Hi. I have an old Ford truck that I'm restoring, but I'm using rearview (sideview) mirrors from a 1994 Dodge Ram as they have a vintage look to them, but they are power operated. The mirror body is that chrome coated plastic (not sure what kind of plastic), but I want them to be gloss black as I'm blacking out the bright-work on this truck. I have painted a fair amount of automotive metal, but never plastic. So I have a few questions on how to get me there.

1) What is the best way to strip this plastic chrome? Simple sandpaper? Grit?
2) What grit should I use to prep before primer?
3) Will the plastic take epoxy primer?
4) Do I use the same materials as when I'm painting metal? (primer, b/c, c/c)
5) Do I need special chemicals such as an adhesion promoter?

Any help would be appreciated.

Plated surfaces like this are notoriously difficult to get paint to adhere to.

This is how I do it:
Scratch up well and very evenly with not finer than P180
Metal conditioner. Follow the instructions carefully - some need to be washed off well with water.
Etch prime, preferably 2K. Again follow the instructions - this should be thin.
Epoxy primer
Urethane primer - if required to fill scratching
Sand P800 wet
Base and clear coats as normal

NFT5 wrote:Metal conditioner. Follow the instructions carefully - some need to be washed off well with water.

Do I use metal conditioner on plastic?

Yeah, that sounds like prepping chrome not plasti-chrome.

I am not a pro, but I have done a few pieces of the plasti-chrome stuff. One was an air cleaner cover I did as a torture test. The epoxy stuck like it was part of the piece, I was unable to scratch it off without gouging the plastic.

Wash the part inside and out with dawn and hot water. Sand well with 320 dry, not trying to remove the chrome, but get the whole part dull, and sand any edges or mold lines that are sticking up smooth. This will prevent a rub through later. Wash with dawn and hot water, dry extra well, wax and grease remover, let flash good. Apply a light coat of adhesion promoter anywhere you rubbed through the chrome (I use a $9 airbrush), 3 coats of epoxy primer, let cure fully. Sand texture off with 400 dry, don't rub through, then 600 wet, wash, wax and grease remover. If you rub through you can use an airbrush to apply epoxy as a sealer. Then you are ready for base and clear.

what i do...

start with 500 if the chrome comes right off you will have plastic underneath then you can prime that using proper steps like adhesion promoters.

if the chrome dont come off with 500 then move to 80 grit and then 2k washprimer or etch primer followed by urethane primer.. sand and paint. pray it holds

bryanmartin wrote:

NFT5 wrote:Metal conditioner. Follow the instructions carefully - some need to be washed off well with water.

Do I use metal conditioner on plastic?

No, but as Dave says, above, if it's metal plated then you need to use a conditioner/wash primer over the whole surface to help get adhesion. The idea is to take the gloss off the surface and increase the surface area. IMHO an etch primer alone isn't enough.

Same thing with the sanding. Dave says P80 while Beobob says P320 and I split them with P180. You'll see, though, that we're all on the same basic track - rough it up good. I think that a bit coarser is better for mechanical grip and follow up with epoxy for overall chemical grip.

When painting over plated surfaces you really need everyone in the crowd cheering for you, not the other team.

Then...

PainterDave wrote:pray it holds

This.