Has anyone tried to darken or smoke their chrome??

Not to pester, but how did the smoked chrome pieces finally turn out? Is it something you'd consider doing? Do the pictures do it justice, or is it something you need to see in person to decide?

Again, thanks for being the tester in this matter. For science!

 

[QUOTE="panicman, post: 1373068, member: RE: Shadow Chrome... Toyota makes a beast of a truck - and then it comes with a bunch of chrome, eeeek. Blackened looks killer too... Or color-coded... Please post a finished pic, be great to see how it turns out.

 

looks good!

 

Ok, as you can imagine, the phone images are not as true to life as we would want. But they give you some idea for a comparison. Please note: the wider/bigger piece of chrome was darkened using 3 coats of darkener and 2 coats of clear. The smaller/narrower part was coated 5 times with darkener and 2 coats of clear.
In person, 5 coats almost makes it look like a gloss black finish. It takes away the metallic appearance almost like paint would, and I found myself wondering if anyone would discern it from black glossy paint that looks like it didn’t hide the underlying finish well.

Anyway... on to the pics -



And the smaller, very dark piece:


Side by side

 

Go for the longer piece. I like it.

 

I kind of agree. The darker piece will just look like I did a bad black paint job.

This weekend is shot. I’ll give it a try possibly an evening this week.

 

Not trying to derail the intent of this thread but what about doing that spray on Bed liner on the chrome? It comes in a can and I've seen the 2nd gen guys doing it. Seems like if your going through all this trouble youd go for something with greater results

 

Depends on if you want black, or darkened chrome. The intent of the smoked chrome isn't to go black. I think it's kind of an apples and oranges comparison.

 

It really is. It’s not uncommon to see the trim coated in bed liner.

blacked out chrome has not yet been done.

I will break the mold. Just hope it doesn’t turn out different than expected.

 

Whatever happened to your experiment? Did you do your truck?

 

Ya way to leave us hang haha

 

I was just thinking about it!

it’s cold now, so I’ll have to pull into the garage to do it, and this stuff reeks.

Keep eating popcorn... this mod is still brewing.

 

Waiting like....

 

Whos the head pot stirrer?

 

Hey 5Foot,

So the bezel is coated with Line-X Pro and has a UV clear-coat applied to it. It was something I negotiated into my purchase agreement at my local Toyota dealer. I dig the way it turned out. Since this was part of a 'We Owe' addendum in my contract, I can't help you with how much this mod costs - the dealer took care of it directly with Line-X. If you want, I can call the guy that owns the Line-X shop and get you a figure... Have a great week 5Foot...

 

I've seen this stuff and wondering about it also. I have a MGM too and I did plasti-dip 2 years ago and needs to be replaced. I was going to try the shadow chrome and if I didnt like it I'm going to use bed liner over it. Looking forward to see how it turns out

 

Well, I am thinking of 'smoking' my chrome grill and bumper end caps and door handles [this summer].
If I do it, I am going to have a real painter [body guy I know] do it: there's a big difference between my amateur attempt and his 30+ years of paint experience, I am t-totally sure.

Black chrome look is what I would tell him I want. As dark as I can go and still retain the chrome semblance. It would be an experiment, but ... whatever.

 

I plasti dipped my Tacoma grill which was chrome it held up for years and looked good

 

I too am interested in this look. Smoke chrome will be all the rage!!

 

That is awesome BTW.