i'm looking to apply black vinyl on the chrome door trim. Here are some of my options, which one do you think is better?
I already have the door handle chrome partially covered.

 

Def all blacked... Actually im gonna try this little project myself this weekend.

 

I think it is just me that loves that trim ahha

All black or nothin, and if you do it get smoked corners

 

wat do u guys use to black them out?

 

I blackd my handles w vinyl. Gonna try vinyl for the trim as well.

 

I think most guys use vinyl, it's somewhat easy and you can take it off if you don't actually like it. Paint is permanent so you had better like it black.

 

I had the clear corner with led mod and painted black interior, but i had to take it down because i bought the wrong led's.
https://g35driver.com/forums/exterio...ml#post4041745

 

I just did this last week. Ordered a foot of black vinyl and its just like a big sticker. I cut out a square a little bigger than the handle stuck it on and used an exacto and got perfectly around the handle. I did all 4 handles in about 3 min each. Came out so good. I love it. I am still debating If I want to do around the windows or not. But def love the black handles and it was really cheap 4.75 for a foot long and 15 inches wide got all my handles done for just under 5 dollars.

 

vinyl is definitely the best option, I'll use the same black glossy vinyl I used for the handle. like 4DGS said it will be easier to remove and restore. From what i read, some ppl who painted their trim found the color fainted or cracked and started to peel over time, probably because they didn't sand and prime the chrome properly or just cheap paint, but regardless it will be much harder to restore.

 

here is a picture of what my handle looks like:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/david.q.h...05539203053746

I saw an audi with this style and really liked it.

I found the Oracal 651 intermediate cal vinyl to be an ideal choice, very durable and BlueBatMobile uses the same vinyl for some of his overlays.

 

where did you read that? There are only 2-3 of us that have done it (that I know of).... and I'm the only one that did it long ago enough to have fade/chip (which it did the first time, after 2 yrs... solely due to the way it was painted) - the others have done it very recently and haven’t had any issues.

 

mine were painted flat black and still holding up. Cross my fingers!!

 

you, me and Darren (southbayGsedan), and possibly diesel (I'm not sure on his) are the ony ones I'm aware of that painted... you and Darren did yours within the past couple months...

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So I'm not sure where the info (as stated in previous post) that painting fades and chips came from unless someone read a post of mine from doing it a few yrs ago... but that isn’t enough to decide painting is not the best option (my first go-around was a totally unique situation, for another thread – but its all be discussed before)… granted, its not going to last the life of the car, but it can also be re-done.

IMO painting the trim is the "right" way to do it. Electrical tape is totally bad idea (I would scoff at that when seen up close) - vinyl is an okay option, but not ideal and would need to be done perfect, preferably by a professional to look decent – but even then it will be very obvious up close. Nothing is going to look as good as painting it properly. As for being able to “restore” or make it look OEM again – I gave up on that idea a looonnnggg time ago – once you get into some of the things I’ve done (and plan), there is no going back to OEM. If you want your car to be able to look OEM again, I suggest getting rims and not bothering with anything else other than easy performance stuff that can be removed for resell.

Joe – the bottom part of this post isn’t directed to you obviously… it’s just a general comment to others regarding the topic.

 

FYI, it's Oracal. http://www.oracal.com/index.asp

 

No worries Mike