I just bought a new headlight that i have had my eye on, but it only came in all chrome. i want to paint the body black and leave the trim ring chrome. I used some flat black grill paint on a part of my chrome air cleaner cover, and so far it has held up pretty well. not sure if i want to use this exact paint, but my basic question is if painting straight over the chrome would hold up with weather and such?

 

i use plasti dip on all the parts i want matte black. they match the denim on my bike pretty well and hold up great. my forks, headlight ring, along with some other miscellaneous stuff. might be something for you to look in to. lasts quite a long time, and if you ever run into any issues, it comes off SUPER EASY and can be redone.

 

As long as you sand it down good to give the paint something to stick to you should be good. I'm lucky enough to have a bead blaster at work, they work great

 

I agree with the plastidip solution. That way you don't have to ruin the chrome by sanding it, and you can always just peel the plastidip off. There is very little prep involved for the plastidip and it is relatively durable, but easy to remove and redo if you do run into issue. I actually did my fork lowers with it, then rode from Ottawa Canada to Laconia in the pouring rain less than 36 hours later. Now two weeks and plenty of miles later and the plastidip still looks mint.

 

yep, did my lowers back in february and still no issues. to the OP they have a bunch of different colors available, and also a "glossifier" if you want a glossy finish

 

If you want to use paint you should sand thoroughly and use a zinc-chromate based etching primer first. I have done several bumpers and other chrome parts with excellent results. Of course powder coating would be best and not very expensive.

 

Take a palm sander with some 60 grit paper. Then use a self etching primer. Then I like to use rustolium textured paint matches the wrinkled paint well. I also like to use flat clear coat paint. It holds up very well.

 

I plasti dipped my air cleaner cover

 

If your going to paint chrome you need to etch it first. Plasti dip is a good fix for that because it is so easy to remove if you decide painting a brand new peice of chrome was a waste or if you just plain change your mind in a year!

I did my fork lowers in the winter and they are holding up fine.

 

Did the same thing with my old headlight. painted the bucket black and left the chrome trim ring. worked good for a few years, got a new headlight last year.