re-painting chrome bumpers and grille black? help

[PowerJoker6.0]

got a few questions for people who have done this or may know. my truck, as you can tell, has a chrome front end and rear bumper. i hate chrome personally i would rather it be all black with a set of harley headlights. i am trying to figure out the most economical way of swapping my bumpers and grille to black, but i need it to look good. basically i have 2 options, buy all new front and rear bumpers and have them painted, which i priced at about $500 in parts alone, or sell my chrome stuff or trade for already black parts.

ORRR, and this is my real question, i asked a local shop about stripping the chrome and painting my bumpers black, he said he could do it for $300, its a pretty reputable shop and he is very confident, i just always thought you couldnt sand and repaint metal that has been chromed and expect good results...

what do you guys think?

[JB904]

I wanted to color match my chrome bumpers and was told by a very good local custom paint shop that it will chip and flake at some point the front would be the worse due to rock chips ect. He would be glad to do them but no warranty on paint.

[topncc]

dont have them painted. have the bumpers powdercoated, they will stand up to the elements much better than paint. i had mine done ($200.00) gloss black and they match the truck painted exactly. sorry no pics. but believe me you will not be sorry. i also had the bumper brackets, the ones by the tow hooks done at the same time.

[losrocket]

If you have the chrome bumpers prepped correctly, they can be painted just as easily as a non chrome bumper. You can have them acid-dipped to strip the chrome or have them grinded all the way down to bare metal then primed and painted. This is my bumper on my truck that was originally chrome. It was prepped correctly by a body shop and over two years and 20k+ miles later it still looks like this. There are a few chips from rock and such but that will happen to any painted (not powdercoated) bumpers.




The bumper was dirty with small bugs but as you can tell its not flaking or chipping. Any reputable body shop can paint a chrome bumper.

[PowerJoker6.0]

ok cool guys this is the kinda input i need. is powdercoating that much better than paint?

[cubalz]

Powercoating is way tougher than paint. Honestly, there is no comparison between the two especially for durability. Spend the extra money now for powdercoating them, you will not be disappointed.

[PowerJoker6.0]

What is the procedure for prepping the chromed bumpers for powdercoating?

[SickStroke6.0]

Sandblasting, then using a certain type of paint.

[topncc]

just take them off and take them to the powdercoating shop. they will take care of the prepping and anything else that is necessary all for the price that is quoted. good luck. powedercoating is the only way to go. much more durable than paint, and i believe that it may be cheaper than paint, due to what is involved in prepping for paint.