Black end caps on bumpers

I was thinking about just doing the matte black end caps. Does any one have pics on a white truck. I have heard they are a good match to center section. Not sure I want to color match and deal with rock chips. I had color matched bumper in white Tacoma and chips were a problem.

 

Im sure you thought about this but what about color matched vinyl? It should keep the rock chips at bay.

 

Not really. Is the vinyl easy to apply? Can you do it over the chrome?

 

Easy to apply, hard to say. You can watch some youtube videos and it might be easy for you. Yes you can apply over the chrome.

 

@Sean266 did vinyl....he should be able to tell ya, but he had someone else do it

 

Im doing my rear bumper this week. It will be a first wrap for me so I will let you know.

 

I was thinking that would be an option if I did like black. I might get black and put them on and try to paint the chrome ones.

 

You really cant paint chrome. Im no expert but they would need to be chemically stripped first. That would mean $$$ for the stripping process and then $$$ for the painting process. At that rate you might as well go through Roman and get the painted caps.

You could also get them powder coated. It cant be too hard to match the white and black would be super easy. Then you get the durability of the powder coat.

Paint will chip.

 

@Almaboy painted his himself and they seem to be holding up. had to sand the hell out of them.

@coosbaybaker said professionally done they get sandblasted if i remeber correctly

 

None of the shops near me were willing to paint chrome. All said it won't hold up. I do live in the North East so that might have something to do with it.

 

I was not planning to just paint over chrome. I know that will not work. I was just thinking once they are off the truck and just gathering dust I could tinker with removing chrome.

 

I vinyl wrapped mine (gloss black to match) and they are holding up just fine so far. I did the grille, bulge, and bumper ends front and rear. The bumper ends turned out the best of all the pieces.

 

I disagree with people that say you can't paint over chrome.... with the right prep, you can. I hit mine with 80 grit paper & a DA sander, removed all of the gloss to give the primer something to grip.

Then i hit it with 2k epoxy primer, base & clear. Ive used that method before and in my opinion, I'd rather have painted chrome as above, than painted plastic. I've never had good results with anything plastic, it's much more sensitive to prep.