Painting of Chrome Tanks- Need some advice

[grundlegrabber]

I am currently in the process of performing a concours-level restoration on my 175 Dual Twin. As many of you Bridgestone guys know, the tank has chrome sides and is painted on the top and around the chrome. I have been told by a painter that paint will never adhere to shiny chrome. I read a post below that states the surface needs to be roughed up before painting (175 SR racer, tank is very similar to mine). I plan to send the tank to Brown's for replating and when it's done, I will need to find a painter to paint all the bodywork. I would like to prep the tank myself so the painter doesn't have to deal with it. What is the best way to rough the surface of the shiny chrome so the paint will look smooth and adhere properly? Seems like it would be a very tedious process to rough the necessary surface area with precision around the areas that need to be shiny chrome (which obviously cannot have so much as a scratch on it!). Anybody have any experience with this?

[OldSwartout]

I know that sandblasting will work, but keeping the sides masked to protect them may be difficult.  I painted the whole tank, so protecting the sides wasn't a problem.  The original tanks were plated, but weren't polished under the painted area.  There is still that transition area where the polishing runs out, which is why the paint tended to chip and flake along the edges on the originals.  Hopefully, some of the others on here will have more experience and chime in.  You might also talk to someone at Brown's Plating - they may have recommendations since they have plated thousands of tanks, so may have picked up tips in conversations.

[rwgibbon]

An etching primer will make the paint bond to the chromed surface.

I did this done on a 175 HS tank that I hand Brown's re-chome.
They chromed the entire tank and to have the paint bond, an
etching primer had to be used. It worked well.

[Jeff Bar]

There was a guy on this board, who is a painter, sorry I do nto remember who it is, seems he was redoing a 350
may be a older message search, about 6 months ago,


Hope this helps a bit

Jeff Bar

[grundlegrabber]

Thanks for the input so far. I plan on calling Brown's as soon as I get a chance to see if they have any experience in the matter. In the meantime I will do some more searching of the board. The painters I have spoken with are auto body guys, not used to doing motorcycle restoration stuff. I know a lot of older British bikes had paint-on-chrome paint schemes, if anyone knows of anyone with experience in that area. Anybody else have anything to add?? I'd like to make sure I get this right the first time.

[vitesse6]

Please let us know what you enentually find/figure out.  I have a DT 175 and will be going through this process in the future.
Thanks,
Dan

[rwgibbon]

Ask Ron Brown at Brown's Plating on how to do it.

Ron is the one who advised me about applying etching primer
to the tank so paint will adhere to the chrome.

I did a 175 HS tank and it worked like Ron said.

Good luck.

Randy