What is the best way to remove chrome plating from plastic fog light grills?

I don't think that is possible but if someone else has "broken the code" I'm all EARS!

It’s plastic -chrome

I’ve sanded them in all of f the sleeves to and painted then with automotive single stage with good results.


Still periodically chips off on the track and has to be resprayed along with the bumpers. Every other year

And

Scuff really good and paint or easier yet, buy new.

They also used to sell un chromed versions in raw plastic
For painting

I use 80 grit followed by 320 grit
It’s a lot of work

we just had all of the fog light and horn grills made in chrome was virtually the same price for the quantity we did, have probably 500 sets of each. Chrome looks nice, the factory installed them on the black bumpered cars 73-74. The only painted ones were on non appearance cars 70-72 with the color keyed bumpers

As Brandt said the chrome is plastic too. I'm a firm believer in this stuff......

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Ha!

I saw that "fabric" paint at the local FLAPS and thought "cheapskate way to hide stains on fabric. WHO would ever use that?"

Bout a month later I'm buying a can of black and red...

I color changed a tan Miata windbreak to match a MazdaSpeed red and black interior.

Came out PERFECT!

Looks so "factory" no-one even questions it.

It's lasted 8 years now, still perfect.

I too, am a fan of that paint...

Nice to know it does fine on plastic as well.

I have one original black fog lamp grill. It was never chrome.
Would love to have a mate to it. Have to check which side I have.
It raises a question.
Could an early (70-72) non-appearance, painted bumper car have fog lamps ?
If so... the grills would be body color. Anyone ever see this ?

My original is a 72, non appearance group. I bought two from George in the early 90's ,with the fog light holes. One was a no chrome painted black and the other was chrome painted black. Never found a replacement. I'm thinking about an old model rocket trick, we'd use epoxy and micro bubbles to blend the control fins into the body. It is sand-able and fairly strong.

I put the old grilles in a plastic container (with a lid) and sprayed them with Easy-Off brand oven cleaner using the contents of an entire can. Then I let the grilles soak for a week in the oven cleaner. Removed and washed off the oven cleaner with water; and then sanded the remaining bits of chrome off with 200 grit sand paper.

The 74 LE fog light grilles are also painted satin black.

Black painted grilles are readily available.

What about using a glass bead blaster on the chrome ones.

I'll try the oven cleaner, thanks.

Thanks for sharing. I’m going to give this a shot on my tired black fog grilles. Do you prime before painting them or just sand first?

Wear a good mask while spraying that oven cleaner. I have used that method to remove anodizing off of aluminum pieces.

Wear a good mask while spraying that oven cleaner. I have used that method to remove anodizing off of aluminum pieces.

Neither. I just cleaned them with some "LA Awesome". I suppose any powerful detergent like Simple Green will work. BTW, I've used this on lots of plastic trim with great results that stand up to the test of time.

We still have a limited supply in black. Factory made the originals in a white plastic, so when we 1st made ours we did a black so you could have both. The problem is that it required a lot more chrome to coat the black. So we have a large amount of rejects due to runs and uneven application. We no longer make the plastic in black and the reject rate is much smaller. So once these are gone they are gone.
The beauty of making them in black plastic is that rock chips will not expose the material below, and it's not white!
https://914rubber.com/black-fog-light-grille-set-1

Good product info. Thanks for sharing. I may just pull the trigger on yours in my next order.

On model cars when we want to remove chrome from plastic parts we use bleach. works like a champ. Just soak them in cheap bleach and the chrome comes right off. Some ppl just toss parts in and let them sit overnight. I usually soak them when I'm doing other stuff and keep and eye on things. usually takes a few hours.

TBH I JUST learned this and did a set of chrome wheels I wanted to look like cast aluminum.

Kelly