painting chrome

[Clive]

Bought a set of weller "chromed" 5.5J's off ebay for the princely sum of 99p. The have lots of rust poking through the chrome, so intend painting them. Thing is, do I need to do anything special to paint over the chrome? Just std derusting, abrade and paint, or acid etch first? Any bright ideas?

[CharlieB]

A chroming company would be able to strip off the old chrome (as if they were going to re-chrome them) then you could paint them as normal or get them blasted & poader coated.
You probably want a cheaper solution!

[Clive]

I've been sussed!
The wheels do not have to be spectacular, just tidy.
Hoping a wire brush in a grinder folled by maybe etch primer and topcoat may do the trick! Any thoughts?

[toomanyprojects]

I would guess that very few paints (includinging etch primer) will stick to the chrome.

If you can get most of the chrome off (with wire brush etc) then I would suggest nothing more than a couple of coats of Silver hammerite, I did that on My spit wheels many years ago, and they looked pretty good for a few years...

Otherwise a good coat of red oxide or similar before toat coat.

[ferny]

I'd get rid of the chrome rather than painting over the top. The rust spots will show up as bumps and dips.

[CharlieB]

The right paint will stick to chrome, classic motorcycle petrol tanks are often done like that. Need to ask a classic bike nut what they use. But if its rusty the rust will come back.

Maybe get them shot blasted, that's pretty cheap.

[Clive]

Found a US harley site. Reckons paint sticks OK to well scuffed chrome, and use a zinc phospate etch primer. Also reckoned sulphuric acid strips chrome quite well. So wheres that old battery?
TBH not after concours finish. Bumps and dips fine by me!