A "fix" for cracking/peeling chrome paint on Silvia V2

[jeremyh]

Hello,

I've gotten a lot of tips out of CS over the years so I thought I would sign up just to post this little tip.

The chrome paintjob on the (plastic) shroud/cover that goes over the group head on my Siliva V2 had started to peel and crack badly.
Instead of paying $40+ for a replacement, I just sanded and then painted mine matte black. I used special 'high heat' paint which cost $17/can at Masters.

The peeling was pretty bad:



The paint I used:



After 15 minutes sanding (starting with 240, finishing with 800):



A number of coats was required, though I didn't use primer. The material seems to soak up the paint and it touch dries in minutes.
I kept doing coats and giving it a light sand with 800 grit paper every now and again until I was satisfied, probably 10+ quick coats.



I think the results look great, I probably prefer it to stock. The finish matches the steam knob pretty well.

[metho]

Looks good! Good colour match. If you did not know, you might think it was a factory job

I must admit I have a pet hate for any item to uses that metal bonded foil on plastic. The stuff can peel and sometimes bubbles (thicker foils). I guess the heat and moisture doesn't help.

[blend52]

Looks good !
that shroud is the tackiest part of the Silvias. It really lets down an otherwise solid machine.
on mine ( since passed on) I saved the cost of the paint, and just used the wet & dry on the brass group.
a final polish with brasso resulted in a quality looking finish ( but hot to touch !)

[jbrewster]

Nicely done, if you were really attached to the chrome finish you could always do the same thing with liquid chrome.