Painting chrome bumpers body color. How do I do this?

[linemup]

Hey guys. Does anyone know of a home remedy to stripping the chrome off of my front and rear bumpers ? I want them painted body color for 2 reason. 1) I love them.2) I am wanting to save that 600.00 in rechroming them and put somewhere else in this little 72 RR clone project. I don't want to send them off to anyone to have them coated or anything. I had thought about grinding but thought that might leave the metal all scarred up. Any ideas?

[rr6pak]

I wouldn't paint them..Go to and or contact

http://www.musclecarbumpers.com

[CtownRunner]

This is how I did mine. There may be a better way. Please chime in if you have another way to do this.

Clean chrome and dry.

Scuff up entire surface with sandpaper. Wire brush or steel wool will not be enough. (what grit to use?)

Clean surface before applying paint with solvent

Prime at least 2 coats (any painters out there think more?)

Top coat the color paint. At least 2 coats.

My paint sticks fairly well but nicks up too fast.
Needs a repaint so let us know.
Paint expert opinons wanted.

[Eric]

The chrome is so hard it will be difficult to get a good scuff on the surface. A chrome plater will have to ability to dip them and strip the chrome off. That's the route I'd go if I wanted them painted.

[linemup]

Alot of people have been saying 150 grit but even more have been saying sandblast....HARD!

[Miel]

back in holland they put in a bath of acid so the chrome will get off. I think thats the best way to do it. goodluck with it, and let us know.

Greets Miel

[Bird Brain]

Well for what it's worth I've always liked the colored bumpers so I did it to mine. Couldn't afford to have them dipped in acid so I took them to a buddy of mine that has a blaster that he uses to etch into gravestones. As powerful as his blaster is it did not take off all the chrome. What it did do was remove any chrome plating that was even remotely not adhered well and rough up the rest that remained. The difference between the two(chrome/no chrome) was feathered real well with a fine grit grinder. Then two coats of a self etching primer then 3 coats of color. They came out flawlessly and have held up very well. Oh yes, I just scuffed up the heads on the bumper bolts and repeated the other processes. For the record, and I don't know if it really matters a lot but Since my bird still wears single stage paint I stayed with single stage paint. Maybe base/clear coat would hold up even better(tougher)? I can post a couple of before and after pictures if it will help you out.

[landon1]

i painted mine - again no money to re-chrome, plus i like the look...i must've been lucky i guess...i jsut used some really rough sandpaper, then did a few coats of primer, then did base/clear when the rest of hte car was painted...seem to be holding up pretty well, cept for a couple rock chips in the front show some chrome, so i hafta touch em up, but if they were taken allt he way down, you'd see primer or bare metal anyway, so not much difference...the painting was done um about 3.5-4 years ago now

[linemup]

Thanks ofr the responses guys. Sure, post some pictures of your bumpers if you can. I am still about 1 month away from getting painted...........doing some serious block sanding right now on the car.

[linemup]

Just to update you guys, my best friend works at a large box car restoration facility. He took both bumpers and blasted them with this enormous blaster that they have. He had to blast from about 18 ft away so that it wouldn't mess the metal up. It took all of the chrome off. It was rough when I got it back.............a little...............so I took 180 grit on the DA, epoxy primer and 2 coats of 2k. They are perfect.

[mopar71]

Wheres the Pics!

[linemup]

will get some asap...........will be next month before they are painted.......if all goes as planned.