Cutman

So the chrome grill that came with my JK was immediately Plasti-dipped over. But that is starting to speck and show spots of chrome. I decided to bedline. The first few layers were bad and badder. The Rustoleum spray-on is thin and runny. I'm going to try and sand off the drips. If that doesn't work I'll try some roll-on. Anybody feel my pain? Tips, tricks?

karls10jk

I absolutely feel your pain. I did bedliner on a rear bumper and promptly sanded it down as much as I could and went to regular paint. At this point, make it look 'ok' and let someone else play with it. Buy another and go straight to paint.

shabbernigdo

spray lite coats and build them up. it will give it a matte finish when done.

Cutman

It's been about 2 months since I started this thread. I just bought some more bedliner to touch up. I had about 6 or so chips in it. Chrome trying to peek through looks terrible.

mr72

What kind of prep did you do?

Primer?

The problem is if you actually had a chrome plated grille, you would need to sand the chrome thoroughly with 400-grit, clean thoroughly with wax & grease remover and then prime it with a good primer before putting any kind of other finish on it. No paint will adhere to polished chrome. 90% of a paint job is prep anyway, and among the final 10%, 90% of that is getting the right materials (type of paint).

IMHO you are way better off just buying another grille that's already painted the color you want, or just any stock grille with ordinary urethane enamel on it like it came from the factory. Then you can scuff it with a red scotch brite pad and spray the bedliner over it and should stick. But working with chrome is going to be a giant PITA. I see JK grilles all the time on CL for under $100.

Good news is, since adhesion to chrome is so awful, you can probably easily scrape the bedliner off of the whole thing with a plastic putty knife and then redo the plastidip. Plastidip is going to be a way better solution than bedliner for your grille. IMHO!

jedg

Yup... this ^^^.

And, as someone above said, use light coats.

14Sport

Did you do any prep work? I scuffed mine up with a red 3M pad then wiped it all down with M.E.K.. Then 3 or 4 thin coats as shabber said of the Rustoleum truck bed coating. I store the cans upside down btw, seems to spray better. I did my bumpers, grill, and interior dash and door panels (which were both tan) with the stuff with no issues.







Edit: Was typing at the same time as Mr72.

mr72

That will work fine on a urethane enamel painted surface but not on chrome. On chrome you are going to have to sand it with 400 grit (or maybe even sand OFF the chrome plating completely with 220, then smooth it with 400) and then prime it in order to get any paint to adhere. If I was doing rattle cans on a JK grille I'd probably use some black epoxy primer like VHT or Rustoleum (which I hate.. but anyway...) then wax & grease (or MEK if you like, or even mineral spirits will do in a pinch) and tack cloth and then spray with your bedliner spray of choice... or roll on or whatever. Or repaint the whole thing with a pro spray rig and a catalyzed urethane enamel whatever. But the key is to prep the chrome so paint will adhere, then prime and paint as if it were bare metal.

14Sport

Ah thanks. I've never painted over chrome before but makes sense. I would wear a mask if sanding that stuff.

mr72

Yeah your method of prep is spot on for painting over existing factory pain. Chrome is another animal.