Does anyone know how to remove the chrome bumper inserts? I want to paint mine the same color as the car. I do not like chrome. I've tried the search but did not find anything. Alternatively, I might spray this in situ. I'm sure some of you have done this. What type of primer did you use prior to the top coat?

Cheers

 

lucky!! The one my car has on the left side is not gripping right so i took one off :`(

 

Dalecan, to remove the chrome inserts, you will need to drop the bumper from the car and then you will have 4 clips on the back that hold the insert in place. I pulled the chrome pieces off of my car and painted them up. I used a little bit of sandpaper to scuff up the chrome and then I used an adhesion promoter as the "primer". From there I painted the pieces like you would anything else. If you look in my gallery, you will find what the car will look like with all the chrome gone. I went a step further and also did the piece above the license plate. Granted, I did it a little different than everyone else.

If you need more info on how to pull the bumper, let me know. It isn't hard, but it does take an arm with about 6 joints in it to get to some of the bolts on the front bumper. There is a bolt on each side of the front bumper up near the side marker light that needs to come out. It requires a 10mm socket and a short handle ratchet unless you go in with a 10mm open end wrench. You will also need a T-25 (as I recall) torx bit to remove the bolts holding the trim piece between the bumper and the front superstructure.

 

Thanks Thermo, looked at your pics and I like the JAG lettering (I might have a go at that too). I've ordered the paint!

 

Dalecan, doing the lettering is fairly easy. Get yourself a bottle of Elmer's white glue. Now, cover the chrome piece with adhesion promoter (or any other clear primer). Next, with the trim piece on a level surface, fill in the lettering with the Elmer's glue to the point that the glue is about to run over (let the surface tension hold a big bubble over the letters. Let the glue dry. You will notice that the glue will shrink significantly (hence why you need a lot to begin with. You want to be left with enough glue that after painting, you can take a knife or other semi sharp object and pierce the glue without hitting the chrome underneath. Once the glue is completely dry, paint the whole piece like you would anything else with the exception that as the paint (color layer) is still wet, take your knife (or other sharp object) and remove the glue. Once the color layer is dry, clear coat and you are done. Not that hard. The big things are: 1) making sure the Elmer's is dry before painting, and 2) getting the glue out while the paint is still wet else you will find that the paint will not separate at the glue/chrome edge. It will rip into the painted surface some and make things look like hell. That is just some things that I have learned over the years.

This trick works on anything with a slightly indented surface that you want to paint a different color.