Paint over Chrome

[imported_spielnicht]

Can a chrome part (plastic) be repainted a solid color? I can`t think of anything that would prevent it from so if it was sanded down and primed, but I`m not sure.



Thoughts?

[jshillin]

You can paint it, just prep it like any other surface.

[Young Scholar]

As long as you sand it good like you said, you`ll be fine. If the part is not well prepped the paint will not bond. The plastic chrome featured on most vehicles seems to peel easily on a poorly maintained car. You have to remember that`s what your paint will be bonding to. If it was my car, I`d see if they made a paintable part from the factory.

[imported_spielnicht]

My two "economical" options are:



1. Prep the chrome grill that I have and hand it over to a body shop to repaint.



2. Buy a used painted one (non chrome), prep it, and hand it over to a body shop to repaint. Then I can sell the chrome one I have to offset the cost of buying the other.



The final option, which is really costly, would be to buy a primed part from the dealer, and then have it painted. However, the dealer wants at least 5X for the part.

[pampos]

i have the same question but about chrome plated rims.Can they been repainted??

[stigg]

I just painted the chrome trim around the top of the doors on my BMW 325i. Its too fragile to take off to paint without wrecking it and the flat black trim is about $300 from theonline sources. I went to autozone and got some self etching metal primer and followed the directions. I sanded with some 600 grit, isoproypl alcohol wipedown with some cheesecloth and repeated for a couple of coats of primer. The best match to the trim was FLAT black rustoleum from lowes. Even the `auto trim` black from autozone was too glossy.



The prep was pretty intense. I taped everything off and covered the roof and hood with newspaper for overspray. Some still managed to mist under the paper in two spots. A little clay took care of it.



Id say it was worth it for me. The appearance is much improved. It seems pretty durable so far but its only been two months.