Painting the chrome end caps

Has anyone gone the route of dechroming and painting the metal endcaps to color match them? I’m debating which direction to go with killing the chrome. I’d prefer metal over the plastic replacement, also debating just powder coating them black. If anyone has done the paint the metal route any feedback would be awesome.

 

I painted mine almost 2 years ago. Scuffed the chrome with 80 grit on an orbital air sander - sprayed with 2 part epoxy primer followed by 3 base coats of chromabase and a couple of coats of clear of some nason clear i had lying around. So far, so good - I've not seen any issues with lifting or anything.

 

I take it you have the equipment to paint yourself then? I don’t have access to that stuff so I’m going to have to take it to a shop...

 

I have done something similar...
Hit the end caps (and chrome grille) with 80 grit on a random orbital. Taped everything off and then 2 quick coats of Bulldog Adhesion Promoter. After that, I did a 1 quart can of Monstaliner in Medium Quartz Grey.




I wasn't super happy with the grille surround (ended up buying color match), but I'm super happy with the end caps. I don't even notice the slight difference in shade of grey. And even with a lot of offroading, gravel flinging up etc., I the Monstaliner has held up AWESOME. Not a single scratch or chip after almost a year.

Here is the current configuration:

 

Do you happen to remember how much that cost you roughly to do?

 

I had mine sandblasted, then prepped and painted. Came out great and I think will last longer than painting over the chrome. I've talked to several body shops and none of them would paint over the chrome. By the way, the sandblasting cost me $20.

 

Nice, I’ll have to see if I can find a place to get that done near me.

 

$50?

 

Awesome. I appreciate the info. Definitely going to look into that

 

Southeastern Toyota makes end caps color matched that just cover the chrome end caps or you could just get a vinyl wrap over the chrome...

 

I’ve seen the covers from a few vendors on here. Not sure how I feel about them. Vinyl would be on the table, but I know I can’t get a perfect color match to my blue, and it would be similar incost to powder coating from what I’ve seen.

 

find yourself some used caps on here when they pop up. take them to a powder coater and let them do it for you. once you get them back, install and sell your chrome ones to someone else.

I think my powder coat job was $75