Chrome paint: Where/What to buy?

[spiff]

Hi folks,

I'd appreciate some advice.

I got the gti front grill for my jetta and I'm planning to paint the red stripe to match the chrome trim.

I'm planning to sand the red paint off with 600 grit and finish off with 2000 grit, prime the plastic stripe and spraypaint it chrome. Would this sound about right? I'm hoping to achieve as close a finish to the original chrome trim as possible.

Can anyone recommend the brand or type of chrome paint to buy, and where? I went to Bunnings and the guy didn't really have a clear idea about what sandpaper or whether I needed primer. He suggested an autostore.

I read a post that also recommended a jetblack basecoat so the chrome will reflect more. Do I need that?

thanks.

[dylan8]

i dont think chroming can be done by 'painting' as such. think theres a process of electric charging the metal to make the 'chrome material' (forget the term) fix to the piece you want chromed.

think you can sand back with differnet grits as you've said and then have it polished and what not.

But then again i have never done it so have no idea...

Maybe see whats floating around on youtube?

Goodluck! Post some details with what you find

[Peter Jones]

Alclad II, if you can find any, it's the duck's nuts!

Some hobby shops will have it as an aerosol but otherwise it needs to be airbrushed. (Just don't inhale)

Google it.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

Here's the product page.

http://www.alclad2.com/alclad-home.html

Pete

[spiff]

Thanks Peter. I'm hunting for it now. Went to Stanbridges in Mt Lawley but they don't have any (backorder 2 months). Was advised to ring around some other hobby shops.

Out of curiosity, I know I won't be doing any chrome plating here, but why Alclad 2? Is it the closest there is to paint chrome? Are the other chrome paints not as good?

ta

[spiff]

Well, did the call-around of most hobby shops in Perth.
They either don't stock Alclad or it's out (Joondalup Hobbies was the other that had it - backorder, coming in March 2010).

One of the shops I rang suggested a product called Parma Faskolor which they say goes as well and can flex too. They suggested Stanbridges, so I rang and they've got 2 bottles.

The problem is, it doesn't come in a spraycan, and the cheapest airbrush kit is around $40.

Is this a good option? The guy I spoke to said if I'm painting indoors, painting it with a brush would be as good and wouldn't streak.

Any kind souls with advice whether I should wait around for Alclad or just give the Faskolor a try (with or without the airbrush kit?). I've never airbrushed in my life, only seen people doing it.

[spiff]

Dragging this up again as I have some questions.

Does anyone know what tha red trim on the gti is made of? Alclad II is for lexan, but there are also some polycarbonate paints. Aren't both types of plastic?

The local place has it on backorder for nearly 2 months and they finally told me that their supplier hasn't got any stock and they will get any in.

I emailed Alclad and was directed to their Aussie distributor - https://www.frontlinehobbies.com.au/products/ALC-5114

Also, I was told that it would be good to have a gloss black base to make the chrome shinier. Would I then need a clearcoat? Some places have said no.

[spiff]

Alclad II, if you can find any, it's the duck's nuts!

Some hobby shops will have it as an aerosol but otherwise it needs to be airbrushed. (Just don't inhale)

Google it.

Pete

Hey Pete (or anyone else),

I finally picked up my Alclad II chrome in a spraycan. It's for Lexan and I think the red stripe material is ABS plastic.

Anyway, do you have any experience using it? The hobby shop I went didn't have anyone in who had experience using it, and they recommended Tamiya TS-14 (Black Spray Lacquer) as a base coat and Tamiya TS-13 (Clear Spray Lacquer) as a clearcoat.

But, I've just been googling and some people have said the Alclad II doesn't stick to lacquer black (i should use enamel instead?) and i shouldn't clearcoat because it dulls the alclad chrome.

Have you had any experience or idea how to get the best out of the Alclad II? Is it waterproof btw?

thanks.
spiff

[DMS_Dan]

Sorry cant help regarding the paint but 600 to 2000 is too large a jump IMO. You will struggle to get all the 600 marks out of the plastic. Maybe go 600, 1000, 2000.

[spiff]

Thanks Dan.
I've gone to 2000 on the front. I haven't bothered with the clips. They're still red - too niggly to get all the paint off thorugh sanding.

Anyway, I just heard back from Alclad:

"The paint you've bought isn't suitable for your intended use-it won't be tough enough for car trim-rain,road salt and oil will wear it out very quickly.
Regarding the application question Chrome for Lexan is for painting radio control car bodies,these are painted from the inside-the chrome first then a coat of water based black which protects the finish and increases its brilliance".

I'm going to try it anyway, since it doesn't seem like there's anything else available. I don't know much about paints, but if I used a water-based paint to go over the Chrome for Lexan, will it wash off in the rain or when I wash the car?

Maybe, I just have to give it a go and see how it works. ...

[gavs]

spiff, it's interesting that you are looking at "chrome" painting as we were looking into it here at work for a display piece.

To answer some of your queries:

Water-based paint don't generally wash off that easily, depending on their application. Water based exterior house paint are a good example, but if you are wanting to use a paint used on plastic models, then you might be playing with fire, or water in this case.

External automotive plastic generally a a PPE material with a combination of talc, EPDM fillers and UV stabilisers. They don't use ABS externally as it is generally a more brittle plastic, not good when it comes to the european (especially Italian) way of parallel parking.

Paints will generally need a specific primer for different plastics. We use 3 different ones that I know of here at work, one for ASA which is almost like a pure solvent, another for urethane and another for ABS. If you are buying a paint that is intended for a specific purpose, it will generally have a specific solvent mixed into it to promote surface etching and adhesion of the paint. Lexan is just a brand name for polycarbonate, which is similar in properties to Acrylic. Acrylic is notoriously poor for anything requiring adhesion, whether it be paint or glue, hence the use of specific primers, polycarbonate isn't quite as bad.


There is a method of painting a "chrome" finish but it is labour intensive and still doesn't look quite as good as chrome and it will never match the chrome plating on your grill insert. You can get plastics plated, it's very similar to chrome plating on metal, generally though due to the hazourdous substances involved, it's no longer used in the OE automotive market, due to RoHS and SOC Free regulations in europe. Nowadays they use a vacuum metalising process whigh uses a vacuum charge along with static electricity to bond the metalic element to the charged surface of the plastic, it's safer, looks good but is bloody expensive and as far as my research into plastic plating goes, nobody on the east cost of Australia does it, i'm not sure about over your way though.

My advice would be that if you are going to paint a "chrome" finish, then also sand back the insert on your jetta grill and paint that too so it looks the same.

[spiff]

Thanks gavs. That made sense - in a general way - but I'm still left clueless about the application of Alclad II Chrome for Lexan to this trim now, as I can't even be sure it's ABS according to what you say.

I don't know if applying this chrome paint + then a layer of waterbased black paint will hold up, or if I should try a product called Killer Chrome that retails for about A$200+ or USD$115 that is meant for automotive use.

There's nobody here in WA that does chroming for plastics. I've tried quite a number of the places in the yellow pages. The ones I found on the web were in the East coast (Melb and Syd) and both quotes I got were well above what I'd want to pay to chrome this trim - $500 - $1200.

One is The Bronzing Studio. The other is Chrometech. A place here that sells aftermarket bodykits told me an automag recently had a feature about a car and they had chromed plastic pieces from the East Coast but he couldn't remember the mag.

[woosh73]

chrome paint

http://www.eastwood.com. , i've bought a few products from there , just recently glass polish to remove scratches.

I'm looking into their powder coating stuff

[Spyda]

Why dont you paint it black to match the grill instead of painting it chrome to match the face?

[spiff]

Why dont you paint it black to match the grill instead of painting it chrome to match the face?

I've actually sanded it back, so when I get my car back, I might put it on just to have a look. I don't think it makes that much of a difference, but to have the accent of chrome might be better imo.

I found out that parts4euro.com actually sells the mkv gti grill with chrome trim (or entirely in chrome - ha ha) for 99.99 usd. Combined with the uncertainties of spraypaint chrome and the durability, maybe that might be the way to go.