Bottecchia Frame, Paint over chrome adhesion.

[flyingbalut]

Repainting a mid 90's Bottecchia lugged road frame which had chrome chainstays. After stripping the frame I find the frame had been completely chrome plated. The frame was painted over unsanded/unscuffed chrome. Yet the red colored primer they used was bonded (adhered) to the chrome extremely well. Does anyone know what brand/type of primer the Bottecchia painters used? Was some kind of adhesion promoter used?

[Curt Goodrich]

Doubtful anyone knows what they used. Perhaps a primer with lead in it but that's a guess. I'd scuff, sand or etch the chrome before putting on the new primer though. An adhesion promoter might be a nice bit of insurance too.

[flyingbalut]

Hopefully I will find out someday. It goes against what I've learned (so far) about painting over chrome. The Bottecchia painter somehow was able to acheive extremely good adhersion over shiny chrome . . . "how the hell ?"

[EricKeller]

every bike like that I've ever seen stripped has fairly rough chrome under the paint