I just recently installed Rugged Ridge stainless steel relocation brackets and don't like the way they look. I am interested in painting them a flat black. I would really appreciate any advice on how to do this, as I have some questions. Do I need to sand the brackets before cleaning them to apply the paint? Do I need to use a primer? Feel free to chime in! Thanks

Here is how the brackets look currently

 

I would see about have them acid dipped or etched first, then have them powerdercoated.

Maybe get with a powerdercoater first and see what he says. I have had that done on some stainless steel parts for my rear snow plow on my truck. Was happy with the results. Has held up to two winters in Michigan so far.

 

You could bedline them and then they'd match the plastic parts on the Jeep. I bedlined my RR bracckets and they turned out awesome. I used the rustoleum aerosol bed liner at Lowe's. Get two cans.

For plain stainless, I'd sand them with some 220 grit all around. I'd then de-grease and clean them. I'd shoot them with one coat of primer, self-etching would be best. I'd finish with two to three coats of bedliner.

It'll look great! Good luck!

 

Wow thank you so much for the knowledgeable quick reply . Any recommendations on de-greasing and cleaning materials?

 

Give me a few minutes for the de-greaser and cleaner. In the mean time, here are some teaser pics from my rig when I finished mine.

 

OK so here is the way I'd do it. It might be overkill on the cleaning, but when you are painting base metal, there is no such thing as too clean. All these items should be available from Lowe's. The alcohol you might have to getAfter sanding clean all parts twice with Simple Green degreaser. There a bunch of varieties of it. I have shown the automotive below, but any of them should be fine. You should be able to get everything at Lowe's. The alcohol might be an exception. That you can get at Walmart.

1. Rinse and wipe down the part two times with Isopropyl Alchohol. After this do not touch the parts with the bare hands anymore. Use either latex or nitrile gloves.
2. Allow the parts to dry completetely.
3. Mask the foam gasketing on the covers and the brackets. Be sure to get the edges of the gaskets when you mask.
4. Prime with Rustoleum self-etching primer shown below.
5. Finish with Rustoleum truck bed-liner below.

Good luck and don't forget to post pics of the finished product. Go Get 'em!

 

If you have a can a brake parts cleaner sitting around, that will work just fine for degreasing the bare metal

 

Off topic (sort of) I just purchased these and waiting for them to come in (flat black) good choice now that I've seen this. Is your passenger mirror blocked at all by the door? Apologize for switching it up (op).... Thanx in advance

 

I would think a light run of sandpaper (600) would do, just to give paint the paint something to bite on.

 

Thanks so much for the help! Your's look exactly what I hope mine will look like. Excellect job I will definitely update with the finished product! Thanks again