 Re: Advice on painting chrome
I have painted chrome successfully on a sport truck I built 15 years ago and on my current bike. here is what I did- overkill? Maybe, but the paint stays where it is supposed to.
The first thing I did was get the cheapest hydrochloric acid based toilet bowl cleaner I could. I immersed the parts I wanted to paint (springer fork parts in my case) and left them for a few days (check every once in a while). Even when it is ready for the next step. to the naked eye, you may not notice anything. However, leave it exposed to air any length of time and it will flash rust. this means you have succesfully created millions of microscopic pits...which is what you want.
If there are openings such as drain holes in the part, make sure you rinse it out very well and then fill the drain holes with a phosphoric metal prep (often called, amazingly, "Metal Prep"). That will prevent rust inside. For extra assurance, inject some paint in there and swirl it around....but the phosphoric treatment is probably sufficient.
Treat the outside with metal prep as well. That will remove and prevent flash rust. Now, sand with 150 or 220 until every spec has been scuffed dull (I use a random orbit sander). The sand with 320- which is fine enough on bare metal. Prime with a self-etching primer. If you want to wet sand after priming, do not sand though the self etching primer. the self etching primer I use is green. The regular primer is gray. If I am going to sand, I coat the self-etching with regular, then take it really easy when the green appears.
Then paint. As with all paint, it's a matter of prep. | 
