Painting fiberglass bumpers to look original?

[KylePBZ]

What's the best paint/color to use to get fiberglass bumpers as close as possible to chrome? I've seen some with airbrushed accents that looked good but it's been a while.

[HAULIN' IT]

Kyle, I've used a product from House of Color on one one my tow trucks. A company Alsa also makes a product very similar called mirro-chrome, I think. This is chrome like paint sprayed on & cleared. It would not pass on a restoration on bumpers at a car show, but is really fairly nice. It would be great on fiberglass bumpers. It is very difficult to do though. The surface has to be very nice, no scratches,tack rag smudges, ect. even static alters the way it lays! It looks very well on rounded, lumpy items (to get the effect of the reflection). Here are a couple pictures, they really don't give you the true effect because the truck bumper is big & mostly flat & was dirty The pictures aren't that good either. Good Luck! Any questions, just ask, Lornehttp://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t285/HAULINIT/bumper001.jpghttp://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t285/HAULINIT/bumper005.jpg

[KylePBZ]

I've seen the stuff from Alsa. Cool stuff but pretty expensive if I remember correctly. I'll take a look at the HOK stuff. The local Oreilly's is a dealer on it. Thanks for the help.

Anyone else have any input?

[HAULIN' IT]

Yea, I forgot to mention "it's pretty expensive". A 6 or 8oz can of Kustom Krome was about $65. I ended up with two cans on that bumper. The directions say "it does not matter what color it is sprayed over" with a little experimenting I found Black to be the best. The static streaks showed up worse on White, but was a little brighter. I think I would try Gray the next time, just to see how it does. Are you planning to do your Camaro bumpers? A can would do them for sure & because of being small & rounded, I bet they would look great. Lorne

[KylePBZ]

Ya, just the two little front fiberglass ones and the rear steel one to match.

[fatwax]

ive heard of some companys that can chrome fiberglass but dont think i've ever seen it in person. anybody ever try it or have any comments about it, that would be cool to try on your camaro since the front bumpers are so small.

[KylePBZ]

I saw a deal on My Classic Car yesterday the Pauls Chrome Plating can do old or new plastic parts. Not sure about the fiberglass though.

[68Bird]

Actual chroming of plastic / fiberglass parts is super expensive. I had my glass bumper chrome painted by a guy down in Tulsa. Some pics of my car are on his web site. Does great work, he uses a paint process similar to Alsa's. As close as you're ever going to get to actual chrome but at 1/4 the price.

http://www.snschrome.com/bumpers.htm

Craig

[fatwax]

Actual chroming of plastic / fiberglass parts is super expensive. I had my glass bumper chrome painted by a guy down in Tulsa. Some pics of my car are on his web site. Does great work, he uses a paint process similar to Alsa's. As close as you're ever going to get to actual chrome but at 1/4 the price.

http://www.snschrome.com/bumpers.htm

Craig

thats pretty sweet, looks good. im sure if someone did some research a local painter could do that.

[KylePBZ]

That stuff is unreal! I can't believe the look of the fiberglass stuff. A bit out of my price range though! lol

[68Bird]

thats pretty sweet, looks good. im sure if someone did some research a local painter could do that.


Possibly, but doubtful. Like mentioned above it's really really tricky stuff to get it to look right. When SNS did mine couple years ago it took them about 5-6 tries to get it right cause the process was still pretty new to them. And when you do it over you start from square 1. I thought it was pretty reasonably priced, like $200-$250 for a typ. bumper. Pretty cheap to me considering how much better it looks than silver spray paint.

Craig

[Rick_R]

The alsa and sns stuff is actually mirror silver that needs special equipment to do. Yes just like the silver on the back of the mirror, same process just done on a different surface and cleared over. They also have a paint that does come close but last I checked was about 400/quart and OK but not spectacularly bright.