Has anyone painted these pieces?

[michelle_7728]

•The rim around the headlight
•The prominent chrome piece on the front facing panel
•The chrome around the back signal lights
•The passenger pegs (maybe)

I'm looking to use a high gloss paint. Has anyone done that for these pieces? Did you have to use some kind of primer? How is the durability? Do you have to touch them up periodically?

I just bought a black Buddy, and was thinking maybe of doing a high gloss mid to dark grey on these parts...

[LunaP]

•The rim around the headlight
•The prominent chrome piece on the front facing panel
•The chrome around the back signal lights
•The passenger pegs (maybe)

I'm looking to use a high gloss paint. Has anyone done that for these pieces? Did you have to use some kind of primer? How is the durability? Do you have to touch them up periodically?

I just bought a black Buddy, and was thinking maybe of doing a high gloss mid to dark grey on these parts...

I know you can order the footpegs in a black, may be way easier to pay for 'em than painting over the chrome. Same with the bezel (around the headlight) you could order one for a psycho, they are matte black as well, I'm sure you could do a high-gloss coat over it if you liked. The others, I would sand off the old paint, because the chrome plasticky paint stuff will crack and flake off and stuff, and I have no clue if or what kind of primer would get paint to stick to it for sure.

[Swordsman]

I think the big thing would be to sand them first... give a little texture for the paint to adhere to. Krylon Fusion is designed to chemically bond to plastic, and they make a primer version. If I was tackling this myself, I'd sand, hit it with the Krylon Fusion primer, then go over that with an enamel paint. If you wind up with the orange peel texture (sprays usually do), you can polish it out by wet sanding with... um... I think it's 300 grit or higher. You'd better Google that one though. I've only wet sanded once, and I made a total mess of it.

Ordering new parts would definitely be easier, but nowhere near as cost efficient. You could pick up all the supplies you need for probably less than $20. It shouldn't take too long to do... mostly waiting on the paint to dry.

~SM

[Alb brajn]

I too have been wanting to paint my chrome. However I've been too scared to do it.

Here is an old thread with pics of someone who did. Perhaps they have some tips.

topic4482.html

[mhardgrove]

Painted the footpegs black. make sure you use some fine grit sandpaper to just scuff the surface up, it doesn't need to be deep scratches as they show when you pant. Fine grit wet/dry will do the trick! You will want something to clean the surface after, I used Dawn dish detergent and a lint free cloth. I used Krylon primer and 3 coats of Krylon gloss black paint letting it cure a day between coats. After the 3rd coat I let it sit a week before putting 3 coats of automotive grade clear coat from the auto store, cant think of the name, but any will do, again letting it sit a day between coats. Time consuming, but worth it! It's possible to do it faster, I just wanted everything to cure properly.

As for painting over the plastic chrome, it can be done but you may want to see if the dealership sells "psycho" parts as they come painted black. May be a lot less of a headache that way. You may be able to sell/trade the chrome for a "psycho" black trim because people wreck these scooters and that part is always in demand.

good luck to you!

[michelle_7728]

Good tips everyone. Thanks for your feedback.

I'm just thinking the chrome on the black Buddy stands out a bit more than I'd like, so a nice medium dark grey should do the trick (when it gets warmer out, of course!).

If I didn't wear a neon yellow helmet and jacket, I might feel differently about painting it though.