I plan to Plasti Dip all the chrome on my X-Type (yes, I should have bought a Sport model from the start, haha). I saw someone paint/dip the chrome on the trunk as pictured below. Here's my question: what's the easiest way to do this? It would be nice to keep the "JAGUAR" letters chrome while blacking out the rest. Tips, tricks and advice welcome!

 

I tried using plasti-dip on one of the chrome trim pieces and it looked very out of place on the jag because it was too matte compared to the shiny paint. It made it look cheaper because it looked like rubber trim instead of painted like on the real sport models.

What I did(if you dont want to use real paint, or want to remove it later) is to use the VHT Nightshades (for blacking out taillights) on the chrome. It is very easy to apply and because it is translucent black, it still let's the chrome shine pop out. Essentially it makes shadow chrome (black chrome) which IMO looks on par or even better than actual paint.

 

rjs, if you want the "JAGUAR" to stand out like in the picture (which is the back end of my car), all I did was I used a little bit of sandpaper and scuffed the surface above the lettering (ie, everything but in the recesses of the lettering). After that, I used white Elmer's glue and filled in the lettering. For the corners, you will need to use a toothpick or other pointy object to push the glue to exactly where you want. Then you can fill in the letters with the glue and make sure that you fill it so the glue is sticking above the lettering by about 1/16". As the glue dries, it will shrink a little bit and that will allow you to make sure you have enough glue in place to pull it out later without scratching the chrome. From there, you apply your adhesion promoter and then your color. I then removed the glue in the lettering and then gave the piece a final layer of clear.

With the corner pieces, you simply sand and paint the same way you did the piece above the license plate. 6 years later and still looking good.

 

I was also worried about the matte/rough look of the dip being out of place on the Jaguar. I was going to combat this with a layer of glossifier, but I like your idea of using Nightshades better. I used the product years ago to smoke the taillights on my Subaru. I'll have to pick up a can and give it a try on the chrome.

As usual, you're brilliant and extremely helpful! What did you use for paint?

 

rjs, I went to an automotive paint store and had them mix me up a quart of color for my car. I had a few other projects that I wanted done. So, the quart of color was like $20. So, not too bad. Then to get the clear and the thinner/retarder, I was out the door for under $50. But, that gave me enough paint to do the black plastic trim by the parking sensors, the chrome pieces for the sport conversion, the hood washer sprayers and a few other oddities.