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Using a knife i scored the chrome around the edge of the grill then peeled it all off, key'd it up with some wet and dry and gave it 3 coats of satin black. The chrome peelings are quite sharp. I did this with the surround removed from the grille.
I am literally in the process of doing this to an old grille I have. It is proving to be a long tiring process. I started by trying to do what Tony described. Basically chip a nice little tab of chrome up and then use some needle nose pliers to get a grip on it to try and peel it back. This is not really working, so I have resorted to chipping away at it carefully with a knife. Not done any major damage yet, but will sand it back a bit before painting to reduce the coupe of nicks I have put in. I also removed the chrome surround before commencing. Whether I will finish it this decade remains to be seen.
last bit of advice is not to do it in your front room whilst watching T20 finals day. My floor is a mess and as Tony says, the chrome bits can be sharp.
not sure what paint I will use but I guess some type of plastic primer and then a few coats of some spray stuff I guess. Hopefully a few layers will iron out any marks I chip into the surround but unless you are majorly close up to it, I doubt you would notice.
I take it you can't just key up the chrome with some wet and dry then spray? I've heard of people peeling off the chrome as well as you so there must be a reason.
How does the surround come away, and fix back on? Last time I looked it's just plastic lugs that are roughly moulded behind the main black trim.
Someone had clearly removed this surround from the spare grill I have before. Looks like the placcy tabs had been melted back in place. It was a struggle to get it off and I ended up breaking a couple of tabs (the ones at the narrow end of the surround) I will blatantly be gluing it back on, as I cannot see it going back together how it should. Means I need to make a good job of the paint as it aint coming back off again. Plenty of cheap grilles around though as so many B4 cars.
Funny how the plastic grille itself seems to be in such good nick with the surround appearing to take the brunt of any damage. Very odd seeing as it is a tiny surface area.
The chrome rings are plastic 'riveted' on the back, you can break it free, but there is still the audi symbol in black on as part of the grill itself.
It'd just be for the purpose of maybe spraying the rings in a different finish. They'd be going back on so that's cool :-)
In my head I've got this idea of 'black chrome' for the rings and surround... Or satin black surround with black chrome rings. Black all round is ott. But if I can find a rattle can with the sort of finish I'm thinking of.. it could work quite well. Just want to be careful of making things look obviously non-oem. If I can make it look like it could have come from the factory then I'll have a go!
De-chroming the rings would be a PITA I reckon. Thinking I will be leaving them chrome and just blacken the surround as like you, I reckon all black is a bit OTT, especially on my car (Emerald Pearl)
That's nice. If I can achieve that I'm a happy man!
Shame you can't 'dip' the surround/rings to get rid of the chrome, that'd make things easier! Is it actually chrome plating? It'd be interesting to know just how it can be attacked.
I've been doing this on and off for about a month-just when I feel like it and having nothing better to do..
It's a really slow process, Stanley knife will cut it but then use a craft knife to slide under and peel with pliers.
Very sharp!
I dont know what it is, probably metalized paint and then chromed, once you scrape one area you can see how its stuck to the grill. I think it took me an hour to get off the chrome, and had a little game to see how big the chrome pieces could get
I got a few pieces about 10cm long that curl up into a pencil shaving. They were few and far between and some parts of the chrome pieces seem to be stuck better than others. it is basically just a long long process. I have given up for now and only about 30% complete. Watching Arsenal make heavy weather of Everton. Why can they just not shoot for a change?
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