I am thinking about chroming some things under the hood of my car. I might do the the dampening cover over the engine, and maybe a few other parts. I found a really cool looking product that chromes plastic. I have e-mailed the site and asked about the temps this can withstand first. Check out the link below and look at the Killer Chrome kit they sell, and the demo vids on it. They have a ton of other products that are awesome looking too. What do you guys think?

alsacorp.com

 

Nice stuff. I'm always are leary of spray cans and the spitting. I hope those cans won't do that to you. The chrome coating is cool.

 

I have to admit I was pretty impressed by their products. It was nice to see someone selling something that wasn't the traditional silver paint in a can with a chrome top. If you don't have any heat issues I think that painting stuff chrome under your hood should come out looking hot.. Would love to see the engine cover in chrome.

You can probably expectthese paintsto perform about the same (Heat resistance wise)as a normal spray paint since you will be putting clearcoat on top so I would take an infrared temperature gauge and see how hot that engine cover really gets since it isn't directly touching the engine andshouldn't get as hot as an intake manifold would get (Although that sucker gets hot) but then again so doesthe exterior of a car out in the sun in the summer.. The company is probably going to tell you not to paint any engine parts but in reality normal spray paints usually hold up to the heat as long as you don't paint the exhaust manifold. (When I was14 and just learning I painted an engine block that I was building with normal black spray paint and it held without flaking or peeling. I also painted the exhaust manifold with the same paint.. That went bye-bye within an hour From that point on I use only high temp sprays on engines (Gotta learn some way) butthepaintdid hold on the block.

The spitting you get with spray paint comes from cheap spray tips, low spray pressure, and/or an accumulation of paint on the spray nozzle. You can minimize this in a couple of ways
1)Avoid buying cheap spray paints that use cheap nozzles and don't put enough pressure in the can to complete the job. (Usually the touchup paints in auto parts stores are cheaply designed)
2) Always make sure the tip is clean anddoesn't have excess paint dripping on it
3) If you do have a spitter and want to continue using the paint, try to keep the paint on your painted object wet (But not dripping) so the spits blend into the paint better. (Although you should switch to a new can that is not spittingat this point)

If you find a high quality spray paint you can expect results close enough to using a spray gun that you cant tell the difference.

 

Yeah, the product they sell has a nozzle that sprays the paint like it is coming out of a gun, real wide and fine. So I am thinking if you follow the directions closely it should come out looking pretty good. I still have not heard back from them on the temp. question.

 

I tried some of the thermoformable stuff with less then stellar results ... When you form it the curves cracked badly looked like crap their solution was to buy their chrome spray and respray it... if I had known that I'd have just sprayed the stocker

 

I appreciate the imformation on the nozzles. I guess I was a bit ignorant on the subject. You helped me because I have to paint something and now I know. Is there any company that sells OEM factory paint in cans with pretty good nozzles ? Thank you.

 

It's best to buy a small spray /touch up gun for best results ...Some paint shops can mix paint and put it in their own cans ...
We have a small chain called Hopkins and Kipp that does it .... It's pretty pricey forsome of the newer colors due to high pearl content
1/2 a pint of mine was $95

 

We have some company also near here that does that also, I don't know how reliable they are yet. Thanks for the help. I've seen a few online places, But I figured to ask if you guys know who's good.

 

Found what you're talking about (nozzles,Spray triggers) http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint.asp

 

Yup, That's the company I used when I painted my scoops( http://www.automotivetouchup.com)... They have an excellentcolor match, decent nozzles and I only experienced spitting at the end of the can and that was cause I wasn't checking the paint on the tip.

The finish came out better than the car's paint without using any spray guns.. I was pretty impressed with the results so that's why I was recommending them in other posts.