Door Panel Chrome Trim

How does it stick on the edges?   I have some tape but it has an issue staying stuck on the edges         Does this product work better?

Thanks, Rick

Thanks for sharing your success! I'll be doing this project as well soon. Do you know if Blick makes a wider version of this product for the upper trim piece?

best,

Mitch

Give it several weeks in the summer sun and let us know how well the tape continues adhering.  And did you scuff up the plastic strips after peeling the "chrome" off?

It's funny--those lower strips on my '73 are in great shape; it's the upper (narrow) piece that's peeling.  I have some 3M chrome tape that I plan to try...

mike

46 minutes ago, Mike Self said:

Give it several weeks in the summer sun and let us know how well the tape continues adhering.  And did you scuff up the plastic strips after peeling the "chrome" off?

 

mike

it stay Mike, if it doesn't  it's because the mylar wasn't clean or the edges weren't burnished i've used it for many years without a single failure

the lower pieces don't get the sun exposure the tops do...and the arm & hand rubbing

Just tried this out. I was a little disappointed with how the Blick product didn't lay down over the curved sections or the ends very easily but it's still a huge improvement. 

On 7/20/2023 at 11:42 AM, Silver73tii said:

Yesterday I did one of the most fun and rewarding little projects recently on our 1973 tii.  The two lower passenger door "chrome" strips were pretty beaten up with a peeling finish and bare spots.  We acquired a roll of Blick Metallic Film Tape Silver a few months ago, and I procrastinated on trying it out for several reasons.  Most importantly, our car is very original, and I didn't want to do anything to detract from that.  I checked with Maximilian and W&N to see if anyone had a replacement piece, but not really.  You probably know the trim is plastic and "chrome" plated with flash plating, like many plastic car parts.  W&N does have excellent new door panels in our color - marine blue, but they are pretty pricy, and I wanted to keep the originals if possible.  I was hoping someone might make just the replacement strips in polished actual metal, but I did not find them.

 

So I decided to give the tape a try.  I think it worked great.  It's not 100% perfect, but only a real detail nerd can tell the difference from new.   There is one small bump midway on the lower one.  I may just redo it but I thought I would wait a bit to see how it holds up.  This was so easy to do. Doing it again is not a problem.  Note: it would be even easier to get a good fit with the door panel removed and lying flat on a bench.  I did it on the car, which had the added challenge of getting my eyes and hands in the right spot to see well enough to get a good fit.

 

 

Here's what else I learned.  The original "chrome" on our car was peeling, and I tried to clean it up a bit before putting tape over it so that the new tape would not telegraph the old surface below.  I peeled at some loose edges with tweezers, and it just kept peeling.  When I applied my first piece of new tape as a test run, it stuck to the old "chrome," I could immediately see the old "chrome" was not well adhered, barely at all.  It all came off with just a gentle pull on the new tape.  Of course, I wasted some of my fancy new metallic tape, but seeing how easily and thoroughly the old "chrome" could be removed was worth it.  It all just came right off.  I cleaned up the substrate plastic strip with a touch of mineral spirits.

 

Next surprise, the tape we bought is precisely the correct width to cover the strips.  I did trim the first one a tiny bit with an exacto knife, where I put it on a bit crooked, so there was no overlapping onto the blue vinyl.  The recess between the strips and the upholstery is pretty forgiving on alignment.  So on the second strip, I had a better fit, and no trimming was required,  although you do have to trim the ends.  I carefully cut it on the car around the round ends. I was being careful not to cut into vinyl upholstery.

 

 

I was concerned that the ends would not be tidy and round enough.  They are pretty good.  There is a little bit of wrinkling of the tape where it tries to meet the hemispherical end of the strip, but I think it is acceptable.  Certainly better than what we had before.

 

If your door panel trims are peeling and messy, I highly recommend this easy and rewarding upgrade. 

 

  

 

View full article

 

I had an interior restoration shop try to repair my door panel trim and they said there was nothing they could to return the finish to chrome.  Then I got a call from them saying that they would like to try metal duck tape and cover the trim.  I told them they were crazy and didn't want them to do it.  When I picked up the car I saw that the door panels were perfect.  I asked where did you get the new chrome strips from.  They said Duck Tape.  They put it on anyway and said if I didn't like it they would take it off.  Needless to say its been on there for 15 years and still looks great.

15 hours ago, paulyg said:

Just tried this out. I was a little disappointed with how the Blick product didn't lay down over the curved sections or the ends very easily but it's still a huge improvement. 

Wouldn’t a metallic vinyl wrap work? It stretches a bit and can cover complex curved shapes. The newest types even prevent any air bubbles. You can get it in ‘tape’ format as well as the wide rolls used to cover car exteriors…

 are your efforts more disappointing than the appearance of your original

i was disappointed that i could not paint a reproduction of Mona Lisa a few year ago

1 hour ago, visionaut said:

Wouldn’t a metallic vinyl wrap work? It stretches a bit and can cover complex curved shapes. The newest types even prevent any air bubbles. You can get it in ‘tape’ format as well as the wide rolls used to cover car exteriors…

This was my approach. Paid a vinyl wrap auto shop to do it. Came out great. Panels aren’t installed yet so no comment on durability

I’m going on the prowl for some metal foil based products. From my plastic modeling days I recall a product called Bare Metal Foil that was self adhesive and layed down extremely nicely over curves. It was pretty darn expensive though. 

The metallic masking tape that photographers use is pretty cheap and very tough. I did mine 27 years ago and they still look great. The width was perfect. Peter Z