than never.

I did mine by taping it up and using alot of newspaper.... took ages though as i was being real fussy and didnt want any overspray or any in the gutters on the roof etc.

Turned out prety good part from when you open the door you can see the chrome underneath.... most people wouldnt notice but little things like that piss me off. And was pretty hard to sand properly without scuffing my nice new paint job

I used matt black and the colour is pretty close to the original mouldings.

If i were to do it agen i would take them off and do it all properly.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Brook-e30

[Sammy J 1]

just did my mates E30 facelift and took the moldings off, was easy to get off and well worth doing it, looks mint

[Kaz 64]

Its done on mine too although I brought it that way. I think it looks so much better and it also matches my black grill/bumpers and lights.

[bellicose 9]

Painted mine, mask/sand/paint. Just used automotive basecoat, same as the wheels. Looks far better black.

[jeffbebe 1559]

I got some cheap vinyl tape from ebay which worked pretty well but would like to replace the trim at some point with factory shadowline trim. If anyone with an E39 shadowline is interested in swapping their shadowline trim for chrome trim then drop me a line. Also want to replace all of the bumber and door impact mouldings for plain black. Again, very keen to swap if anyone likes the chrome look.