Good morning. So, here I am in the middle of a 24 hour Carmax test drive. 2016 F-Type base with some interesting options.
Base Ultimate Black with Black package exterior and interior trim, leather inserts on base sport seats, vision and climate, glass roof and active exhaust.
The car has 18" Turbine(?) wheels which have been chromed. The fender power vents were chromed or replaced with chrome. It appears the grille surround
was also replaced with a chrome unit. The front bar is gloss black. The likely positive clincher is the miles, 13000.
If I can get around the chrome (say chrome 1 more time!) we may have a winner. It's been a 4 month search, so just in time for winter.

 

I think you can buy or paint the chrome pack back to black. I guess you can paint the wheels too.

 

If it comes together, I may replace the wheels with a silver or gunmetal. It's not really a deal breaker, and doesn't have to be done. I'm going to
wash the car today to get a better look at the panels. The Carmax rep told me they use a gps device to track the car. 24 hours and 150 miles are allowed.

 

I don't know, it sounds like it just didn't have the black pack. IS the trim around the window chrome?

 

No. It has black around windows, vent bezels, speedo and tach, center console, flat bottom wheel, gloss black rear valance.

 

Wild. First time I;ve heard of someone taking the trim from black to chrome.

 

We tend to want what we don't have. I thought about changing my black side vents to chrome.

 

The side vents are hard to take out and chances are you'll break a few of the clips removing it so you're better offer buying a black set and installing it yourself. I think the set cost $400-500.

The front grill surround could be wrapped as well but most reputable wrappers will want to take that front end completely off to wrap it.... $$$. I ended up getting a P7 grill and had it painted black. The P7 grills are impossible to come by these days but Paramount has a comparable front grill for a reasonable price. That might be an option if you don't like the front "braces" on the car.

My window surround is the only thing chrome on my car but plan on getting it painted at a body shop which should cost about $3-400. You could get order the black OEM window surround parts but from what I've read, it will cost a lot because of the install. The rear small windows need to be removed to properly install the surround.... in the $2k range for the part and installation. Wrapping this area might be an issue because the gap between the trim and body is pretty tight and it might start to lift. Painting is probably the most cost effective solution from what I can tell.

I also had my 19" OEM wheels painted black and the brake calipers painted red. I love this car and enjoy making it custom to my liking but it does get expensive. I could have save some money by waiting for the car with the black pack but it's been fun making the incremental updates to my car. But if you're not into customizing your car and you have the patience, I'd wait and get all the options you want.

 

Or choose to want the options you can get.

 

I wrapped my P7 grill in chrome and the shop who did it was just astounded anybody would want to do that.

Turned out great though. To each their own I guess.

 

This is closer to my own approach to used cars. I decide on the must-haves, then flex the other options.
I knew I wanted the vision/climate package and the glass roof. From there it was car to car.

 

Don’t think anything is chrome but aluminium?
plenty have swapped out the grill for black so should be available used.
all changeable and shouldn’t put off purchase

 

Yep, all the 'çhrome' trim pieces (around the side windows and grille and the side vents) are anodized aluminium or maybe ABS plastic not chrome.
On the earlier XFs (X250) with anodized alu trim it was very common for the window trim pieces to go blotchy, they did on my 2010 XFS but not so much on my 2010 XFR, but I haven't yet read of this being a problem on the F-Type. Maybe JLR fixed it from new and/or those trim pieces are now ABS plastic or no F-Type is old enough yet for it to show up.

 

Not sure if it’s just in the US but we refer to getting rid of the shiny trim by wrapping or painting it black, a “chrome delete”. I refer to it as “chrome” but only meant it in the appearance, sorry for the confusion.