painting grill

[Octavia Vrs!]

Hi folks, I'm in the process of prepping my front grill (the chrome section) to be painted black magic to match the rest of the bodywork. My question is to the people who have done this sucessfully - how did you prepare the surface ready for painting? I've tried all sorts of sandpaper upto 180 grit and it barely scratches the surface - i'm amazed how tough this coating is. Does it need sanding back to the plastic of can paint be applied to a lightly keyed crome plated surface?

There is also a small section that will require a small bit of filler prior to painting so i'm assuming this will definatly require the chrome removing?

Any help / experiences greatly appeciated.

Thanks guys.

[Bodge]

If you lightly misted the chrome with spray primer you might be able to build up a decent surface after a few sprays. I've done it before with hard to paint surfaces. It takes a while as you have to let it dry inbetween mists, but it works in most cases.

No idea how to get the chrome off! It seems to be pretty hardcore!

[tom1362]

Use a rougher grade to gegin to break the surafce of the chrome. Once done, begin to use your increasingly finer grades. (Two will do grand) and when finished clean with a cloth damped with white spirits to remove dust. then spray two light coats of plastic primer. Then two coats of paint.

Your first coat of plastic primer may show up some descrepences to that would be the best time to sand them down using a your fine grade paper.

HTH

Tom

[Octavia Vrs!]

Use a rougher grade to gegin to break the surafce of the chrome. Once done, begin to use your increasingly finer grades. (Two will do grand) and when finished clean with a cloth damped with white spirits to remove dust. then spray two light coats of plastic primer. Then two coats of paint.

Your first coat of plastic primer may show up some descrepences to that would be the best time to sand them down using a your fine grade paper.

HTH

Tom

Been out and got 3 different heavy grades of paper, one is seriously rough. They do nothing, just float accross the surface leaving micro scratches. I can't believe how tough this stuff is - It's like glass!!!

Im thinking of spraying the fine layer of primer on, hoping the filler will also key into this - also going to drill a small hole to give the filler something to "bite" onto. Then prime again, paint and laquer. I can't see any other way.

[amateurstuntman]

I used some military 80 grit paper I got from "somewhere" and with a cork block it took 3 days to get the damn stuff off just the outside edges.

Then I got medieval on it's *** with a wheel on my drill.

I found that if you attack the edges with the wheel the chrome will lift off and you can peel it back a bit.

Overall it was a total pain.

I like the way it looks but if someone was to pay me to do it I'd want £200.

[Purac]

I was thinking of doing this, but after reading this perhaps not!

Don't they sell black surrounds?

[dan-s2k]

I've heard soaking it in some strong bleach overnight strips the chrome, sounds a lot easier even if it means waiting 24hrs or so. Try doing a search for grill + bleach to find examples.

[Brimma]

You can use this as a guide if you want to :-

http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/another-colour-coded-grille-diy-pics/146156/

I did my own, but now regret not putting laquer on top, as I am likely to have to redo it in the future.

Does take a lot of elbow grease to key the chrome, and make sure you use the correct sort of primer, not your everyday grey stuff. I made that mistake, put the black magic on top, thought I'd done a good job - went back next day and it looked like crazy paving !

[TaylorHawkins]

Strong bleach will work it just needs time!

[Octavia Vrs!]

Cheers guys, I had just come back to this to tell you guys that bleach works and hey presto some of you beat me to it. I made a stainless steel tray in work and soaked it in 7 litres of bleach for 48 hrs and viola - JOB DONE!!!!!

Anybody wanting to do this - Asda thin bleach is 28p for 2 litres - Bargain

Cheers for all the sugestions folks

[amateurstuntman]

I'm glad it worked for you but I have no idea why it did...

I'm miffed that mine was done by hand now.