Has anyone seen or tried putting a black hood leaper on a black XJ8 X308? My original silver one was stolen and I'm tempted - in my head it would look great but the reality may be different...

 

hmmmm doesn’t sound like it’d work out too well, even if exactly matched to body color.


a leaper delete with a round growler in its place would be pretty cool though

 

Maybe for a slightly different custom look, consider buying a used leaper off ebay and taking it to a plating shop that does "black chrome". It's not really black, but it is darker than regular bright chrome. Its very popular on custom motorcycles and always looks awesome on a black motorcycle. But if you want to try painting it, for probably $10, a plating shop will dip it and remove the chrome plating so that paint would stick to it.

 

I like Phil's idea, that does look sharp, but you can also try a powder coated baked on finish also. I think doing it in either gloss or matte would look nice. Powder coating also lasts longer than regular paint.

 

Thanks all! I do like the idea of a growler, but think I'd miss having the leaper - I never had one on any of my Jags in the UK so it's still a novelty to have one, as I'm now based in the US.

Getting one done in black chrome or powder-coated sounds interesting - certainly worth experimenting with if I can find a relatively cheap used one.

Thanks again, I will report back and let you know how I get on!