Flaking Chrome Air Vents

Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,117
Brilliant description and photos, that was just what I needed as mine are flaking as well. I will get some tooth picks at the weekend!!
Your car looks superb by the way............Well done!
 

FIFTY

Member
Messages
3,100
I have got all the bits together for this removed all of the vents apart from the two in the centre of the dash.

These are in a pretty bad way I'm going to strip the chrome and apply the chrome pen... the vents themselves are very sticky covered in residue so I'm going to clean them off using a solvent and maybe paint - do I need to take apart the internal flaps to can I just spray over with some satin paint from a spray can?

Also I only have medium grade steel wool

20171121_220544.jpg

I'll post an after pic once I'm done
 

redsonnylee

Member
Messages
1,540
Very impressed with you getting them out in one piece, on my 3200 I gave up after breaking the tabs on one.
 

Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,117
The 2 side dash vents are easy to get out but the 2 centre vents are mission impossible!! I tried to get some 2nd hand ones from David Askew and he said every one he tried to get out of an old dash for me broke!...........I ended up getting new ones.

Incidentally, if anyone has an old side vent going spare (4200) not broken but with flakey chrome they don't want please give me a shout as my 2 old ones I cleaned off back to black plastic which I think looked good. I left one in the kitchen over night after I had finished it and our cats thought it was a great toy.............Hence, I only have 1 now!!
 

MRichards

Member
Messages
278
Looks the same as my car,Verde Mexico. Seat trim is the same,other trim is different. Not many cars are so similar.

I'll try the Liquid chrome,thanks for the post.
 

FIFTY

Member
Messages
3,100
Er I should have asked Voicey to leave them out when he did the heater matrix... oh well.

One on the centre left is not flaking so if it's just one I could buy it from the MD new

I have some clear lacquer in a spray can sp I might experiment on sealing the refunished chrome pen halo in to see what it looks like + potential added longevity

Tony, I managed to break 2 lugs and a few were already broken. They are pretty brittle. I understand from Lorenz's last post on here that it is possible to repair probably with another bit of plastic and some heat
 

redsonnylee

Member
Messages
1,540
Er I should have asked Voicey to leave them out when he did the heater matrix... oh well.

One on the centre left is not flaking so if it's just one I could buy it from the MD new

I have some clear lacquer in a spray can sp I might experiment on sealing the refunished chrome pen halo in to see what it looks like + potential added longevity

Tony, I managed to break 2 lugs and a few were already broken. They are pretty brittle. I understand from Lorenz's last post on here that it is possible to repair probably with another bit of plastic and some heat

Ah, so not just me then and I have small fingers.
 

FIFTY

Member
Messages
3,100
Not exactly perfect refinish but it is an 80% improvement over how they looked.

Tried sealing the chrome pen under a layer of laquer but it reacted with the pen causing a sticky ugly finish so rolled that back one step

I soaked the sticky vents in isopropyl for a minute or so, scrapped the reside off with an old plastic loyalty card the dipped back into iso and used a bit of microfiber towel soaked in more iso to remove the left over residue

Before
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After
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20171125_222114-1.jpg
 

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
Great job, its only by people like yourself and others having ago that develops fixes to keep these cars looking good in the long run..
 

Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,117
Looks great Shoghi, very time consuming by the sounds of it but also very rewarding!! I just need to do this now with the dash windscreen vent, clean off all the old chrome from my cup holder and I'm finished
 

redsonnylee

Member
Messages
1,540
That’s a great job and well done for having the patience to do it, I can see a lot of time went into this.
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,749
Well done...my rears rings (oh errr misses) and side vents need doing...a job for the winter lay up I think.
 

FIFTY

Member
Messages
3,100
Thanks guys, it took about 3-4 hours in all with trial and error. I am on house arrest at the moment aka post operation respite so I have nothing better to do. So far I have done that and rebuilt an old laptop computer as well as several laps at the Nurbergring on Forza 7 lol

Stu, what are you going to do with the dash vent? I am considering taking it out and sending it to the sprayers... mine has become a disaster with the sticky residue attracting a lot of dust recently.... with all the crevices it won't be very fun to remove the residue and respray myself... that said I might have a go anyway
 

Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,117
Shoghi, I found with the other horrible sticky parts (steering wheel cowl) a good soaking in turps and then a good brisk rubbing with a substantial cloth (or old tooth brush) gets it all off back to the plastic. But as you say, the vent is a bit more fiddly but a good stiff tooth brush should get into those crevices. I have like a small wire brush but with hard plastic bristles rather than wire and this works brilliantly. I got mine from TK Maxx but notice that they have them in Wilko's also.
Let me know how you get on...............Oh and hope you heel quickly from your op mate!!
 

FIFTY

Member
Messages
3,100
Cheers mate. I got the brushes delivered from amazon prime from for 2.80.

Took the vent out, soaked it in isopropyl went to town with the brush then used a microfiber towel with a card in it to get the difficult bits clean.

Before
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After
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Much much better
 
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