Powder Coating Chrome Fenders

[riggies_imp]

Fantastic reply, thank you. I will let everyone know what comes of all of this. I have a quote from a local guy for $375 for both Fenders, which seems pretty high based off of some bike frames I’ve had coated before, so I’m leaning towards just buying the fenders from samurider.

Has anyone gotten their fenders powder coated? If so, were you able to do the tail light housing?

How did the black match the bike? Or better yet, how does it compare to the Honda Japan fenders that can be ordered through Samurider for a cool $500 plus shipping?

If anyone has any experience with this, let me know. I have a local powder coater that will be much less then purchasing the new fenders, so would like to go this route. This all started with seeing Rotor’s Canadian Checkerboard CB that has black fenders, looks awesome so I’m going to copy it.

Powder coating is great stuff, I have used it many times for restorations. A good powder coater will glass bead blast the part, to give the metal a fine, even "tooth" for the powder to adhere to ( can be done on chrome at lower pressure ). I cant remember which way it goes, but the powder is + charged, and the metal rack the part is hung on is - charged so the powder will stick to the part ( may be the other way around, I cant remember ). The the rack with hung part is rolled into an oven and baked. The powder melts and bonds to the part. Powder coating will not result in a glass slick finish, but is more like a very fine orange peel, sorta like the texture of a matt finish, but the amount of gloss will be determined by the powder selected. ( almost smooth ). Your powder coater should have samples. You can scratch powder coat, but it will not peel. Long term exposure to sunlight will fade the color some.

If the tail light housing is plastic, it cannot be powder coated. That said, you can strip chromed plastic parts with Original Foumula Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner. I saved money by stripping chromed plastic parts myself, before sending them to a professional that did re-chrome on plastic. He was the one who told me how to do the strip. It is labor intensive, and oven cleaner is nasty stuff, but the end result is worth the effort. Under the chrome is a bonding layer of some kind, and you have to Oven Cleaner that off too. After everything is stripped off, wash and rinse thoroughly to get all the oven cleaner residue off. The plastic part is then ready to prime and paint.

Powder coating is great stuff, I have used it many times for restorations. A good powder coater will glass bead blast the part, to give the metal a fine, even "tooth" for the powder to adhere to ( can be done on chrome at lower pressure ). I cant remember which way it goes, but the powder is + charged, and the metal rack the part is hung on is - charged so the powder will stick to the part ( may be the other way around, I cant remember ). The the rack with hung part is rolled into an oven and baked. The powder melts and bonds to the part. Powder coating will not result in a glass slick finish, but is more like a very fine orange peel, sorta like the texture of a matt finish, but the amount of gloss will be determined by the powder selected. ( almost smooth ). Your powder coater should have samples. You can scratch powder coat, but it will not peel. Long term exposure to sunlight will fade the color some.

If the tail light housing is plastic, it cannot be powder coated. That said, you can strip chromed plastic parts with Original Foumula Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner. I saved money by stripping chromed plastic parts myself, before sending them to a professional that did re-chrome on plastic. He was the one who told me how to do the strip. It is labor intensive, and oven cleaner is nasty stuff, but the end result is worth the effort. Under the chrome is a bonding layer of some kind, and you have to Oven Cleaner that off too. After everything is stripped off, wash and rinse thoroughly to get all the oven cleaner residue off. The plastic part is then ready to prime and paint. I also forgot to mention that I ordered some 3M vinyl wrap and am going to give it a shot st home doing the front fender. I’m not totally sure if I have the skills to do the rear and taillight housing but I’ll give it the ol college try.