Interior de-chroming finished -- manual transmission (pictures)

Let's start with the most difficult piece -- the cup holder surround. Since nobody makes a non-chrome surround for the manual transmission, I had to make the best of what I had. To strip the chrome plating, it took more than two weeks of soaking in a combination of undiluted strong (outdoor) Clorox bleach, and Drano. (Toward the end, I discontinued the Drano.) The solution would become saturated, and would have to be changed every 3 - 4 days. After the chrome was gone, I painted the piece with Dupli-Color Magnetic Gray Metallic (MGM). This turned out to be a good match for the gray parts of the interior.

Driver's side -- here we see the door handle cover by Meso, the vent rings also by Meso, the steering wheel emblem overlay by AJT Designs, and also the driver's grab handle from KTJO4x4. (The vent rings came in black but I painted them MGM.)


Next we have an overall view of the dash. The shift knob came from an outfit called Core-Shifters, on ebay, and the boot collar cover (3D printed) came from Etsy seller Trailbreaker Customs.


Finally, we see the center part of the dash. You will notice the RAV4 radio knobs, and the 4x4 knob ring by Meso (which I also painted MGM). This made a nice match for the climate-control rings, which are as they came from the factory.

 

@NoVa TRD Sport - very nice! - do you have the part number for the radio knobs? Thx !

 

OCD time. I still see chrome on your mirror adjuster knob. Looks like you are not done.

 

Wow, you must have A LOT of spare time on your hands.

 

Yes, 90010-23059. Be sure to pop the inner part of the knobs out, as explained in another thread. You don't need a tool to do this.

No, it's black. What you see is a reflection. However, I did leave the ignition and the glove compartment key slots alone. (They're not really chrome anyway.)

Well, I'm retired.

 

Easy-Off oven cleaner can also remove chrome from most plastics.

*I'm not responsible for any damage to ones car*

 

I tried that, but the fumes were unbearable. There's a fumeless Easy-Off, but it's not as powerful. As I found out, the Toyota chrome plating is really durable. You need powerful stuff to remove it.

Also, I found out that for some reason, my local grocery chains no longer carry Easy-Off. I had to find it at Home Depot. (Not the fumeless kind.)

BTW, the chrome plating has some sort of protective lacquer over it. You have to lightly scuff this up with emery cloth for the bleach to start working. After that, you need a lot of patience.

 

this is intense. I still have some black vinyl tape poorly placed on that spot

 

Too bad the center cup holder isn't removable.

I always spill coffee from my lidless coffeecup when my 2.7 rockets off the line.

 

Wow. The console chrome came out great. Dumb / obvious question, but the Outdoor Clorox and Drano don't harmp the base plastic?

 

Nice work! I used the vinyl from TVDVinyls for my cup holder surround, and some spare matte black Oracal for the glove box key hole. Both are holding up great a year in.
Not pictured, the Hondo Garage radio knobs I replaced OEM with a couple months ago.

 

I was very watchful about that. At the end of the process, I was somewhat surprised that the base plastic came out completely unaffected.

The plating is in layers. As I mentioned, there is some kind of lacquer protective finish on the surface. Then, the chrome layer and then a copper base layer. The bleach eats through these metal layers very slowly.

BTW, it's not necessary to remove the console in order to remove the chrome trim. It can just be carefully pried out using a trim removal tool. Also, it's not a rectangle and it doesn't lie on a flat plane. This is a complicated molding. Fortunately, there's only one way it can be installed.

 

Excellent! Thanks for the info.

Yes. I have had mine out and have vinyl on it for about 3yrs. It has done very well with only one or two nicks, but I'd like to do it up along with the vent rings.

 

Meso's availability is spotty, especially when it comes to colors. And he still hasn't come out with a trim piece for the manual transmission cup holder. Otherwise, he has good products. But I decided I couldn't wait, and decided to do the best I could with what was available. The whole project turned out better than I expected. What I have now is a very understated 2-tone interior. No distracting flashes of chrome.

 

He released a poll to gauge interest about a manual cup holder surround about a year and a half ago, but never actually made the product. I messaged him about a year ago asking if there was any chance of him releasing one and he said no, so I ended up painting mine black.

 

Yeah. I do like his stuff, but the notched styling is weird. I like the smooth shape of the stock parts. Basically SR envy.

 

I was worried that if I simply painted over the chrome, the paint would eventually flake off. (That chrome is tough, and doesn't give a good surface to which the paint can adhere.) So I took the extra step of removing the chrome. This took a lot more time than I expected -- more than 2 weeks of constant soaking. That strong bleach is nasty stuff.

The other decision was what color to paint it. Black was an option (and the underlying plastic is already black). But parts of the dash were already in a magnetic gray, and I decided to continue the theme. I like how it turned out.

 

Speaking of notching, the vent rings by AJT Designs are even worse. Meso's are understated by comparison. I dunno -- they provide a little bit of texture to the dash, and are consistent with the OEM climate control rings.

Yes, using the stock parts and painting them would have been an option. Considering the trouble I went through removing the chrome from the cup holder trim, doing the same thing with the vent rings and 4x4 ring would have been 3 times the effort.

 

Yes, they are. I was surprised by those.


I'm thinking of tossing the vent rings and console trim in a vat and do them all at once. I have vinyls on the vent rings, but some chrome peeks through. No complaints, but if I'm gonna mess, might as well go for it.


I did the 4x4 knob with light sanding, etching primer, and matte black paint. It is holding up very well. I did it over a year ago and use the 2LM daily. I've been thinking of painting the climate knob trim black.

 

I was happy to find this thread because I'd found the chromed cup surround caught the sun just wrong sometimes while driving and would reflect into my eyes like happens off people's watch faces or phones, and I wanted to get rid of that chrome.

Working from the OP's methods, I scotch-brite'd the surround and left it in muriatic acid for just one week. I scrubbed it again after day 6 and put it back in for one more day and it was completely clean of chrome. Got the acid from the local Ace hardware; it's the stuff I pour into the toilets to dissolve the calcification from the hard water where I live. That's all it took for the chrome to come completely off (see pic of freshly stripped but as-yet unpainted piece). Hopefully that'll help someone in the future if you're not sure which acid to use - the muriatic worked great and only took one week of soaking.