I want to do a black chrome grille on my 21 Denali but really don’t want to buy a brand new one that’s on the ultimate. Has anyone had luck doing a wrap or plastidip on the stock Denali grille? I reached out to a couple places and they said they wouldn’t wrap the grille because it wouldn’t hold up.
Vader Grille
- Thread starter piersm2
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KMeloney
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They probably exist aftermarket on eBay now (at least black ones do).
I can't imagine the labor it would take to wrap the Denali grill, with all of its tiny nooks and crannies. I don't blame the shop for telling you that it won't hold up.
I can't imagine the labor it would take to wrap the Denali grill, with all of its tiny nooks and crannies. I don't blame the shop for telling you that it won't hold up.
CMoore711
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I don't have any personal experience with this product, but I have had conversations with them and from searching online it is the only type of "Black Chrome" product I have found that goes on and applies similar to normal automotive paint.
It goes over a traditional black automotive paint as a base. It's not a powder coat or PVD process which cannot be applied to plastic parts anyway due to the heat/baking cure process required as it would melt and damage any plastic part substrate.
Here's a video of a guy doing an at home paint application of this product in his garage. From the video the color and finish look very similar to a black chrome PVD process. (I'm sure it would look even better done professionally).
Keep in mind this finish would have the same durability as any other painted surface on the front end of your vehicle.
The problem I've run into is most automotive body shops are not familiar with this paint system and therefore have never applied it. Speaking with the guys at motostorm and as described on their site the application and spray process for their paint systems is a bit different than normal automotive paint. So you would likely have to purchase some of the paint and have a test piece or part to have someone try it out on to make sure it turned out the way you wanted it to and that whoever was doing the paint work is comfortable enough with applying it correctly. This obviously adds additional time and money to your project and process.
Another option is Calchrome https://calchrome.com/. They have a Black Chrome finish that they can apply to plastic and metal parts; Wheels, plastic trim pieces, grills, etc. The process requires the part to have a traditional chrome finish base to start with. They also recommend that the part be brand new and does not have any scratches or blemishes or else their Black Chrome finish will exaggerate any pre-existing blemishes in the base chrome surface and not look good.
I used them for the front OEM fog light bezels and front OEM grill trim surround on my old '15 Yukon XL Denali.
Detailed thread with pictures is here:
www.tahoeyukonforum.com
I'm not sure if their "Black Chrome" is some sort of tinted clear coat or what the exact product is but I do know it is applied like normal paint. That being said if you check out that link to my old '15 Yukon Denali and look at the 1st and 2nd picture of the front end. Zoom in onto the front driver side fog light bezel and you will see (2) very small spots on the bottom of the bezel trim where the Black Chrome finish chipped off and the original brighter "normal" chrome finish is showing through.
GMC released a few K2XX GMC Yukons that I believe were 2019 model years that were "Graphite Editions" and offered "Graphite Performance Edition" which they put the 6.2L 10 speed drivetrain in without having to get a Denali trim Tyukon.
I'm mentioning the Graphite Edition Yukon because I have seen the front end of those in the used market and the OEM fog light bezels are chipped with the original brighter chrome finish showing through.
I would be curious to hear if any 2023+ GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate owners have experienced any chips in their Vapor Chrome front end grill and bumper trim pieces with the original brighter chrome finish showing through.
All I will say is if you end up spending time and money to create a Black Chrome Grill or buy a GMC OEM Vapor Chrome Grill I would highly recommend getting that piece wrapped with paint protection film on whatever shapes or surfaces it can be done on. You will only be able to have the outer surrounding grill trim wrapped in paint protection film, but you will never be able to wrap the center "mesh" patterned surface area for the same reasons as you have found out about vinyl wrapping the front grill.
Definitely keep us posted on what you end up doing and the products and/or processes you used to accomplish the Black Chrome finish that you're after. The two above options are the only Black Chrome finish options I have found for plastic grill and trim pieces.
It goes over a traditional black automotive paint as a base. It's not a powder coat or PVD process which cannot be applied to plastic parts anyway due to the heat/baking cure process required as it would melt and damage any plastic part substrate.
Here's a video of a guy doing an at home paint application of this product in his garage. From the video the color and finish look very similar to a black chrome PVD process. (I'm sure it would look even better done professionally).
Keep in mind this finish would have the same durability as any other painted surface on the front end of your vehicle.
The problem I've run into is most automotive body shops are not familiar with this paint system and therefore have never applied it. Speaking with the guys at motostorm and as described on their site the application and spray process for their paint systems is a bit different than normal automotive paint. So you would likely have to purchase some of the paint and have a test piece or part to have someone try it out on to make sure it turned out the way you wanted it to and that whoever was doing the paint work is comfortable enough with applying it correctly. This obviously adds additional time and money to your project and process.
Another option is Calchrome https://calchrome.com/. They have a Black Chrome finish that they can apply to plastic and metal parts; Wheels, plastic trim pieces, grills, etc. The process requires the part to have a traditional chrome finish base to start with. They also recommend that the part be brand new and does not have any scratches or blemishes or else their Black Chrome finish will exaggerate any pre-existing blemishes in the base chrome surface and not look good.
I used them for the front OEM fog light bezels and front OEM grill trim surround on my old '15 Yukon XL Denali.
Detailed thread with pictures is here:
'15 Denali XL Exterior Done... Silver Black Chrome, Full Chrome Delete, Lowered, Wilwoods, 24's
2015 Yukon Denali XL Exterior is finally done so I figured I'd create a thread and post some pics of how it sits currently and a bit on the process to complete the mods. All chrome has been deleted with either OEM parts painted to match, replaced with OEM Gloss Black trim pieces, or OEM parts...
www.tahoeyukonforum.com
I'm not sure if their "Black Chrome" is some sort of tinted clear coat or what the exact product is but I do know it is applied like normal paint. That being said if you check out that link to my old '15 Yukon Denali and look at the 1st and 2nd picture of the front end. Zoom in onto the front driver side fog light bezel and you will see (2) very small spots on the bottom of the bezel trim where the Black Chrome finish chipped off and the original brighter "normal" chrome finish is showing through.
GMC released a few K2XX GMC Yukons that I believe were 2019 model years that were "Graphite Editions" and offered "Graphite Performance Edition" which they put the 6.2L 10 speed drivetrain in without having to get a Denali trim Tyukon.
I'm mentioning the Graphite Edition Yukon because I have seen the front end of those in the used market and the OEM fog light bezels are chipped with the original brighter chrome finish showing through.
I would be curious to hear if any 2023+ GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate owners have experienced any chips in their Vapor Chrome front end grill and bumper trim pieces with the original brighter chrome finish showing through.
All I will say is if you end up spending time and money to create a Black Chrome Grill or buy a GMC OEM Vapor Chrome Grill I would highly recommend getting that piece wrapped with paint protection film on whatever shapes or surfaces it can be done on. You will only be able to have the outer surrounding grill trim wrapped in paint protection film, but you will never be able to wrap the center "mesh" patterned surface area for the same reasons as you have found out about vinyl wrapping the front grill.
Definitely keep us posted on what you end up doing and the products and/or processes you used to accomplish the Black Chrome finish that you're after. The two above options are the only Black Chrome finish options I have found for plastic grill and trim pieces.
