Things I'd Like To Do and Questions Before I Start

Howdy everyone, I joined yesterday and spent the majority of the day checking out build threads. Looks like there's a really great community here, so I'm grateful to be a part!

I own a 2008 H3 Base. Silver. I've owned it since last November, and I'm just getting started doing any mods.

I recently changed:

Exterior:
Blow torched the faded windshield pillars to put the color back in them.
Control Arms
Shocks
Tie rods
Ball Joints
Tires

Interior:
Changed Radio to a Pioneer AVH2550NEX with CarPlay
Tinted Windows

What's next? I'd like to black out the mirrors, door handles. Which leads me to my question.

What are guys using successfully? What I'm looking for is something that's not going to wear off easily, and will last. I've seen plenty of videos of guys just spraying on bed liner or plasti-dip. What I don't know is, whether or not those solutions last the test of time.

If you've done it, are you scuffing the chrome mirrors first?


I'm also torn between whether or not to black out the grill or get it color matched to the silver? Thoughts?

I know this question has probably been asked ad nauseam on the forum, but it's difficult to find any details on the process (for a newb anyway).

Thanks!

Black-out?! Wow, it looks so nice as is!

:no: I guess we all have different things. Some guys here have made significant black-out mods though.


BTW, welcome to the forum!

You can get black Dorman door handles on Rockauto for about $16 each. For the mirrors and grill, I'd scuff, use some plastic primer and finish as you wish. Color matched would look good.

Pretty sure you can take the chrome off the mirrors. Seems like I saw some youtube video. Then sell the chrome parts on ebay.

alrock said:

You can get black Dorman door handles on Rockauto for about $16 each. For the mirrors and grill, I'd scuff, use some plastic primer and finish as you wish. Color matched would look good.

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How do the Dorman handles hold up? The amazon reviews about them breaking make me hesitant.

Agree on color matched mirrors though. Most modern cars have color-matched mirrors now, so it would help look modern I think.

On the mirrors I remembered how guys removed the chrome plastic trim: basically by heating the back with a hair drier ...or heat gun (on low and very 'carefull' not to overheat). What GM did was use a couple strips of double-sided tape between the regular black plastic mirror housing and the chrome plated plastic piece. One ya heat them up a guy can separate.

The way to paint plastic is to apply an adhestion promoter which softens up the very surface of the plastic and spray a primer/sealer, then paint. I outlined the process in a post about painting roof plastic trim pieces. A guy could substitute PVC cleaner for the much more expensive (special application) adhesion promoter. Even the adhesion promoter I've used in the past was purple ..about the same color as PVC cleaner/primer ...smells the same. It's only purpose is to soften the plastic surface for better paint adjesion ...then it evaporates. If a guy just scuffs with a scuff pad, you only get 'mechanical' adhesion ..and the paint will tend to easily chip or flake off from road rocks. It's not easy to paint chromed anything ...but I'm sure you could scuff the chromed plastic. It likely wouldn't hold as well as long. The difference is mechanical adhesion vs chemical bond.

H3V8 said:

How do the Dorman handles hold up? The amazon reviews about them breaking make me hesitant.

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Well, they have AC Delco ones too though those are $40 each.

Jeepwalker said:

On the mirrors I remembered how guys removed the chrome plastic trim: basically by heating the back with a hair drier ...or heat gun (on low and very 'carefull' not to overheat). What GM did was use a couple strips of double-sided tape between the regular black plastic mirror housing and the chrome plated plastic piece. One ya heat them up a guy can separate.

The way to paint plastic is to apply an adhestion promoter which softens up the very surface of the plastic and spray a primer/sealer, then paint. I outlined the process in a post about painting roof plastic trim pieces. A guy could substitute PVC cleaner for the much more expensive (special application) adhesion promoter. Even the adhesion promoter I've used in the past was purple ..about the same color as PVC cleaner/primer ...smells the same. It's only purpose is to soften the plastic surface for better paint adjesion ...then it evaporates. If a guy just scuffs with a scuff pad, you only get 'mechanical' adhesion ..and the paint will tend to easily chip or flake off from road rocks. It's not easy to paint chromed anything ...but I'm sure you could scuff the chromed plastic. It likely wouldn't hold as well as long. The difference is mechanical adhesion vs chemical bond.

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That's good info Jeepwalker. I know exactly what you're talking about...The purple primer, I may just have to give it a try. Do you remember the title of the post you created so I can review what you did?

If you can remove the chrome mirror cover you may not have to paint a thing. Save a bunch of time no worries about chipping. Check out youtube. I thought I saw a video a while ago. I could be wrong though..

On the grille, maybe if you want to go black, what are you seeing for a used one ...like on Facebook Marketplace or C/L? If you can bide your time maybe you can find a black one, sell yours. The grille is exposed to a lot of road debris. Rocks can hit pretty hard. Nothing reeks of cheap work than chipped paint exposing a chrome below. Course you can always touch up any chips too..

Don’t get the Dorman handles they are cheap plastic and sound like cheap plastic every time you pull them.

I plastidipped my mirrors and door handles and had pretty good success. I didn’t have to take anything off the vehicle and I left it on for over a year. It is a good option if you aren’t convinced you want to stay black.

The best solution for the mirrors in my opinion is to take them off, scuff with sandpaper, spray with self etching primer, then spray with your preferred spray can of truck Bedliner.

The bedliner will hold up to the constant assault from the bugs and ****.

I’m not sure exactly what to do with the door handles. But my idea is to scuff up my factory chrome handles, use self etching primer and then use satin black spray paint on them.

I’m not sold on using the bedliner on the handles.


Btw, the mirror is really easy to disassemble. Push it toward the front of the truck, push in at the bottom of the glass, the mirror will tilt into the housing. Use a plastic pry tool on the bottom of the mirror glass to apply upward pressure, and it will pop off. Then there are 4 torx screws holding on the glass position control thing, and then 4 more screws holding the housing to the arm. There is also one little plug that you just pull out.

When painting them it is easy to put them on top of two spray cans.

Good luck!


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Jeepwalker said:

If you can remove the chrome mirror cover you may not have to paint a thing. Save a bunch of time no worries about chipping. Check out youtube. I thought I saw a video a while ago. I could be wrong though..

On the grille, maybe if you want to go black, what are you seeing for a used one ...like on Facebook Marketplace or C/L? If you can bide your time maybe you can find a black one, sell yours. The grille is exposed to a lot of road debris. Rocks can hit pretty hard. Nothing reeks of cheap work than chipped paint exposing a chrome below. Course you can always touch up any chips too..

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Yeah, I've checked out quite a few YT videos, the problem is (as you mention)...you don't know how well it stands up. Sure, you see the work they've done, but you don't know what it looks like 6 months down the road.

The chrome mirrors are the same body as the black ones ...they just put a chrome plastic cap over it and charge more. So remove the cap ...there wouldn't be any painting needed. Unless you wanted a flat finish.

[Edit:] ....just drive it as is ..it looks great! Chicks will like it better! :giggle:

Jeepwalker said:

The chrome mirrors are the same body as the black ones ...they just put a chrome plastic cap over it and charge more. So remove the cap ...there wouldn't be any painting needed. Unless you wanted a flat finish.

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No cap. It is chemical bonded(like glued). It isn’t black underneath.
Don’t try to peel the chrome off unless you want a major headache and a messed up mirror cover.


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Some chrome mirrors are black ones that were converted to chrome with a cap and tape. OEM ones are not just a simple stick on cap.

...Some chrome mirrors are black ones that were converted to chrome with a cap and tape. OEM ones are not just a simple stick on cap.

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You know what ...that's correct. My bad. Not sure what I was thinking. Thanks