Lose the chrome...

[CrippsCorner]

Afternoon all. My car came with quiiite a lot of chrome. I'm not a fan. I have just ordered some genuine carbon fibre wing mirrors so that's one box ticked... however, I wouldn't mind changing a badge or two to black. Just wondering what the best option is here?

Hydrographics Dip
Plasti Dip
Spray paint
Wrap

I'm talking about the actual emblem here so I think it'd be too intricate for wrapping? Never done anything like this before! Maybe I should buy a test badge to try out on first.

Any tips appreciated

[Durzel]

Do you own the car? If not, wrap is probably your only option in the list.

[QuattroDave]

If you can get the emblem off it shouldn't be too difficult to wrap as long as it has a 'back' to it.

Quite a few cars have aftermarket emblems and decals in black as straight swap out components. I swapped my chrome 5.0 badges on my mustang for direct replacement black and then had monsterwraps infill the dot in lime green to match the calipers.

Hydrodipping looks cool but would have thought that's better used for more intricate designs like carbon rather than a solid colour.

Spray? I wouldn't, far too big a chance for it to look crap.

Plasti-dip - I've used it on some home gym equipment and it looks 'ok' but was a pig to apply correctly!

[CrippsCorner]

Searching for a picture of the badge I've noticed there seems to be some available on AliExpress and the like... never ordered from there, wonder what the quality would be like? Worth a shot perhaps for a fiver though.

[boyse7en]

CrippsCorner said:

Searching for a picture of the badge I've noticed there seems to be some available on AliExpress and the like... never ordered from there, wonder what the quality would be like? Worth a shot perhaps for a fiver though.

What sort of quality are you expecting for £5?

[CrippsCorner]

Well... the expensive ones are £10 and the cheaper ones are £5

Looking at the photos, they're exactly the same, only the UK ones are sold on with markup, fair enough.

So, the quality is as good as I'm going to get in all honesty. Should be fine, I've bought badges off eBay before and they tend to last a couple of years. Then just chuck away and buy again.

The annoying thing, for my boot, one badge is available in matte black only, and one in gloss black only! I could not live with that. I wonder if I applied a matte coat to a shiny badge, that should even them out? Just been reading a modelling website and seems doable.

[DannyScene]

In the past I've used plastidip, its self levelling you could almost literally spray it with your eyes closed

I've used it on everything from badges to some old alloys to see if they'd suit black or not

[Roboticarm]

What car is it ? For some, like the modern minis there are companies, k1ll all chrome being one of them, who sells kits to cover or replace the chrome bits

[Krikkit]

If it's a very modern car you might find various radar systems work through the badge, so be cautious about what you wrap/replace it with.

[QuattroDave]

CrippsCorner said:

Well... the expensive ones are £10 and the cheaper ones are £5

Looking at the photos, they're exactly the same, only the UK ones are sold on with markup, fair enough.

So, the quality is as good as I'm going to get in all honesty. Should be fine, I've bought badges off eBay before and they tend to last a couple of years. Then just chuck away and buy again.

The annoying thing, for my boot, one badge is available in matte black only, and one in gloss black only! I could not live with that. I wonder if I applied a matte coat to a shiny badge, that should even them out? Just been reading a modelling website and seems doable.

The difference between the £10 and £5 versions is five pounds, they'll otherwise most likely be identical!

At that price it's worth a punt surely?

Also, what car!!