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Author Topic: chrome your plastic grill  (Read 1838 times)

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Offline JoeBob

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chrome your plastic grill
« on: September 18, 2019, 01:15:58 PM »

For 17 years I have been disappointed with the look of my grill. It should be chrome. It was just gray. I bought chrome looking paint. It looked better for about a week and then faded back to gray.
Last week I found a solution. There is a type of duct tape that is aluminum foil with stickem on the back. Side by side with chrome, it is not quite as bright. In this application of narrow strips you can not tell the difference. It comes one and a half inches wide. It is designed to go on hot ductwork so I am confident it will stay put.
I cut the tape it to 1/2 inch strips and then wrapped the spars of the grill.  This took me 9 hours. It was worth it. It looks marvelous.
Good luck
Bill

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Offline Wittsend

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Re: chrome your plastic grill
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2019, 05:36:10 PM »
With the ridiculous cost of chroming (re-chroming) I've wondered if there is a wrap (like they put on cars for advertising) that is "chrome like" and can just be heat shrunk to bumpers and the like.  I mean those mylar balloons sure are shiny.

As to the foil tape I recall someone using it on side trim and another car site. For that matter I've seen it put on cars as one dimensional side trim where none existed.  I'm glad to see you got the results you desired. Nine hours!  Why, that's three football games. :-)
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Offline JoeBob

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Re: chrome your plastic grill
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2019, 09:45:13 PM »
I saw an all chrome wrap. It looked terrible. It was obviously artificial.
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Offline Scott Hamilton

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chrome your plastic grill
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2019, 10:34:34 PM »
That’s a pretty cool idea, never heard of anyone doing this before- it looks great too. :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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Offline dga57

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Re: chrome your plastic grill
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2019, 09:06:44 AM »
Labor intensive but, as you said, well worth the effort.  Nice mod!

Dwayne :)
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Offline JoeBob

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Re: chrome your plastic grill
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2019, 04:40:09 PM »
So I had this idea. You could use this process to repair a grill. My 76 had two broken spots. I think one could fill in missing parts with balsa wood and then cover with foil to make them waterproof. The 76 had a grill too complex to spend the time foiling. I would fill it in and then paint the whole thing to match. I don't have the 76 anymore so I can't try it.
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