Grill chroming-FYI

[v8gs]

For those interested, the grill on your Solara can be chromed simply by stripping off the black paint already on there.
What you need is:
Toothbrush-Firm
Fingernail polish removal-large size
and about 3-5 hours of labor
Anything stronger and you risk scratching the chrome.
Remove the grill first and lay on a table
Brush away the black paint with the toothbrush saturated with the nail polish removal
Much cheaper than paying someone 150.00 to chrome the whole thing.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: v8gs on 2001-12-26 01:31 ]</font>

[dbanker]

Has anyone here seen a Solara with an all-chrome grill? I'm redoing mine this weekend and might consider this. This would be easier to do as well.

How do you all think it would look?

[nkx1]

Wow, that is so cool. I had considered getting mine chromed, but after researching the subject, I found it to be around $300+ to do it. The thing is, you can't put metal chrome on the grill, because it's plastic. A process called vacuum metalizing has to be used, which is a lot more expensive than regular chroming.

Anyways, thanks for the info. Have you or anyone else done it? How did it come out?

[dbanker]

I haven't done it yet, if you were asking me. Though I'm redoing my grill this weekend and I just don't know which way to go. I have a black Solara and am wondering if an all chrome grill will look good. Plus it'll be much more time consuming redoing the black on the grill then the chrome. I'm just worried how it will look all-chrome.

[nkx1]

I think it will look pretty tight in all chrome. I'm curious though, how do you know the toothbrush and nail polish thing will work?

[FLASH]

I definitly want to change my grille, I was thinkin of the popular mesh method, but now that this has been brought up, it's an option too. Any pics of the finished product or pics while doing it would be greatly appreciated

[dbanker]

Just finished sanding off the old chrome which took a little over an hour. Now I have to do the grill portion. I tried using the toothbrush/nail polish remover and it didn't work at all. You need to use sand paper.

I'll decide here by tomorrow whether to go all chrome or not. If I do it I'll try to post some pics...I'm hoping it'll look good if I decide to go for it! I might just give it a shot and if I really don't like it I'll just grab one off e-bay.

[NASTY]

i think all chrome would look tight (especially on black)!
definitely post pics if you decide to do that

[Ferrari_1299]

For those interested, the grill on your Solara can be chromed simply by stripping off the black paint already on there.

Okay are you saying that it is already chrome under the black paint or what?

[dbanker]

Does anyone know how to take off the chrome toyota emblem on the front of the grill? It looks like it's held by two metal fasteners that I don't know how to take off. Or if I even can. Also, can you get that emblem brand new from anyone?

Ferrari_1299- there is a chrome color under the black but it would be practically impossible to take of the black paint and still have it look good. I've taken off some of the black paint and it's a real pain.