De-chroming headlight rim

[Nottsbiker]

Hi all,

I'd like to find out how everyone goes about getting rid of the chrome on the original shape Monster headlight?

I want to either paint mine or get it powdercoated later in the year when the frame. wheels and swingarm etc go in to be done.

Cheers in advance - Ben

[Uncle Mofo]

Just scuff it with sandpaper and spraypaint it.

http://www.hoosierhooligans.org/forum/accessories-and-mods-forum/my-bikes-mods/68/

[Nottsbiker]

Cheers - that is what I thought but I thought I'd get shot down for such a ghetto mod 

[Desmo Demon]

I'd like to find out how everyone goes about getting rid of the chrome on the original shape Monster headlight?

You could always do a reverse electo-plating process on it.

I also just got done writing a long reply on chemical stripping, but after considering the potential safety hazards and environmental hazards, I decided to delete it.

[Travman]

I used emery paper to take the shine off my chrome ring.  It now has a brushed finish.  I think it was sanded all in one direction for the best look.

It's not a close up but you can see in this picture that the chrome shine is gone from the headlight ring.

I did the same thing a few years earlier on my 620.


I also took the chrome shine off the handlebars.

[NAKID]

As others have said, scuff and paint it. What I would do is scuff the ring and the housing after disassembling the light. Then get some satin high temp BBQ paint and hit the ring and bucket seperately so they match...

[suzyj]

Sand with 240 grit emery, prime, then spray with satin black enamel.  Finish by baking for a couple of hours at 90 degrees.

[NAKID]

Sand with 240 grit emery, prime, then spray with satin black enamel.  Finish by baking for a couple of hours at 90 degrees.

Forgot about the baking. Definitely a good idea. And while you got the light off hit the btackets as well...

[Nottsbiker]

You havent seen the bike - its totally in bits, and I mean everything! so I'll be doing the brackets as a matter of course.

I'll also be dropping the height of the headlight as soon as I locate a friendly ally welder in my neighbourhood  

This is a slow project so I'm finding things that I can mess around with each week whilst money is so tight  

[Slide Panda]

As an alternate to painting the supports I covered them in black reflective vinyl. Black in daylight - reflects white when hit with a directional light.

Trav - looks nice. Did you clear it after or just leave it?

[Travman]

Trav - looks nice. Did you clear it after or just leave it?

No need to clear. It is simply scuffed up chrome.

[DarkStaR]

No need to clear. It is simply scuffed up chrome.

Mine started to get spots of rust here and there after a year or two.  Now it's painted black.

[SDkid]

similar to the reflective vinyl, I just put a strip of black on it while I was wrapping my forks.

[Nottsbiker]

Never heard of black reflective vinyl before - perhaps that level of technology will make it to the UK in 10 years or so 

I'll paint or coat mine as I want easy maintenance and both of these options will enable me to stay lazy 

[Glass_Darkly]

The brushed look handle bars look awesome i asune  you took the bar off ? Or did you blag it with it still on ?