• Chrome Paint

    by
    Brian Dee
    Published on 01-21-2010 02:09 PM
    10 Comments Comments
    New Article
    Chrome Paint.

    With the cost of chrome, and the environmental issues associated with it. Chrome paint has become a viable alternative. There are several paint companies producing it. Some are better than others, and some just don’t work as advertised. I have been playing with this paint for three years, and I can tell you that many problems are self-induced. It is tricky and quite time consuming. It’s also not a paint job that will be completed in three days. Even before you apply the chrome, you have a show finish to start with. It must be applied over a black base that’s been clear coated and buffed to a show finish. The clear must be fully cured even before you apply the chrome, so you’re probably looking least five days. Your black base must be absolutely free of any dirt or contaminants. I use surgical soap to wash the part, as it does not contain any phosphates, perfumes or oil in it. Such as lanolin. You’ll be able to tell if your part is clean. The water will not bead up, but rather just sheet off it. Now let the part air-dry. Don’t even think of touching your subject with your bare hands, fingerprints will show like you’ve never seen before. Now your ready for the chrome. When you spray it on just dust, it on and I mean dust. You will barely see any paint coming out of the gun But that’s what you want Once you start you have to keep going, don’t stop. After three or so coats, you’ll start to notice it starting to take on a dusty appearance. That’s when you stop. You’re done. Remember less is more with this paint. Now let that sit for about an hour. Then very lightly buff the paint with lint free cloth. The chrome effect will pop out. Now let it sit for twenty-four hours. Very lightly, dust it off again. Don’t use a tack rag, but use your lint free cloth. This chrome is an acetone base you do not need to sand your black base clear coat. It will bite in. Now it’s ready for the clear. The chrome paint I use is by Moto Storm and it comes with it’s own protective clear and that special polishing cloth. The clear that comes with it is just a barrier clear and not the final clearl. It takes two medium coats of this. Don’t try to get it to flow out. It won’t, this is where painters make the mistake. By the time you get your gun cleaned out it will have leveled out by itself. Let this sit for another twenty-four hours. Now it’s ready for your final clear, color sand, buff, and you’re done. Here’s the link for it and you can get it from
    Innate at http://www.innate.com/Paint/Chrome/Chrome.htm
    or http://www.motostorm.com/gpage11.html
    There are many special effects you can do with it Such as dragging a scotch bite pad over it, now it looks like brushed stainless. Or even do engine turning with it. Pretty cool paint.
    Comments 10 Comments
    1. Vettra's Avatar
      Great peice Brian- Sounds like a lot of work but worth it. I would like to use it on a project in the future.

      C
      Reply
    1. TAZ's Avatar
      Great article, and right on the money. Very time consuming and costly. Basically painting all parts twice (inc clearcoat). Along with buffing twice. Most don't realize how much work is involved.
      And you're right. Less is better. I've put on too much and it ends up looking like an aluminum color versus the chrome look.

      Reply
    1. nzgrip's Avatar
      That's funny, i'm in the middle of painting a Playstation 3 controller with Alsa Mirror Chrome. I've prepped with scotchbrite and glasurit plastic etch, then airbrushed with over reduced 2k gloss black. that was a couple of days ago so guess i should leave it a couple more days? I'v tried before on a polycarbonate RC car shell, but doing in reverse on the inside didn't work so well. Spraying the black wet on the chrome is not good. And the last time i tried it looked good until i put the clear on. I don't have the 1k special clear that alsa now use so don't know how it's going to come out with just the HS clear??
      Reply
    1. TAZ's Avatar
      You 'should' be all right using HS clear, BUT, the key is to clear over the black, and make that shiney. In fact, you 'should' buff it before spraying the chrome. And the other key is like Brian said in the article, to dust the chrome on. Don't spray it like you normally would with regular paint.
      Reply
    1. nzgrip's Avatar
      Ok, my problem is clearing the chrome. Last time i looked at the Alsa site they were clearing with their speed clear but now they have a special 1k Mirror clear. I don't have this clear and probably can't easily source it over here, and being a freebie for a mate don't really wont to spend another $100 or so.
      This is what i have to work with........

      Iwata LPH400 with LV4 and LVB air caps 1.4 tip
      Iwata Kustom HP-CS Airbrush 0.3 tip
      HOK UC35 with KU150
      Spies Hecker 8030 HS clear Normal and very fast Hardener

      So any recommendations on spray gun or airbrush, and product and technique that would result in the least loss of refection?
      Reply
    1. TAZ's Avatar
      Quote Originally Posted by nzgrip View Post
      Ok, my problem is clearing the chrome. Last time i looked at the Alsa site they were clearing with their speed clear but now they have a special 1k Mirror clear. I don't have this clear and probably can't easily source it over here, and being a freebie for a mate don't really wont to spend another $100 or so.
      So any recommendations on spray gun or airbrush, and product and technique that would result in the least loss of refection?
      There are several key things you must do, or it will not come out looking like painted chrome.

      1--make sure you clearcoat the black, along with wetsanding and buff the black/clear
      2--DUST on the chrome. Once you go to far or put too much chrome on, it will no longer look like chrome. You could say you went past the "point of no return"
      3--Let the chrome sit overnight before clearing.

      I'm not for sure if the clearcoat you mentioned would work, so I would suggest spraying a test panel before actually doing the project.
      A lot of work just to do a controller. Obviously you are not going to be able to buff the controller out, but this is very necessary to get the best effect.

      I would use a mini gun to spray the controller. You'll have to control it's output when you are spraying the chrome.
      Reply
    1. nzgrip's Avatar
      ok so this is how it turned out.....


      Maybe to much chrome, maybe BC/CC black is better than 2k black, maybe need the special clear. Oh well looks more like shadow chrome but still different to standard controller so all good.
      Reply
    1. TAZ's Avatar
      Looks pretty good considering it's a controller

      I would say it's more of a alum look than chrome because the black wasn't buffed (huge difference when you do this). And you might have put a little too much chrome on.
      Of course with a controller, you can't really buff it....but it did come out great.

      Just tell everyone you sprayed it in an alum paint
      Reply
    1. aleks77's Avatar
      Brian, are you the distributor for INNATE? It says on their site to call Brian for canadian orders. Just wondering if its a coincidence. If its not, ive been trying to reach you, i need chrome paint for my wheel restoration business, i am in Vancouver BC, and wondering if INNATE has stock in Vancouver or if all the paint is shipped from US anyways? Anyways if you have more info please call me, my name is Aleks, at 604-728-7804, thank you!
      Reply
    1. kace's Avatar
      Reply