How to Paint Black Over Silver Circle Around Lense?

[mrq]

I have G1W. And it has a shiny, silver circle around the lens which makes the camera much easier to notice. I want to make it black. What's the best way? Black sharpie? Black matte tape?

 

[CheckYourLights]

Another user here has used a sharpie. You might also be able to use black touch up paint with a small applicator.

 

[niko]

I have G1W. And it has a shiny, silver circle around the lens which makes the camera much easier to notice. I want to make it black. What's the best way? Black sharpie? Black matte tape?

Quickest way is black permanent marker.

 

[irononreverse]

I removed the silver surround and used black spray paint

 

[mac]

You may want to consider using a product like PlastiDip since it's removable.

 

[sludgeguts]

I used a sharpie and the black wore off after a short while - strange how it did that since I never touched the silver ring!
In the end, I used a piece of limo black screen tint that I happened to have lying around

 

[LAKKS]

I too used the Sharpie but it creates a semi-shiny black ring that is slightly seen while looking at the windshield. I'm going to try flat black model paint next.

 

[Wise87]

I removed the silver surround and used black spray paint

How did you remove yours?

 

[Dashmellow]

I have found that in the long run flat black spray paint is the best method for "stealthifying" a camera that has unwanted logos, lettering or shiny parts. Sharpies don't really work all that well and don't last too long. Black tape can peel or get sticky sitting in a hot vehicle on a sunny day.

The "best" method is to remove the front of the camera's case and do a proper paint job. This task is not for everyone but really it isn't all that hard to do. Like many dash cams the case simply snaps together and with some careful prying it will pop open. After that it should be easy to temporarily disconnect the microphone and LED from the front of the shell. Once you do this you can spray paint the shell and when you put it back together you will have a nice professional looking and durable paint job and a camera that is much harder to see from outside your car.

In this photo borrowed from the DCT G1W comparison page you can see how the case comes apart and I've added some arrows pointing to (some of) the clips molded into the case that you'll need to press in to open it. Once you get the first one or two open the case should come apart fairly easily.



I painted the front case of my GT300W as shown below. The case of the GT300W fits together almost exactly like the G1W. Since I have no use for the LED they put on the front of these cameras I disconnected it permanently and painted over the LED lens, thereby improving its "stealthiness"".



Almost any flat black spray paint suitable for plastic and metal will do a decent job and in the above photo I used some cheap paint I bought at Walmart. It's fine and it has held up very well. In the meantime, I've found a much better product to recommend........Rust-Oleum Camouflage Paint. It is the flattest, most non-reflective paint you can buy and it is perfect for painting dash cams.

 

[Dashmellow]

How did you remove yours?

I don't actually own a G1W but I believe the chrome ring around the lens is held in with several screws. Instead of painting the whole case front you could just paint the ring.

Edit: The screws are sort of visible in the photo in the above post.

 

[Wise87]

Thanks for the information. I plan on doing the same thing. I'm going to paint the entire front faceplate flat black.

 

[Wise87]

Painting the G1W was a snap. I took mine apart using a plastic pry tool and then I removed the chrome ring which is held in 2 screws and the plastic led screen. I painted them with Krylon Flat Black/Satin Fusion for Plastic I picked up at Walmart. Looks a lot better.

 

[Dashmellow]

Looks good! If it were me I think I would have painted the whole front of the case after going to the trouble of opening it as it still looks pretty shiny. Nevertheless, if it works for your needs, that's great! Much better without that chrome ring.

 

[Wise87]

I also have a g1w-c that I use as my primary dash cam. I'm just waiting the 30 days to ensure I have no problems. I plan on paint the entire front flat black like the example posted above.