painting over chrome

[mightyredvc]

hi guys,

the project gets its top coats of paint tomorrow, which means its nearly ready for reassembly.
but what i would like to do is colour code te bumpers like he hdt/grp a cars had.

at the moment they are tired chrome, which is quite difficult to paint as it is a very smooth surface and paint will not stick very well, which i found the first time i tried to do it.

i tried rubbing down with 180 grit wet and dry, plus an adhesion promoter, but it still comes off pretty easily.

has any one done this?
how is it done?
do i have to strip the chrome right off? (mongrel of a job)

any help would be great...

[v8commy]

id say if it didnt work put a light layer of body filler on it paint would stick to that if not give a panel beater a call

[ari666]

im sorry to tell you, but you have a couple of hours work with an angle grinder ahead of you to get it done right.

paint will never stick to chrome. it will stick in spots and then in flake off in others which will look hideous. what you need to do is grind off the surface with a flapper wheel (its like a sandpaper grinding disc) spray putty or high fill on really thick to fill the cracks and lines you made with the grinder, rub it back, then prime it, rub again then paint it.

its the only way to get it flat.

edit* yes i have done this b4. NOTHING sticks to chrome completely.

[Cane_It]

painting on chrome CAN be done, but it comes down to some very specialist paint chemistry, a lot of the latermodel cars have areas where paint is applied to areas of chromed plastic. You'd best get the chrome stripped off those bumpers though if you're going to do this yourself.

[vkberlina]

I would get the bars acid dipped, that should clean the chrome, copper etc off them.

cheers
Scott

[mightyredvc]

thanx for the help people.
decided to try ari666's suggestion.
angle grinder and elbow grease. should be lots of fun......

will keep posted on results.