blacking out front end chrome - questions

[thewilddingo]

whats up everyone, long time reader, 1st post. i'm tired of the stock look of the 4x6in quad headlight setup with all the chrome on my 84 245 turbo, thinkin about blacking out the chrome on the nose. was planning on using a 300 grit sandpaper before painting. i have no idea what kind of spray paint to use tho, any suggestions? and will the same method work on those reflectors as well? i figure this will satisfy me till i can go to the flathood/7in cibie setup. will get some pics up of it as soon as its done and washed. thanks for the advise.

[the poi]

i painted my chrome this weekend... what i did, was scrape the hell out of the chrome wiht some "synthetic steel wool" form home depot. chances are you could use real steel wool too if you had it lying around. just try to roughen the surface as much as you can. I used duplicolor flat black, and then some duplicolor clear enamel over that. it's a LITTLE shiny though, but it sure looks purdy. If you want a real flat look, you could run a couple coats of flat black, but it may have that chalkboard effect when somethig scratches it. Another option is acyrilic clearcoat. it won't shine as much, but it also won't protect it as much... dunno how well it would do exposed to the elements the elements...

[BLOWN240]

Dupli Color is the stuff to use.

[Super1800GTR]

Check out my Pbase. I don't know how the PO blacked out the front on my car but it's starting to peel off. Looks awesome w/ tinted marker lights & a black mesh grill. I'm converting to 7" round (maybe HID projectors) when I find a flathood.

Good luck
Rob

[jjam184]

I bought a grill and headlight trims off a guy a few months back that were blacked out. Well they are starting to peel so I have been working them over with 60 grit then spraying flat black. I'm done with the grill and passenger side light trim. I should finish up the other side this week and will post a pic. I roughed up the reflector and painted it also and it looks great. I also painted over the Volvo emblem and am trying to figure out what to put there.
Was thinking of some type of "V" that look like viking horns but I am not artistic at all.

[BoxDriver2]

What I have seen is that alot of times, when the chrome is just scuffed, and the paint gets chipped, is moisture etc gets in under the crhome that was scuffed. Then it is down hill from there.

You may want to try stripping the chrome layer off the plastic, or at least using some heavier grit paper to remove most of it, especially if it is peeling or worn out. Then go over it with a finer grit, prime, and lay paint in nice even, multiple coats.

The best thing, would be to use clear headlight covers as well, they save the lights and trim, too bad every pair i have evetually breaks :wink: :rofl:

[jcrump84]

I aggree with dan, all the trim that i have painted has ended up chipping off. I think i am gonna do it right next time, althou i had pretty darn good success with the color match paint that ipd sells. I know that it is a little pricey but other than that it has seemed to hold up pretty darn well.


Jordan

[towerymt]

If you paint plastic trim for the front of your car, it will get chipped unless protected by headlight covers. If you don't prep correctly, the paint will probably peel AND chip.

I painted the headlight trim with Dupli-Color "flexible bumper paint", and it held up well, but got chipped of course. I think I used 400 grit sand paper, dry. Sand the chrome until it's dull. It will still be fairly smooth with 400 grit, but it will have some texture. Spray many light coats, and it should not peel. Heavy coats on lightly sanded chrome will peel.