Electroplated plastic parts are mainly produced by injection molding of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or polycarbonate/ acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC/ABS). However, polyamide (PA) has superior physical properties, but the coating quality is inferior leading to higher scrap rates up to 30 %. Besides the electroplating parameters, the coating quality depends on the surface of the injection molded part. Former published experimental investigations and analysis of three-dimensional surface key figures according to DIN EN ISO 25175 showed that injection molding parameters significantly influence the surface layer of the produced mineral-filled polyamide parts. The aim of this paper is to present causes for the differences in the surface structure of mineral-filled polyamide. Therefore, a Design of Experiments (DoE) is carried out using 3D injection molding simulation software to determine effects that cannot be measured in the real process. The results of shear rate, shear stress and degree of crystallization are evaluated at four different positions on the plastic part. Furthermore, the results are related to the surface key figures of the real experiment.