I have a 2004 Ext Cab SWB Z71 Sierra, bought it used with only 14K miles. Anyhow, I hate the chrome exterior trim. I want to spray the bed liner type material over the chrome. One of the shops said if I took all the parts off they'd do it for $280. I think I might just buy the Herculiner kit and do it myself. Any knowledge on how to get the Chrome doormolding off the sides? Is it just double sided tape? And, should I even try to separate the chrome from the front grill, or just remove the whole thing and use masking tape?

 

I think the chrome strip that goes down both sides is just stuck on. I have seen several trucks on cardomain.com that have had that removed and there are no holes or anything. I'd like to remove it on my truck as well because the chrome is starting to bubble up and I know it's only a matter of time before it starts peeling and will look like crap. Maybe someone on here has done this before.

And why do you wanna take the chrome off the grill?

 

I'm just not a big fan of all the chrome. I have a grey truck that I put a black aluminum tool box, will have black powdercoated nerf bars, as well as the black fender flares. SO I will have chrome bumpers, grill and trim? I just want to black it all out. My plan is to coat all the chrome with the bedliner material. I just am not sure if it is worth the trouble of trying to seperate the chrome grill from the plastic parts of the grill or just tape off the plastic and cover the chrome.

 

well if you really don't like thechrome grill I'm sure you could find someone with the base model appearance package which is all dark grey plastic and see if they'll trade you. I know I would without any argument!

 

If that's the grill behind you in your photo, it's the same as mine. I say grill, but I pretty much mean the entire front of the truck. If it ain't the color of the body, then GMC chrome's it. Chevy offers body color accent pieces on their SS models. I guess I am just bein' nit-picky, but since I am not goin' with chrome accessories, I wanna black out the other stuff too.I do appreciate your offer to trade.

 

I wasn't offering to trade. I was saying there are probably a lot of people in your town who have the base model unpainted black plastic looking front end who would much rather have the chrome one. But really if you actually wanting it the same color as your truck, it probably wouldn't cost more than $100 at most to have it sanded down and painted. You should check around at some body shops.

 

Well, I got the pieces off, I can definitely suggest to others that the heat gun is NOT the way to go. It'll get the tape hot enough to peel up, but it'll also bubble your paint. I had a bunch of parachute cord laying around, so I cut about 2' of it and then pulled the nylon "guts" out of it. So I had about 6 each - 2' sections of 1/16" thick rope saws. I then used the cords one at a time, replacing as they gummed up. That got the trim off pretty good, but did leave a healthy amount of the tape stuck to the vehicle, and the trim pieces. Went through quite a bit of Goo Gone, but after it was all done I got them cleaned up pretty good. Painted them with the Herculiner, as well as both bumpers and the front grill. If anyone is interested in viewin' pics, lemme know. Now I just need to find some fender flares. Won't be payin' the BRAND NEW price though, junkyard specials or maybe even E-bay will be my route. Will prolly have to "paint" them with Herculiner as well, just so they match the other black pieces. Thanks to 72Charger for the suggestions!

 

Why not paint them to match your paint job instead? That would look a lot better than flat black.