Advice needed on painting chrome

Hello all,
The rear fender on my 81 XJ650 Maxim is in pretty rough shape. The chrome is peeling away in some spots, rusty in other spots, pitted, etc.
I want to paint it with black satin enamel but I'm not sure how to prepare it. I don't want to end up with a scrape pattern showing under the paint. Would just sanding it with gradually finer sandpaper do it?
thanks in advance,
baz

 

baz,
Do you have access to D/A sander or a palm sander? The sander will make the process quicker but if not just start out with some 80 grit sand paper and get all the rust off and then use 120, 220 grit. Then for your final go with a wet and dry 320 and wet sand till real smooth and primer it with some sandable primer. Let it dry over night and hit it with wet/dry 600 then 800, just remember to get the surface as flat as you can. Make sure you use a primer that is enamel too so that you are not mixing different products together and go at it with the black satin enamel. Good luck and lets see some pics of befor and after.

 

i did some smaller parts and pipes by wetting them with muriatic acid for 15 minutes or so, the shine was gone and the paint went on real nice

 

I sandblasted with some fine sand, then sanded it with 220 then 400 then 800, worked like a charm ( I did all that sanding because I had some bondo work to do )

 

Trying to sand-down Chrome or the Gold-Tinted plating on "Midnight" Editions is NOT work you want to get involved in trying to do "By Hand".

I needed to do a Fender, Side Cover Surrounds and a Seat Rail.
I visited a Local AutoBody Shop and bartered for Tools and Materials.

I used a small, air-grinder and #-320 Grit to "Scratch-through" the plated surface and expose the Metal or Alloy beneath.
Some of the Plating was so tough it actually needed to be removed with a light tough by an Angle Grinder.

Once I had the Fender stripped, ... Standard re-finishing techniques were employed to prep the surface for Primer and Painting.

The Plated Aluminum Parts got further sanding and finishing until they were able to be Polished and Buffed.

 

screw all that, hit it with 220 grit, use a good self-etch rattlecan primer and then spray it with whatever color you want...simple cheap and very nice results. just wipe with rubbing alcohol between steps...

 

Thanks for all the help, folks. I think I've got a handle on this now.
By the way, Copple, how does a guy in Spartans or Wolverines country end up a Seminoles fan?

 

Actually, I also wanted to mention that I'm replacing the massive school-bus size tail light. I've already replaced those school-bus size signal lights with little chromed mini-stalks. They've got somekind of super bright little bulb in them because I've been told they're sharply visible at night instead of the medium brightness of the stock signal lights.
I was also thinking of slightly shortening the rear fender to give the bike a slightly more cafe look, to go with the flat handlebar. Anybody ever done this and if so, how successful was it in terms of mounting points?
thanks in advance,
baz

 

Given the current disarray of the wolverines and seeing how Noles were once again top 10 in recruiting and 1st in the ACC, I'd say I'm cheering for the right team. I grew up watching college football when the Noles were beating teams by an average of 50+ points and finishing in the top 3 year after year, add to that the number of all-pro players they send to the NFL (Deion, Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Ernie Sims, Antonio Cromartie, etc.) they just have a special place in my heart!!! And they always will too.