Question: Can you powder coat over chrome. If so, how do you prepare the surface? Answer courtesy of Powder Coating Magazine.

Answer: Yes you can powder coat over chrome plating, but there is no way to prepare the chrome, from a practical perspective, other than degrease and rinse in a high quality water source such as deionized (DI) or reverse osmosis (RO), especially if you are looking for a coating and part that will last.

When people ask us how to pretreat stainless steel, we ask why coat it? The same thing holds true for a chrome plated part. Powder coating over a clean and dry surface tend to adhere because have great cohesion and adhesion. Substrates that have been phosphatized, or conversion coated, provide many benefits, including adhesion sites.

Chrome plating is very hard, very thin coating of chrome. Because it’s very smooth, there are no adhesion sites. It will temporarily adhere because of the beauty of powder to encapsulate the part due to its cohesion properties. I’m trying to persuade you not to powder coat over the chrome, unless It’s purely decorative and won’t be exposed to elements like wind and rain.