The best way to paint your chromed plastic parts is kin of a lengthy process, but will give you the best looking, longest lasting finish. Take the chrome plated part, scuff it really good with some 80 grit sandpaper, then submerge it in bleach. The bleach will slowly but surely eat away at the chrome plating. You have to leave it in the bleach until the bleach turns black, then pull it out, rinse it, scuff all the nasty scaly stuff off with a red scuff pad, then change the bleach and repeat. Keep doing this until you have a bare plastic part (it may take up to a week and several gallons of bleach). I'm not sure if it helped speed up the process, but the last time I did this, I added some ice melter salt to the bleach. All this is doing is corroding the plating until it separates from the plastic.

Once you have a bare plastic part, you can then paint it. Aside from using a spray gun, the best way to do it, especially if its an exterior piece, is to go to a body shop supply store and get base coat of whatever color you are using put into a spray can, get a can of Bulldog adhesion promoter, and get yourself a can of Spray Max 2k Glamor clear coat. This is a spray can of clear coat that has a hardener in it, like using actual clear coat you would use in a spray gun. You activate the hardener by pushing a button on the bottom of the can, and the can will only last a couple of days once activated, so get everything ready for paint all at once.

The basecoat is gonna cost you about $20 for one spray can, the Bulldog will be around $20, but will last for many projects, and the clear coat will run about $20 to $30. It is costly, but it will give you a finish equal in durability and in appearance to the body of your car. Just buying a can of cheap one part clear coat will look ok at first, but that stuff does not truly harden, so your refinish job you spent all that time on will be susceptible to chipping, scratching, and fading.

I must warn you, though, when using the Bulldog, apply it in MIST COATS. It will not completely cover the part when you use it right. If you try to coat it like a paint or a primer, it will melt your part!! It is a great product when used properly, but what it is designed to do is soften the plastic so the paint will form a strong bond to it. The first time I used it, I melted my piece because I didn't understand this and layed it on too thick!

I've been modding my cars for years, and I have played around with many different ways to refinish parts, most of which result in needing to re-do it a short while down the road. This method is the right way to do it. Save yourself headaches down the road and spend a little more to do it right the first time around!

Any questions, feel free to PM me

 

GREAT info Thanks!!

 

I'm doing a 3 bar grille, as can be seen in this thread.

I tried stripping the chrome with bleach on a small piece... it took forever and I wasn't pleased with the results. I also tried oven cleaner, which wasn't effective.

If you have patience and good skill with a utility knife, the chrome can be peeled off. Get an edge lifted up far enough to grab, and pull slowly. But keep some bandaids nearby.

If you can find a chrome shop near you that will do reverse electroplating on ABS plastic (very important detail), it should only take them a couple hours and be pretty cheap. No such shops near me, so I had to do it myself (see the thread). If I was to do it again, I'd use a vertical container, like a kitchen trash can, so I could have more control over how much surface area is in the electrolyte. This would have given me cleaner plastic and less sanding to do.

 

I used plasti dip, and a clear coat, defiantly only run this grill in the summer. I have a stainless one to run in the winter, when they are throwing rocks down on the road.

 

Just scuff the plastic chrome, & shoot it with rattle can rustoleum paint.

That stuff is tough as nails, & great adhesion as well..

 

I will swap you my silver painted handles for your chrome handles...two at a time. That way we don't have no way to enter our cars....lol. I could send you my two first. Once you send two back to me I can send you my second pair. You could leave your front two on until you get my four silver handles painted and installed. I would be in no rush for the second pair as I plan on shaving the back pair any way. Seems a little complicated, but it would be a heck of a lot easier than stripping chrome!

 

Dracos, yes the bleach does take forever, but how were you unappy with the results? It leaves you with a bare plastic piece. And I tried the oven cleaner thing too... it did not do anything at all!

It seems that the method of salt and electricity which you used is very similar to the process of making bleach. If I'm not mistaken, all you were doing was producing bleach in your process and essentially bleaching your part. I like that grille project though!

Another product that works well for filling plastic is SEM Problem Plastic Repair.... Its a little costly, but a little bit goes a long way.

Also, what I have found when working with finishing plastics is instead of using a filler primer, use adhesion promoter and a 2 part urethane clear coat instead. Get a couple thick coats of clear on the piece, it fills surface imperfections very well, you can sand and feather it very well, it adheres better and is much more flexible than primer. Smooth/shape with 240, then 320, then final sand it with 500 and shoot it with your base coat, then clear again.

I just started using this method for smoothing out textured interior pieces to paint, and it is working great! Of course, I still sand a good amount of texture out, but this takes about 50% of the sanding work away! Wish I would have done this with the HHR gauge bezel! These cars have one hell of an aggressive texture pattern on the interior panels!

 

Sleeper, scuffing the chrome and spraying it with rustoleum is not going to last. Especially on the outside of the car. Rustoleum rattle can paint does not ever actually harden, it will forever be fragile to chipping and scratching, as well as weather fading. It's also NEVER going to look anywhere near as good as a urethane base coat/ clear coat.

 

And SS Fan, that looks pretty wicked! Just gotta get rid of the chrome on the mirrors! I just got a pair of GM brand mirror covers in plain black plastic on ebay for $35 shipped. I started sanding them smooth yesterday so I can paint them gloss black! Can't wait!

 

Bleach was slower than the reverse electroplating, especially after I switched to a steel cathode. That process produces hydrogen gas (by breaking water molecules apart) and eventually copper sulfide. It removes the plating at the molecular level, with no effect at all on the underlying plastic.

I have sandable primer on hand so I can get a better sense of the filled surfaces I've made, which are transparent yellow and somewhat difficult to judge.

When my grille is done and I order primered door handles, beauty bar, and get hold of some mirror covers to strip, those parts and the mudflaps I have are all going to a paint shop.