painting the headlights

[reut1]

so i got my headlights off and apart and began sanding down the part to paint. has everyone that has done this been able to get into every part and get all the chrome finish off? or do some of you just paint over parts of it. seems like it wont be possible to get it all off unless it was sandblasted or something

 

[Brian_K]

household bleach strips all the chrome off, just put it in a bucket for an hour or so

 

[reut1]

so put it in the bucket and then i need to use maybe a tooth brush or will it just all be at the bottom of the bucket?

 

[justanothermp5]

you dont have to strip the chrome off, sand with 400 and paint over it

 

[reut1]

its just tough trying to sand ALL that chrome, some is hard to reach

 

[obiwan177]

I want to do this mod, but I don't want to screw it up and end up having to buy new lights. What is the chance of messing it up? It doesn't seem that complicated at all.

 

[justanothermp5]

the only way you can mess it up is if you bake the headlight too long and the plastic burns or melts
but 200 for 10 minutes is what i did and it worked great,

and to the OP, just sand what you can and make sure you wash it with soap and degrease it before you spray the paint on it, its not coming in contact with anything on a day to day basis so the little sections you didnt sand wont really be effected that much

 

[blueamcat]

Bleach also works for stripping chrome off badges before painting. ;]
Strange thing on my Protege...the headlights came black!

 

[randyj69]

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114394

 

[reut1]

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114394

yeah but that didnt answer the question if ALL the chrome needed to be sanded. i looked at that before i started


anyways, i painted them and got them back on the car. going to wash it then get pics!

 

[dxaveP5]

did this in 07, and i sanded all i can then primed 2 coats of gray and then went with black paint and its looking good til today
ready for pics

 

[reut1]

yay!

 

[FightClubTheory]

Congrats you got that all squared away. Looks clean!
I would've suggested just going with Krylon Fusion paint, which is what I used for my headlights, since there's no need for sanding or priming.

 

[reut1]

i bought some fusion, but i ended up using a valspar enamel which i recently used to paint one of my bikes, and my center console trim. i like the flatter finish it has compared to the fusions "flat or satin". hopefully it holds up