The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Hi! Recently I spoke with a ´Cuda guy about rallye mirrors and I got a bit surprised when he said that he likes painted mirrors better than chrome! When I looked at the posters on his garage wall, I saw that all of the `Cudas had painted outside mirrors. Conclusion: Painted mirrors are much more common on ´Cudas compared to Challengers. Is that correct? Are there any statistics available? Which do you prefer - Chrome or painted rallye mirrors?

Chrome for me Christer. Patrick

Original style Chrome mirrors are the ones I like. But, should they need to be re-chromed will cost you plenty, or N.O.S. which you probably wont be able to find for less than 2k. Painted can be repainted fairly easy but to re-chrome will result in a usually sloppy inner mechanism due to the pot metal(Zinc) construction that has to be bent then re-bent. The re-pops arent built the same as the originals. They are even lower quality than the originals.

my car came with painted mirrors but thumbs up to chrome as they stay on the car.

Call me old fashioned Danny but your machine looks sweet with Chrome!

yours looks sweet to eddie. chrome is old fashioned,paint is more modern.they both look good but im old fashioned too.

Thanks for your opinions guys.

I have done a little bit of research on a well-known sales site. I took a closer look at each car who had a stock style rallye mirror/mirrors. This is what I found out:

Barracuda 70: Paint 8/9=89%
Barracuda 71: Paint 7/9=78%
Total Barracuda 70-71: Paint=83%

Challenger 70: Paint 13/19=68%
Challenger 71: Paint 1/5=20%
Total Challenger 70-71: Paint=58%

Conclusions: Before my study, I believed that a majority of the Barracudas had painted mirrors and that a majority of the Challengers had chrome mirrors. I was right about the Barracudas but I had not expected that 58% of the Challengers had painted mirrors. I had expected 33% or something.

I have also done some research using the site www.aarta.com and found out that 98% (circa) of the AAR:s and the T/A:s had painted mirrors.

Chrome for me too //Roland

just to be different guys ill go with painted mine will be painted black on a sublime car when its finished
cheers ian

I have thougt about that alot actually, because i need new mirror on my passenger side. My car has chromed originally, so at first my plan was to get a pair of chromed ones, but now i believe i prefer black on black... They sort of stand out to much on my black car when they are chromed... It depends on wich car we are talking about... On a car with more chrome, like the cars from the golden fifties i think it look great with more chrome!

With your machine Jimiboy it would look wicked either way!!

ianandjess wrote:just to be different guys ill go with painted mine will be painted black on a sublime car when its finished
cheers ian

That will look sweet Ian!

I will probably upset a few people here but.....

I would go for painted every time.

I don't like chrome stuck on for the sake of it. It is so old fashioned.

De-chroming a car was one of the first things customisers did to their cars. The reason being that they look better that way. More modern and sexy. And as if the car was designed with them rather than stuck on as an after thought.

dave-r wrote:I would go for painted every time.

That's because chrome on your mirrors is just as pitted as on everyone elses.

jr wrote:

dave-r wrote:I would go for painted every time.

That's because chrome on your mirrors is just as pitted as on everyone elses.

They look great jr I like your paint, sweet colour!

JR, that colour with Chrome looks so good man! Are you eventually going to get them re-chromed? They dont look that bad from that distance, are the pits into the metal itself? oops didnt see the santa post jr, congrats those parts will really make your car standout! cant wait to see em installed on that beautiful blue colour!

airfuelEddie wrote:JR, that colour with Chrome looks so good man! Are you eventually going to get them re-chromed? They dont look that bad from that distance, are the pits into the metal itself? oops didnt see the santa post jr, congrats those parts will really make your car standout! cant wait to see em installed on that beautiful blue colour!

Pic is old from 2004 or so. Chrome isn't that bad on this one and I'm not going to replace it. Mirrors and other trim I bought are going to my brothers 70 when it's done. Likely around 2017. Blue one is my 74.

I think to chrome goes well with the window trim, roof rail, and door handles.

Is this the lower end mirror. It's pretty small and hard to see out of. I don't even have one on the passenger side either.

looks like im a odd ball i like em painted!

They look good painted too Drew. It just depends on your tastes. I came very close to just painting mine, but sold them instead, then I got 'cold feet' and bought N.O.S. which were very expensive. And that was in 1999, I couldnt imagine what they are today, probably 2k +! for a pair with remote driver side, I'm sure the quality of re-pops suffices some but it didnt me. On a car like yours the painted look enhances it's "track nature", same with Gaffer Dave's!

I was supposed to have painted Mirrors that is until the POS bodyshop lost my driver's side... I got a 250 dollar credit from them and I'm going to order some Chrome ones so i don't have to try and match the paint.

Tom

It just depends on your tastes. it sure does i like chrome but i also like monochrome

jr wrote:

dave-r wrote:I would go for painted every time.

That's because chrome on your mirrors is just as pitted as on everyone elses.

Hey, who said anything about pits? Neither Santa nor the cat can find any pits on this one.

Myself? I prefer the chromed ones. Maybe it is because I am so used to that version, I don´t know?

I thought I would try to summarize this topic:

The result is something like this:

6 who prefer chrome mirrors
4 who prefer painted mirrors

There is nothing wrong with either of them of course. It is just a matter of personal taste which to choose.

Some thoughts that pops into my mind:

If a car has R/T-badges and a flip-top tank lid (both chromed) then maybe chrome mirrors will look good on the car. (If you don´t have any R/T-badges and a standard tank lid then maybe painted mirrors will be a good choice.)

The body side of the Challenger is very clean, simple and stylish. I am having the idea that a chrome mirror can work as an eye-catcher on this type of car. The cars with V1Y-stripes has the eye-catching effect in the stripe itself so it is maybe unnecessary to also have a chrome mirror stealing attention form the stripe? Another consideration is that the V1Y-cars are missing the R/T-badges. (The things said about V1Y-stripes also go for the T/A cars.)

The outcome was 60/40. Personally I had expected something like 80/20. I was wrong in that prediction.

rtse4406pack wrote:chrome is old fashioned,paint is more modern.they both look good but im old fashioned too.

Is really chrome old fashioned? I believe it becomes modern every twenty years or something. Was not chrome popular on modern cars just a few years ago (and still is?)?

Jimiboy wrote:I have thougt about that alot actually, because i need new mirror on my passenger side. My car has chromed originally, so at first my plan was to get a pair of chromed ones, but now i believe i prefer black on black... They sort of stand out to much on my black car when they are chromed... It depends on wich car we are talking about... On a car with more chrome, like the cars from the golden fifties i think it look great with more chrome!

Yeah, I think you are right in two ways. The body colour is an important consideration and in which degree the rest of the car has chromed parts or not.

dave-r wrote:I will probably upset a few people here but.....

No, I guarantee that I am not upset at all.

I personally don't like chrome bits stuck on a cars bodywork at all. That is the angle I am coming from. One reason why I never replaced the plastic bumper on the front of my car. I think it looks better without.

I don't like badges either. I think cars look better without badges, door handles, visible locks etc. I guess I grew up loving the clean smooth lines of custom cars. Plus I am an art/sculpture lover. I dislike anything that interrupts my eye as I follow the lines of a car. Like the Bee stripe at 90 degrees to the Challengers lines. I don't like clutter.

I couldn't live with the SE.

dave-r wrote:I personally don't like chrome bits stuck on a cars bodywork at all. That is the angle I am coming from. One reason why I never replaced the plastic bumper on the front of my car. I think it looks better without.

Well, it seems like the history gave you right. Nowadays almost all cars have coloured matched bumpers, don´t they?

dave-r wrote:I don't like badges either. I think cars look better without badges, door handles, visible locks etc. I guess I grew up loving the clean smooth lines of custom cars. Plus I am an art/sculpture lover. I dislike anything that interrupts my eye as I follow the lines of a car. Like the Bee stripe at 90 degrees to the Challengers lines. I don't like clutter.

I understand what you are saying and I don´t disagree with you.

Speaking about the R/T-badges, they must be one of the most well designed emblems ever made? Anyway many of us seems to like them. It is maybe a good reason for keeping them?

I like the Challengers just as they are so I don´t want to change very much, at least not when it comes to the exterior. I have nothing against if people want to alter their cars. Your car - your choice.

How do you like this look? I see your point now, in this case I think painted mirrors were the way to go.