Hey guys, I'm about to do the bumpers on my Lincoln and was wondering how much Kosmic Krome it would take to do one bumper and if I can apply directly over POR-15. My plan is to blast the bumpers and then apply a coat of POR-15 to them, wait til the POR-15 dries just tacky to the touch then shoot a first layer of Kosmic Krome to give the second coat something to grab on to. Or should I dust the POR-15 with a primer then apply the Krome over it? I was thinking the black of the POR would be better behind the Krome?
If you're blasting the bumpers, I wouldn't use por15. Any shiny paint wil look better shot on a flat surface, use whatever primer is recommended for kosmic krome, block it out to create the best surface possible. I'm not familiar with kosmic krome product, will have to look it up
por-15 likes a rusty rough surface. Otherwise if the surface is too smooth it'll peel off like saran wrap -Pat
For one, POR-15 is not meant to go on clean, blasted surfaces. I think a lot of guys are using it on clean surfaces like it will prevent rust forever, but it's made to go over and encapsulate rust, they're gonna be sorry when it fails later. Kosmic Krome (sp?) needs to be on a super flat surface to have any reflectivity. And I mean really, really smooth. Once your bumpers are blasted, you'll want to etch prime them, fill prime them, block them out, epoxy, then wetsand the epoxy to 1000 grit at least before the "chrome" is sprayed, or it'll just look grey. Some friends of mine who run an actual chrome shop got set up with Kosmic to do stuff that wouldn't take plating the normal way, they said if the stuff isn't prepped perfectly beforehand, it just doesn't give the chrome effect.
Oh ok, well thank you all so much I will take all this into consideration. About how much Krome do yall think it will take to shoot these? I see its in 8oz bottles.
I know this is just my opinion and not really what you're asking, and no offence, but painted bumpers are going to look like shit, even if you use Kosmic Krome on them. Your bumpers have some rust stains on them, but at least try to give them a really good once over with some SOS pads and some polish (typically I don't suggest SOS on chrome but for these, why not). Touch up the small flaked off spots with some silver paint and maybe you can find a better used front bumper over-rider to tie it all together. Real chrome, even with pits, flakes, and imperfections, looks better than painted bumpers, every time. It's worth a shot, before you go spending money and an obscene amount of time on chrome paint.
I gotta disagree with the majority here. I sandblast frames all the time on my builds, and if I dont' get them powdercoated, for some reason, I POR-15 primer them and paint with ChassisCoat. It holds up very well. POR is an aliphatic urethane (an MCU, moisture cured urethane), and as it happens, the industrial paint I bought to paint my concrete floor is the same, so it sticks to other things besides rusty steel. Very tough stuff! That said, I still don't think that's a great idea. First, you need a very nice (perfect is better) black paint under Kosmic Chrome, for it to look even decent. And at that, the best it will look is like a slightly smoky mirror. So you would have to body work and sand and perfect the bumpers before painting. If you think you need the POR (as it IS a very tough surface!) do 2 coats of it, as day apart. On the second coat, put an epoxy primer over the just tacked POR, and let it cure. Then do your glazing of pits, block sanding, with the epoxy. When it's "right", the paint black, and Kosmic Chrome it. But the weak link wont be the POR-15 primer, it will be the paint on top of it. That will still chip, as it is regular paint. Chrome is much better!
POR15 sticks very well to freshly blasted metal. Been doing it for 20 years. And don't use SOS pads on chrome. Use 0000 steel wool. It will take off the rust stain and polish it up if there is still chrome on there. Also will clean and polish the stainless steel and glass.
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