Hey Mike, I think the glossy black chrome look turned out perfect. I think the new look will compliment your car just right. I am pretty **** about anything I do to my car just as you are. I know what you mean when you say you wish that you could've been a little more patient with the job. A lot of times when we notice these faults, these are things that most people will likely never notice. It just bugs u b/c only U know it's there. lol

Overall, I think they turned out great just like all your other DIY's! Now show us some pics installed!

 

You're welcome. On the non-AFS lights, it should be much simpler because you can easily remove the adjusters and ultimately the projector assembly itself. The process is straight-forward, just very time consuming... from tear down to rebuild.

Thanks, Mr. J Someday i'll redo this, thankfully Duplicolor Shadow Chrome is lacquer base and is removable with thinner. And, as you said, i just have to remind myself not to point out the flaws to anyone other than myself. (Good job i've done so far... not! )

Okay, some quick snips. It's a little difficult capturing this as i'm literally shooting at a mirror-like surface. My polarizer hardly does anything here.



Pseudo angel eyes, guess where i got the inspiration from?



Forgive the mess, haven't washed since Saturday.

 

Looks freaking awesome! flows very smoothly. did you photoshop your windshield to make it look darker or did you really tint it?

 

Thanks! Yeah, the windshield is pshopped, force of habit, but everything else is au naturel.

Also notice a glimpse of my prior attempt of a shadow chrome grille using VHT Nightshade+Clear. I might redo that sometime so it matches the headlights, or vice versa.

 

It looks very good, Mike. I think the subtle change in color looks perfect with your classy/clean theme of your ride.

 

looks sick, nice work!

 

Thanks guys! And a bit of good news, i managed to snap the shroud back into position by reaching in from the HID bulb access hole. AFS works again and the error light stopped blinking. *whew*

 

Very nice Mike! Glad you got it all together! Car is look fantastic!

 

Thank you sir

 

Mike, awesome job, great look and the black chrome paint may be the perfect choice for all us DIYers. I guess you knew you might be a trendsetter
BTW, what is the paint brand and name of the specific color (or color#) if you don't mind.
Killer ride!

 

Thank you sir.

It's Duplicolor Shadow Chrome, it's a $17 two-part kit that consists of the transparent black spray can lacquer and a can of clear coat.

I used up the entire can of the shadow and i'd say 1/2-2/3 of the clear in this application.

Duplicolor suggests cleaning and spraying directly onto the chrome surface, but personally i think applying some type of clear primer/adhesive might work better. And, if you decide to do selective masking as i did, either remove the mask before things start to dry, or if after it's fully dried to run an Xacto or blade to physically separate the layer of paint between the chrome and masked surfaces.

 

I like it . More pics please!

 

Classy. Getting them apart seems like a real pain though.

 

Mike, how "black" is the finish? It looks like almost gunmetal in color, or is that just the reflective nature of the paint?

 

I think Nightshades is "blacker", the Shadow Chrome seems to have a color tint to it but i'm not quite sure what it is as it changes depending on light and how light hits the surface.

I also think Shadow Chrome coats apply much thinner than Nightshades. Although i've seen at least one application of Shadow Chrome applied rather heavily and it just came out black. Granted, those were internet photos.

Shadow Chrome itself is not reflective IMHO, the reflection you see in these photos are from the underlying chrome and the clearcoat.