black bull bars

[after oil]

i have seen black bull bars on the odd deli. i like! my cham is coming in very soon with chrome all around. since its gonna be a bush banger i prefer to be less shiny.
anyone wanna swap chrome for black?
or, can the chrome be painted over or removed?

[mararmeisto]

The chrome will have to be stripped off (shot blasted works best) in order to have the paint adhere properly. Someone else did the go-to-black-on-the-bull-bars think, but I think they used a rubberised paint or RhinoGuard product of some sort.

[39Ronin]

I will swap you for my white ones that can be painted black much easier than the chrome ones.

[DelicaMark]

Ditto on that, swap white that can be painted for chrome. My van is black and when I saw Loki's (I think it was Loki's) black van with chrome .

-Mark

[after oil]

well then! then a swap for white it will be! ill be picking up my van early next week. ill see what the bars are like and then hope to swap them for another in equalish condition. if the photos represent reality they should be pretty good. plus bonus extra lights! we'll see how it goes
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i might wanna match up the step and rear too...

[torchard]

I saw a van the other day here in Vic, opposite Habit Coffee with what appeared to be rhinoed bull bars (plus a nice set of hella driving lights in place of the fogs). Maybe s/he could enlighten us as it was an attractive and durable finish.

--todd

[Oceanhead]

My dad and i stripped all the paint off all the external bars (grinded and sand blasted) and then i had them powder coated silver at a shop in Langford. It was cheap and they look great. The coating will last a long time as well. Very pleased considering the rust that was beginning to build up on the front bars.

[Adrock]

Rhino lining looks good and is tough as nails... my understanding is that it fades faster than paint. You don't really notice in the bed of a truck but if its against your shiny black van you just might care. I have been contemplaating rhino lining my entire van. A little different from the old spray bomb rattle can job.

[torchard]

Funny you should mention the fading 'cause I was looking at a truck bed earlier this week that looked pretty faded. I suppose you could find some finish to put on them periodically to ward off the UVs.

[ghmorris]

FWIW, LineX is supposed to be more fade resistant than Rhino lining. I haven't used it personally, but have had truck beds done with Rhino lining twice.

Rhino Lining is pretty tough, although the tailgate on the F-150 Lightning needed to be redone once from dumping too many scuba tanks on it!

George

[after oil]

i guess the idea then is that bed-liner is tougher than paint, which makes sense for bull bars. but the fading: is it just colour fading or is the liner stuff coming off thus leaving the bars unprotected?

[ghmorris]

Real bed liner coatings like Rhino lining or LineX are very, very tough. If they are applied properly the result is hard to destroy.

The fading is caused by long-term exposure to UV and is just cosmetic. Black gradually starts to turn grey, just like the plastic surround on the bull bars themselves.

http://www.dodgedakotas.com/boards/gen/1336-1.html

George

[scott]

I had white bars, and spent an hour and a half of sanding them down, then spray bombed them flat black with tremclad.
Pretty basic, but looks good, and cheap.