How to: Chrome delete and blackout grill

F250_JR

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Birmingham
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2005.5 Jetta TDI Special Edition
I know there are tons of people who have plasti-dipped or just painted their chrome grills, or replaced them with GTI grilles. However, I read that someone had actually peeled off the chrome before painting, so I thought I would try that. If you think about it, peeling off the chrome allows you to remove most of the small pits from road grit, while also providing a much better painting surface (plastic) with better adhesion.

For starters, here is a before shot of my car, with the chrome grill:


The tool list does not include the screwdrivers needed to remove the grill-that part is pretty self explanatory. For the main grill, there are two screws on the top corners, and two other screws in the space below the bottom set of slats on eather side of the VW logo.



For the bottom side grills, there is one screw in each, plainly visible. It is on the inside end of the grill, vertically centered.
They are pretty tough to remove, just yank them hard. You can see in this picture the slots in the top and bottom edges where tabs from the grill reside. This gives you an idea of where the grill is attached, so that you can know where to pull. I found that pulling from the screw point outward worked best.



The center bottom grill also has 2 screws, attaching right inside the top edge. They are the same ones which were pictured earlier at the bottom of the main grill. They attach both grills together. The bottom center grill has tabs on the top which need to be loosened (gently), then the top can be pulled forward. After the top is pulled forward, you must reach inside to loosen the tabs on the bottom. Again, some force is required.

Here are the tools I used to remove the chrome from the grill:


And here is a picture of the chrome being peeled off:


Basically, I used the file to wear down an edge on each piece of grill, then I used a razor to loosen that edge of chrome. After I had a loose edge, the chrome could be pulled off. You will just need to experiment as to exactly how this will work best for you.

Here is a picture of the slats after they have been pulled off from the grill--you need to be careful to not break the tabs when removing them. I found the needlenose pliers very helpful with that. They must be removed so that you can peel off the chrome and paint them seperately.


And just for kickers, here is another picture of the chrome partially removed. This was before the slats were removed from this half of the grill.


Sorry I don't have all the pictures up yet, I will be adding more pictures tonight.
 
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F250_JR

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2005.5 Jetta TDI Special Edition
Ok, here is the partial after picture--the bottom side grills are giving me some trouble, and I am not finished with them yet. I have something else planned for the VW logo, so the black logo is just temporary.



I have been using black Krylon Fusion paint to do at least 2 base coats on the plastic, then Rustoleum gloss black paint on top. The Rustoleum has a much higher gloss, while the Krylon gloss looks more like satin. For those who are not familiar with Krylon Fusion, it literally fuses with whatever plastic on which it is sprayed. Oh, and it actually does completely dry to the touch in 15 minutes, so you get very quick results. So, it provides a very tough base coat which sticks very well to the plastic grill. The Rustoleum sticks fine after a couple of Fusion coats have been laid down.


You have already seen the main grill, here are the bottom side grills.

You can see that they are not finished. I have been having some orange peel problems with them, so I ended up partially stripping the paint back off of them, leaving them the way you see them now. I will spend some more time sanding all of the old paint off, then clean them more thoroughly before I repaint them.
 
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Kriesel

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Afton, MN
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2006 Jetta TDI
or, be like me; buy a salvaged vehicle with no front end, rebuild it with Golf GTI grille parts, and have a black front end... haha

I don't recommend this method, but I do have a nice looking TDI!!!

NOTE!!! Be sure to paint with many layers (like 4) when using spraypaint or something to do blacked out chrome pieces. If you don't do many layers, the paint will chip away within a few weeks just from driving down the highway... been there, done that... The VW emblem on my front end is krylon commando... (spray painted) Just because one or two coats of spray paint looks good, don't count on it lasting a long time... And don't use cheap paint... Your car deserves the best! haha

The best method is to have a shop paint parts with automotive oem quality paint. On my bumber, notice the center grille piece between the upper and lower grille is the same color as the car, and not chrome. Had it painted to mach the car, thought it looked better than all black, or with the ugly HUGE amount of chrome... personal preferance though... Black is the new chrome


now i just gotta spray paint those headlights! :D
 
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sohccammer427

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Eastern North Carolina
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2015 Passat SE TDi 6 Speed Manual
Wow! That looks great. When I did mine I did not remove the plastic chrome film, although I have not had chipping problems within the year that I have done it.

I buffed the chrome w/ steel wool and used Krylon Fusion spray paint. I probably used around 8+ very light coats. Did not "do" the slats, because I liked them chrome. If I do have chipping problems, now I know I can redo after removing the film. Thanks for the writeup and photos. :)

 

F250_JR

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2005.5 Jetta TDI Special Edition
Pelican18TQA4 said:
I was going to do this a couple weeks ago but decided against it. Now I'm wanting to do it again! How hard is it to peel the chrome off?
It's not terribly hard, but it is time consuming. I spent roughly 4-6 hours on Saturday, then another 2-3 hours yesterday peeling it all off. You've got to be careful, though, because the chrome is really sharp. The two most important tools are razor blades and needlenose pliers. I tried utility knife blades, but they were too thick, and just tore the chrome. The razor blades are the perfect thinness to slide between the chrome and plastic without messing up the plastic.

You've sort of got to be willing to just waste a little time messing around to find a good system for getting it off, and you've got to figure that out for each different shaped piece.

I also did this to the bottom chrome stripe, and the two side grill chrome slats. Now, I have all of that drying at home with paint on them, but I know that I am going to have to sand some of it and do it again. The one thing I did that I haven't seen anybody else do, is that I painted all of the plastic grill parts too. So, when everything is installed, every grill piece will be smooth, gloss black. I will take some more pictures tonight.
 

Pelican18TQA4

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Philadelphia, PA
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'13 Jetta Hybrid
Looking forward to your pics. The only concern I have is the mismatch between the de-chromed front pieces and the chrome trim around the windows.
 

Kriesel

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Location
Afton, MN
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
no chrome on these windows, and rear emblem blacked out. TDI and Jetta badges removed on trunk lid. the VW badge is blacked out also. and an (illegal) smoked cover on the license plate for more blackness... Just thought I'd show you what the black around the windows looks like...


and again the front blacked out
 

F250_JR

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2005.5 Jetta TDI Special Edition
Kriesel said:
sanded and painted the trim on mine
You definitely have a nice blackout look going there. I like it!

That may be in my list of future paint mods...and it's already pretty long. This summer, I am going to have close to a month of steady 40-60 hour work weeks with nothing else to do, and I will be spending my spare time blacking out things. I am already planning on a joey modding the headlights, blacking out the tails, blacking out the front side markers and turn signals under the mirrors, and possibly painting some of the interior trim as well. I don't have money to spend on performance or anything expensive, but I can afford paint!

Sorry I haven't gotten any more pictures up yet, it was too dark when I got home. tomorrow hopefully.
 

Kriesel

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2006 Jetta TDI
yeah, will be nice to see what yours turns out like. i still need different headlight, taillights, and wheels. otherwise i've eliminated all the chrome i can haha
 

F250_JR

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2005.5 Jetta TDI Special Edition
See the first two posts for more pictures! I will finish posting the pictures when I finish painting the two bottom side grills.
 

F250_JR

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Pelican18TQA4 said:
The black front looks great but I just can't decide if I want to go through with it!
I was actually in the same position, and my brother helped me out...I used a file to wear down a small edge, just to see how thick the chrome was. Well, the chrome broke a bit. It would have been fine, but while I was vascilating between leaving it, and going ahead and actually pulling it off, my brother reached over and pulled it off for me! :eek: Right on the front of the main grill! So, the mod that you see was pretty much inevitible after that.
 

Kriesel

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do you have a pic with the side-vents installed too? it looks really nice otherwise!
 

F250_JR

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Sorry about the filthy car and grilles. Finals are two weeks away for me, and I have a lab practical on Wednesday; my car projects have pretty much come to a standstill for now.

So, you see the side grilles. I am still not satisfied with any of the paint yet. The main grill still has blemishes, and needs to be lightly sanded and painted with a couple of coats of gloss black. I would also like to put ~2 coats of clear over that.

As for the side grilles, take a look at the close-up pic:

You can see I have had some orange peel problems. I think there was something wrong with the spray can I was using, because I would sand through the orange peel, thoroughly clean the surface, then repaint with the same results. I will be chemically stripping the side grills completely after finals are over, so that I can resand and repaint on fresh, non-contaminated surfaces.
 

F250_JR

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Just my conclusions on my project: I really like the blacked-out look, and I like that I didn't have to go with the honeycomb grille to get it. I am going to be doing other similar painting projects (like blacking out the VW logos and emblems) in the near future. However, like I said earlier, I am not completely happy with the paint quality I achieved on the grilles. I think I will be able to ultimately fix it to look almost as smooth as normal body paint, but I don't believe that my choice of using spray paint was the best.

The point is, I spent $10-$20 on paint that at best, gives somewhat unreliable results (partly because of the paint, and partly because of my lack of experience). I could have taken the de-chromed grill parts to a body shop and spent $50-$70 to get them professionally painted (I have gotten many estimates for this in the past, and that is the general range of the estimates I was given), and I probably would have ended up with better results, and a harder, better quality paint surface.

So, in conclusion, I am really happy with my method of de-chroming, and with the idea of going 100% black on the front grille (remember this will only really look good with other related black-out mods; right now the chrome headlights look a little odd--a joey mod is in their near future). I am not happy with my choice of paint, and I would suggest to anybody else considering this mod that they do the de-chroming themselves, but get the grilles professionally painted. I think that this will give you the most satisfying results, and be more permanent, while only being minimally more expensive.
 

PalosParked

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2009 JSW Black/Black, DSG, Panoramic Sunroof
smoked e-codes for your blackened grills?

I had a deer get too close as he was trying to get a closer look at my new JSW and I ended up needing to replace the headlamps. :mad:

I found a set of Hella smoked e-codes at OEMLP.US around $400. Plug and play. They made a dramatic change in the look of the car. They really took the edge off the brighteness of the front end. :) The light pattern and spread is also great. I would highly recommend them. I may go the way of the GLI grills, but I think for now I'll just get a set of those deer whistles instead.

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F250_JR

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2005.5 Jetta TDI Special Edition
I like the headlights! I think that the JSW's are probably one of my favorite VW's, right after slammed B4 Passats, and right before slammed Jetta's. You could pull off the murdered out look so easily with that car.

I would seriously consider something like that, but my funds are so limited that I can't even buy a skidplate right now, so that type of purchase will have to wait. Really, the fact that I have such limited funds was the original reason for trying out this mod...I had a clear idea of the look I wanted, and thought I would try to do it without spending tons of money.
 

PalosParked

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e-codes or skidplate...no brainer - buy the skidplate first

I would seriously consider something like that, but my funds are so limited that I can't even buy a skidplate
Benjamin, I understand completely about limited funds. It was just an option to go along with your blacked out look. ....Definately get the skid plate before new headlamps. I was extremely lucky when the body shop/ insurance co went along with the swap for me. The smoked headlamps were actually less than the value alloted in the insurance quote for the dealer replacements. Which helped me $$$ with the cost of the (additional) fogs. I was gonna change out to the GTI grill back then but decided to retain the stock look for a while. I really haven't seen many JSWs on the street. So for now I kinda have a custom look going by default (and the pics on the 2010's show a grille change).
 

F250_JR

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You are right about there not being many JSW's on the street-the only ones I have seen have been on the internet.

Just as an FYI, if you end up deciding to change to the GTI grille, it is supposedly pretty easy to get most of your money back by selling the chrome grill on Vortex. They are actually pretty popular, especially relatively new ones like yours. You probably already know that, but I thought I would throw it out there just in case.
 

Spoolin'Jim

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Appleton, Wi
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2006.5 Jetta TDI, 5 speed, Pkg. 1, White
Happy Customer

After reading this tread a few weeks ago I decided to give it a try. I'm quite pleased but now I want more black on the car! Was thinking the bug deflector and eyelids for the lights :cool:
 

F250_JR

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Definitely looks good!

If you want more black, try either joey modding the headlights, or getting smoked E-codes....the headlights don't visually pop out anymore, but blend really well with the black grill.

I ended up getting my grill repainted when my car was in the body shop after being rear ended. I also did the joey mod while it was in the shop, and I smoked the mirror lights. I'll post some more pics soon.
 

Spoolin'Jim

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I thought of the Joey mod but heard it was a PAIN on the mk5 lights, different glue, how bad was it? Please post some pics with both done! :p
 

dcviper

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Columbus, OH
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09 Jetta DSG
I have a question about the inserts between the headlamps and the lower side grills: What are they there for? Are they blanks for some kind of light for the Euro cars?
 

F250_JR

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I will be posting up some pics shortly...

dcviper, those inserts are for the headlight washers...I think that was a euro option, but it is a possible OEM upgrade.
 
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