Painting Mirrors

[Crossrodes]

I'm in the process of prepping my mirrors on my '79 for painting.  They are the black mirrors.

I have a concern that I will not be able to mask the rubber ring around the mirror itself such that I get no paint on the ring.  Has anyone done this and do you have any tricks/advice to do a good job on this?

Alternatively I'm guessing that the metal backing of the mirror may be made of stainless steel (I have some paint chips and no rust).  If this is the case I might just remove the paint and leave the stainless bare.  Ditto for the mirror arm.  Does anyone have any info about the metal type and would it look OK if it were left bare and not painted?

[Crossrodes]

OK here's what I did....

I sanded the backs of the mirrors to remove the paint with 220 wet sandpaper.  It looks like the backs of the mirrors are stainless so I decided to sand them again with 400 grit and then again with 1000 grit to polish them up.  The look pretty good so far.

The second part of the plan is to paint the stalks with black automotive paint.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Try the magnet test on the back of the mirrors.  If it doesn't stick, it is probably SS.

p.s. I love my black mirrors!  [smiley=cool.gif]

[Crossrodes]

Thanks Rob.  I did that and it's not magnetic.  However, neither is Aluminum and some grades of stainless are also magnetic.  I know you love your black mirrors but when I photograph mine I think you will be getting out the sandpaper.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

God I love the internet and Google!

http://www.warmtips.com/20051209.htm

[Crossrodes]

Excellent!  

I tried the brass key...it's stainless.

[tvrla]

The mirror backs are stainless, but the stalks are regular steel - hopefully chromed. If the chrome is bad, then the only solution is a re-paint.

[montmil]

... If the chrome is bad, then the only solution is a re-paint.

I tried painting the OEM mirror stalks on one of my R65s. For me, an exercise in frustration, it was.

Paint will not stick for long on chrome. Surface tension will keep it in place for a little while but the first chip... well, I tried it.

The stalks were pitted from rusting. I sanded and wire wheeled 'em. Back again with various grades of Wet-or-Dri. Even filled the "chuck holes" in the chrome prior to painting. Invested way too many hours in a fruitless quest for improved cosmetics.

Bought new mirrors that are way better than the obviously painted chrome stockers. I will never try that again as it just doesn't provide a long lasting fix. First chip and people notice the ghetto fix. But YMMV. Bets of luck. My new mirrors cost less than the materials and wasted time I expended on a bad job made worse. :-/

Monte

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Unfortunately, OEM long-stem black mirrors are becoming scarce.