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Bumper painting advice?

Tomcat

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There’s no way i’m the first to ask this, but i’ve searched threads till my eyes are crossing with no luck. I’m working on a 71 roadrunner clone, and I want the bumpers painted to match. My body/paint guy says he’s never painted over chrome before, but is willing to do it, and I told him I’d do my best to get good info to get a good result, and I know lots of 71 and 72 Plymouth Bs have painted bumpers, so I’m sure this info is here somewhere??......can somebody steer me to some good info?....or offer some good info? I’m not at all in the know when it comes to paint techniques, so any help would be much appreciated!
 
There’s no way i’m the first to ask this, but i’ve searched threads till my eyes are crossing with no luck. I’m working on a 71 roadrunner clone, and I want the bumpers painted to match. My body/paint guy says he’s never painted over chrome before, but is willing to do it, and I told him I’d do my best to get good info to get a good result, and I know lots of 71 and 72 Plymouth Bs have painted bumpers, so I’m sure this info is here somewhere??......can somebody steer me to some good info?....or offer some good info? I’m not at all in the know when it comes to paint techniques, so any help would be much appreciated!
Send the bumpers out to strip the chrome off first. Primer, paint won't be a problem. Any dings can be worked too. I did the same to my bumpers, but I had them powdercoated black to match the car.
 
if you can rough it up enough to get epoxy primer to stick you got it licked

try 180 on a da....test a small area
 
Stripping the chrome is less labor intensive. Just sayin'

I'll take your word for it......I know nothing of the process

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Chromium is a very thin coating and can be sanded off with not a lot of effort. You should see the chrome disappear, leaving the next copper layer that you can sand off too. If you have any scratches or dents then you're going to be doing some filling and more sanding anyway. Then you're ready for epoxy and high build primer.

Factory colored bumpers weren't just painted on the metal, they had an elastomeric coating first. You could see if these are still available: FOR SALE - 1971-72 road runner GTX elastomeric bumpers
 
Doesn't have to be stripped, grind the chrome off with like a 40 grit flap wheel, then smooth it all out progressively with finer grits. Hit it with etching primer, then prime and paint as you would the car. I did the ones on my Cuda.

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Stripping the chrome is less labor intensive. Just sayin'
My initial thought was that stripping them would be the most logical starting point, but I've gotten really iffy answers about the stripping process......I would have thought it to be a relatively simple chemical dipping thing, but I've had all different kinds of answers as to how that's done at plating shops before rechrome??
 
you could sand blast them in less than an hour.....nothing to lose trying
True......and I have a small pressure pot sandblaster......worst thar happens is I still need to take a flapper wheel to them.
 
Chromium is a very thin coating and can be sanded off with not a lot of effort. You should see the chrome disappear, leaving the next copper layer that you can sand off too. If you have any scratches or dents then you're going to be doing some filling and more sanding anyway. Then you're ready for epoxy and high build primer.

Factory colored bumpers weren't just painted on the metal, they had an elastomeric coating first. You could see if these are still available: FOR SALE - 1971-72 road runner GTX elastomeric bumpers
I did know the factory ones were rubber coated...... I've even been tempted to pay the war pension for an aftermarket front one just to get that wicked eyebrow out front, but I'm not sure I want to put that much money into it..... still on the fence about that, but I think even with those it's just the brow and I'd still need to use my bumper. I'm gonna try blasting first, then maybe some hand sanding to get a real feel of how thick that plating is......it didn't occur to me that the copper would be a great indicator.... thanks!
 
Generally sand/bead blasting does not abrade the metal enough to get the paint to stick well, chrome is pretty hard and needs to be ground off.
 
Generally sand/bead blasting does not abrade the metal enough to get the paint to stick well, chrome is pretty hard and needs to be ground off.
I definitely don't want them to start peeling a year after...... that would hurt a brothers feelings! Lol. I'll make damn sure I get it all off. I guess if I get too deep and leave bad scratches in the steel, a good high build primer would smooth those over
 
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