Paint: Painting old chrome pot metal

[Reggie]

This is not for my Studebaker; it's a pair of Mercury Bobcat tail lights I bought for my Maverick. You only need to drill two 1/4" hole to install them; but the housings are plated cast metal, and pitted. The Maverick uses aluminum tail light housings, and I'd like to paint the Merc bezels to match. My question, for those of you who have painted rough chromed parts, is what is the best procedure?

[(S)]

Use 80G on a DA sander until the pits are about even with the base metal. Clean them good with thinner and blow dry. Use auto body filler to coat the pits and sand flat with 150 G. 1 coat of metal etch primer followed by primer is the best way, but most people just 'over prime' them with 2-3 good coats, then sand flat and paint. Wear a mask, chrome dust is bad stuff. The key is wipe them several times before filler or primer and blow dry or it wont stick.

[bensherb]

I do pretty much the same thing, but I sand blast or bead blast it and fill the pits with JB Weld, then sand smooth.

[Jeffry Cassel]

Ditto. you will need to blast it to get paint to stick and J B Weld is wonderful stuff. Use a good filler primer and paint.

[PackardV8]

Check with a local powdercoating shop. I sandblasted the parts, filled any pits with body filler, sanded smooth and they sprayed with a chrome powder and oven cured. The result fools the eye until one looks closely. Certainly good enough to compete with the aluminum on a Maverick.

jack vines

[Reggie]

Thanks for the responses; I will definitely benefit from your advice.

[bezhawk]

If you are having any parts powder coated, be aware the high temps required will often ruin regular body filler. Look for high temp filler. (the JB weld recommended is an excellent alternative).