Painting over chrome fenders?

[jsandidge]

I'm sure there are those who think this might be a bad idea. I'm not so sure about it myself. I have access to a large enough sandblaster, so I can prep the fenders if I decide to go this route. I have 2 front fenders, both of which have a few dings. I'm thinking of painting the worst one. If I don't like the look, I can always go back to chrome.

I'm sure it's been done before. Does anyone have pics of an L with painted fenders? Might look like crap, I dunno.

 

[60ratrod]

Any paint job begins with prep. with chrome, you are going to have to blast all the way to the base steel, because chrome and paint don't get along and the paint will begin chipping and flaking in short amounts of time.

 

[jsandidge]

Pics please!

 

[ShadowFocus603]

I painted both chrome fenders on my fiance's 750L. Just used orbital sander with 80 grit paper to get it rough then used 150 to smooth out the scratches. Primed with auto engine enamel and shot color with same. Cleared with high temp clear and sun baked for a few days. 500 miles and front fender shows no wear at all.

 

[jsandidge]

That's what I was hoping to see. I think it looks great. You've even blacked out the headlight bucket, which is something else I was considering.

 

[1980GS1000E]

Mine is painted as well. When I repainted it to black, after stripping it all that had been done to it was heavy sanding to etch it all up for the paint to adhere. Still holding up 3 years later.

 

[barnbiketom]

I have GLASS BEAD BLASTED many many pieces of chrome plated stuff, painted them , and NEVER had a problem.
including fenders, chain guards, and headlites.
You can get a small bead blaster for cheep but you need a compressor that will keep up to it, or do a lot of waiting. either way, it wil work.

 

[JTGS850GL]

As others have said. Give the paint something to grab onto by either sanding or blasting the chrome. Degrease everything before you apply paint. Every paint-over-chrome failure I've seen was due to poor prep work.