Chrome spray paint on radiator cover

[Jester]

Has anyone painted the radiator cover?   How did it turn out?  anyone have any pictures?> no?   you guys sure go to bed early lol it's only 10:30 here

[TLRam1]

Here must be on the West Coast, 12:46AM here.

[Magnum Magna]

I have tried it on other plastic parts and was not satisfied.  You first have to prime it with a primer for plastic so it will take the paint.  I was somewhat satisfied when putting it on small metal parts.

[hootmon]

I have used the "Fusion" spray paint in black on several parts (Triangle cover plates in front of the tank, rear tail section that the lights attached to, chain guard, etc)
Even after pretty careful prep, I would still wind up with some spotty areas that seemed to not want to take the paint. All in all though it looked better than the gray color these parts had become.
One note.. I dripped some metal cleaner on one area and wiped it up almost immediately, but it still left a white spot on the paint. So this paint is not very protective against chemicals.

[Jester]

Sounds like regular spray paint is a bad idea.   I found this chrome paint online last night.  It's 1000 bucks a gallon but i sure looked cool.   paint the whole bike chrome lol.    and Yes I am on the west coast.  I live in northwest washington.  Where people rust instead of tan...

[drkngas]

Do they make a good heat resistent primer and paint for plastic?


My tail section is definitely gray. A guy at the local Discount Tire told me that you could heat up those turned gray plastic pieces with a flame to get the black color back. Has anyone else ever heard of that?

[Jester]

The reason that black plastic turns grey is because of oxidation.   You should be able to take a light rubbing compound to it and it will buff out.    McGuiers (sp?) rubbing compound is pretty good.  it comes in difference grits i think it's about 15-20 bucks a bottle   and if it doesn't work....oops

[lragan]

The only system I am aware of which will put a coat of metal on plastic is called "flame spraying'.  Adjustment is critical.  I have never seen one outside an industrial environment.  The flame melts the surface of the plastic (very shallow) and the metal is deposited as a vapor.  I think whenever you see items that are chrome on plastic, this process is used.

When we bought corrugated twin wall plastic sheeting (like you see in real estate and political signs), for the U.S. AirCore line of model aircraft we invented, we paid extra to have it "flame treated".  There was a flame at the output of the extrusion die.  This broke some of the long polymer chains into sections so there were "free" molecules available to bond to certain inks, paints, and glues.  Otherwise, nothing, and I mean nothing, would stick to it.

[Chad in Michigan]

I remember my dad telling me about automotive paiting once while we were painting my old Jeep Cj-7.  We actually took the back seat which was brown/tan, and painted it black. it worked out very nicely. he added a 'flex agent' to the regular paint and it stuck to the vynal seat. he also did this with the plastic fender flares. i'm not sure where you get it other than a paint store, but first hand i can tell you the paint stuck and did not chip or flake off on any of the old surfaces. im not sure what he prepped it with except maybe denatured alcohol. 

[hootmon]

Again, I have used the "Fusion" spray paint which is for plastic for the greyed black pieces on my bike.. I am fairly happy with the result (much better than the grey), but the surface needs to be very clean..

[thegoochking]

There is a spray paint called killer can i think by alsa corp. It produces a real chrome on plastics but it is $115.00 for the set with primer chrome and clearcoat.

[hootmon]

Here is the Killer Chrome product info
http://www.alsacorp.com/products/killercans/kc/killerchrome.htm

There are video clips near the bottom.