I want to paint the off-road light housings on my Land Rover. They are chromed and they are now pitted and rusty. I'd like to clean the rust and repaint the housings black. Has anyone tried this before?
I want to paint the off-road light housings on my Land Rover. They are chromed and they are now pitted and rusty. I'd like to clean the rust and repaint the housings black. Has anyone tried this before?
It can be done, for best results you will want to strip all the chrome off of them before painting
If you need parts, I highly recommend Coventry West in Atlanta. Bryan is who I have dealt with many times before. He's very responsive. I know there are other sales/customer reps, but he's always been on the ball in my dealings.
Hammerhead (08-15-2015)
Are they chromed plastic or metal?
Chromed metal.Originally Posted by Demon I Am
What's the best DIY method for stripping the chrome?
Media blasting would be the faster/most effective. You can DIY yours easily if you have an air compressor.
I've had good results with sanding most of it off with 60 grit, then prepping it the same as you would with any other metal. Self etching primer is also a good idea. I did my chrome fuel lid this way years ago and its still holding up.
Just another cracka azz cracka with an Old Beat up '97
Hammerhead (08-16-2015)
This sounds like the best method for me (or, it gives me an excuse to buy a media blaster box). I simply want to clean, sand, prep and plasti-dip them.
AS mentioned,, #1 by far is stripping the chrome, priming with good zinc primer (are some good single package inorganic zinc primers that work, followed by two coats of whatever finish you want (most durable is zinc primer, polyamide or polyamine epoxy intermediate will fill in texture and better , following by aliphatic polyurethane finish). Can use zinc primer and two coats finish (or two coats of primer + two coats of finish,,, depends on object, how long you want it to last and $$$ to spend).
Best place to strip chrome is find a company who does chrome work like chrome on bumpers. They will have tanks to strip existing chrome (nasty nasty chemicals I would not do unless familiar with ALL issues and safety regs), Make sure there isn't much time lapsed after stripping before you apply primer as the now bare metal will rust pretty fast (zinc primer is best to fight corrosion, especially if any traces or specs of rust remaining on surface, to prevent new rust from forming under the new paint)
IF NOT STRIPPING,, then sand blasting or heavy grit paper on angle head grinder etc. to SERIOUSLY rough up the surface as you need texture to ensure adhesion as most primers alone will NOT BOND to chrome. 60 grit min,. heavier is better but not to point where texture is not something you want to see. Most priming and painting is 1-2 mil in thickness of primer with 3-4 mil thickness of paint finish (are dry film non destructive tools which measure thickness). Always follow mfgr specs for # of coats and coverage rates (allow 5-25% for loss of material in application and texture insofar a quarts/gallons of paint material needed for sq.ft. of area needed to be painted. send private message if you have questions or get into trouble. davzway
Last edited by davzway; 09-25-2015 at 04:30 PM. Reason: reason for what's done
Clean and plasti-dip. Plasti-dip adheres to metal pretty well.
For just a couple of light housings, I'd just scuff the crap out of them with sandpaper and then a good etching primer and then paint. How about truck-bed finish? No primer needed. It worked great on my Rolls Royce.
No todo que es oro brilla.
6 lamps in total need to be refinished - 4 on the roof rack and 2 on the grille guard.
I'd buy two cans then.
No todo que es oro brilla.
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