^ Permanently melt them together.

 

This will be my last post for a while, but I am taking designfreak's post to heart and am going to make this work somehow. Even when the two cover halves are bonded, the shrinking of the chrome paint as it cures still creates a crack. So, I am going to make a mold of the chrome parts and fabricate fiberglass halves. I will then assemble those on the roll bar assemblies and fix the seam from the inside with resin and fiberglass cloth. Since all of the assembly will be the same material, no more cracking and I'll get em chromed. No idea on ETA, but I'll show em when I get em.

 

sad news. I'm not following though. What was wrong with exopy melting the two pieces together? It'll create an ugly seem at first, but it could be fixed right?

 

That's a really good attitude to have...I applaud you for your determination and perseverance

 

I think that the problem comes in with the different materials being used. When the paint cures and shrinks, as all paints do, the underlying materials shrink at differing rates. The area where the repair, in this case filling the seam, was done is a different material and the differnce between it and the ABS causes the chrome paint to crack at the junction between the two. Admittedly, the chrome paint is very, very sensitive to this and possibly another paint wouldnt have the problem. Trust me guys, I have welded these together with every substance known to man and it isnt the material cracking, it is the chrome paint shrinking at differnt rates over the differing materials.

All fiberglass it is!

 

Shoot, I was actually thinking about going into that shop you posted earlier and doing something similar. I think a shiny GPW would be sweet. After all your troubles...I don't think so. I think white leather would look sweet too.

 

Well, once I make the molds for the fiberglass rollhoops, I can make quite a few parts before the mold wears out. I'll make you a pair and then you can get em chromed. In fact, we could work something out where when I pull the rollhoops out of my car to replace them, you could use my old ones. Pm me.

 

Why not just crack open the hoops... expose the real metal underneath, clean it up and chrome or polish it for real. Then you wouldnt even have to worry about this problematic fake chrome paint process. Additionally, you would add alot of rearward visibility by getting rid of the bulky plastic behind the seats. It would be real metal hoops just like a classic roadster (Shelby Cobra, etc...)

 

There are a couple of reasons why I dont want to follow this approach. Firstly, the metal hoops aint the best looking thing in the world. They have a fairly small O.D. and I just feel they dont have the "visual weight" that I am looking for (much smaller than the roll hoops examples you cited). The other problem is that I have Spods, so I need to keep the original shape and diameter so I can reinstall these.

 

...what? you're making another pair of fiberglass rollhoops for me? how sweet. how much are you asking for? I'm not a wealthy kid. Also, I have a 06, so what are the possibilities of poking holes into where the headrest speakers are?