Morning Guys and Gals, I was out and about on Saturday and I saw a custom slate grey/deep red 1.3. I wasn't in the Copen, I had the Qashqai out at the time, so it would have been a bit weird to go over and drool all over the mans car What caught my eye about it was it had a shed load of chrome on it and it got me thinking. Has anyone seen custom grilles and wing mirrors for sale? I'm tempted to take mine off and just spray them, but its getting a bit involved for it to chip off over the next few months. I guess my question is does anyone know if there is a website that has custom parts for sale? Not sure I trust eBay... I've done some googling and i've seen some people have all fitted old VW Beetle bumpers! Anyone had any experience of this? I found this which points back to this forum but i can't find the original thread...
Anyone have any links to chrome window wiper arms and also the 3 little external vents near the front screen? Thanks
To import stuff from Japan I can recommend Jesse Streeter. Great service with a personal touch. Bemused has posted a link to contact him. OB
Only here COPEN Aero Parts / Tuning Performance Auto Parts Online Shop - autostreak.jp - Japan Car Parts JDM Parts COPEN Aero Parts / Tuning Performance Auto Parts Online Shop - autostreak.jp - Japan Car Parts JDM Parts But it might be cheaper to have them chrome plated I do love looking at that website though
If the existing arms are alluminium then you could just polish them, alluminium enjoys a mirror like gleam when polished and something like Autosol is cheap and easy. Also Chrome effect spray is half decent.
WIPER ARMS: I took my wiper arms into a back-street plating shop in Birmingham. They did them but said they wouldn't attempt complete arms again because... the arm is steel and the base part is aluminium. The electro-plating process requires different voltages for these two metals, meaning that the chrome bubbles on the steel when it is set correct for aluminium. Although they did a reasonable job in the end after some linishing and replating, they said that they wouldn't attempt another set unless all parts were separate - i.e. the connecting pin between the base and the arm will need cutting out. The cost was ok (less than £100). When I went to collect them, I could see many wonderful items being processed from other vehicles so I'd be happy to use them again for other items. So my advice is that it's no effort to call and enquire at a plating shop, but they will struggle with something made from dissimilar metals Anyway, I'm quite happy with my arms and they look ok for now.
- adding bumpers in the UK is at best a grey area or not legal so if you're thinking of it, at least check that your insurance won't be invalidated
wow $500 for mirror covers...i may just attack mine with some sand paper and chrome paint from halfords!!
i did wonder about that, i was cleaning it the other night and i just could figure where they could be fixed either.
wow same as mine just better, Swap you? lol chrome is definitely where it's at for the Copen. did you have the grille plated too or did you buy it like that? do you have problems colour matching the with the wiper blades with the arms?
The blades came from an ebay company called Rockshore, see in this link... simple mods the problem with the blades is that they have huge spoilers on (as can be seen in the pics in the link) so I cut and filed those off. The grille is a steel mesh type and came from a company called www.Chromdesign.de - but it looks like they aren't selling these any more Finding shiny stuff for the Copen is no easy task and is getting harder. However, there's still room for imagination, e.g. my bonnet ornament/stripe is actually designed for the front mudguard of a Harley Davidson but is a pretty good fit on the Copen.
The stainless steel mesh grill from chromedesign is 95% identical to the OE mesh grill from the parts catalogue, and its still available frontgrille V2A mesh
