Bedlining chrome step bars?

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Armyman14

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So I tried using dupli color bed armor on my westin chrome Wheel to wheel step bars. I scuffed it down with 80 grit sand paper and sprayed 2 coats on the bottom, let it dry, them flipped it over and added a coat on top. I ran out of bed armor so I had to wait until today to buy em but when I got home I was feeling the texture and it came off easily with my finger nail. What did I do wrong? Should I have primed it?
 

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Depending on where you live, it may not have been warm enough for the paint to fully cure...if you have a garage i would suggest spraying them and then letting them set up for a day or two nefore you remount them.
 

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Mine came off fairly easily at first. It got harder to get off later. It's still certainly not made for abuse, but they're holding up pretty good. Better than I expected when I did the same thing you did. I would let them set a couple days before putting the plastic pieces back on.
 

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Self etching primer


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With chrome you should really try to sand it down all the way... Takes more than just a scuff. And definitely use etching primer.


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Armyman14

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With chrome you should really try to sand it down all the way... Takes more than just a scuff. And definitely use etching primer.

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When you mean all the way, how far down do you mean, no chrome left on all? Self etching primer it is! Oh and I I didn't take off the plastic pieces I just taped them off, how do you remove them? Temp had to be between 50-90 and it was 54 when I painted.
 

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Not sure about the Westins. My factory stuff just pops on and off. If its at all chilly though I would be extremely careful with that. We all know removing cold plastic is a bad idea. Maybe let them warm up inside for a while.
 
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Armyman14

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Not sure about the Westins. My factory stuff just pops on and off. If its at all chilly though I would be extremely careful with that. We all know removing cold plastic is a bad idea. Maybe let them warm up inside for a while.

Haha well I already got em all taped off now pretty good. So I guess I'm gonna need to scratch the old stuff off maybe sand it down some more and use some etching primer then use bed armor!
 

atticusfaul

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All the way means till you hit the black underneath. I'm going to do color matched raptor liner bumpers this spring and been talking to the paint supply house quite a bit lately.


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That's probably what I should have done. But being one of my first DIYs and only out about $30 I'm satisfied for now. I have access to a sandblaster on post here at the car hobby garage, so I'll eventually do them up right, I guess.
 
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Armyman14

Armyman14

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All the way means till you hit the black underneath. I'm going to do color matched raptor liner bumpers this spring and been talking to the paint supply house quite a bit lately.

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My dad has a sander that I can borrow but I need to buy one of the sanding sheets for it, what grit should I go for?
 
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Armyman14

Armyman14

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But I'm still concerned about the actual Bedliner, it's supposed to harden up right? Even if it doesn't stick, it's supposed to get hard, this stuff was like rubber when I was peeling it off, if I'm gonna redo it should I scrape off all the old stuff soon?
 

atticusfaul

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Paint guy I talked to said to work your way from 80 to the 220 range when sanding. For bedliner you don't have to go farther.


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Armyman14

Armyman14

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Paint guy I talked to said to work your way from 80 to the 220 range when sanding. For bedliner you don't have to go farther.

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Yeah I don't care about it being smooth, I actually want to use Bedliner to give it that rough look and to have traction when I step on it
 

ram-head

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Yeah I don't care about it being smooth, I actually want to use Bedliner to give it that rough look and to have traction when I step on it

Yeah, that was my goal as well. Them chrome ***** is slippery when wet.
 

ram-head

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Unless you've already started sanding, I would let it set a day or two and see if it gets better. Sanding that chrome off is gonna be a job and a half, even with a power sander I bet.
 
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Armyman14

Armyman14

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Unless you've already started sanding, I would let it set a day or two and see if it gets better. Sanding that chrome off is gonna be a job and a half, even with a power sander I bet.

Yeah I know it, not looking forward to it!
My buddy brought up the idea of using some kinda acid to get it off there and I heard hydrochloric acid or muriatic acid would work but I went to Home Depot and the guy there told me that muriatic would be to weak and hydrochloric would have to be purchase at a science store or something. But then I went to a paint shop and they told me chrome won't come off, they said sanding would probably be the only way. Do any of yall think hydrochloric acid would work, if so where could I find it?
 

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Used to sell hydrochloric acid at my old job... Not gonna do the trick.
 

ram-head

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It will come of with a sander. Just gonna hard and dirty. And you probably don't want to breathe that dust either. I'll take some pictures of mine tomorrow and show you how they've held up. Been about four months now. With snow and ice and salt three or four times.
 

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