How different types of chrome paint work
Since its release, Go Chrome paint has been making waves because it is innovative in its operation and amazing in its beautiful 100% chrome effect results. So what are the real differences between chrome paints? What are their application techniques and how do they work? And above all, how to make your choice, according to the tools available, and according to your project!
There are in fact two products, three types of chrome effect paint and 1 chromo effect known as ‘hydrochrome’, which are totally different, and there is a lot of confusion between what is said by the manufacturers and the results that are expected by the users. Added to this are other spray chrome plating processes (It is a chemical process that uses silver nitrate sourced from the mirror industry, diverted from its original use and adapted for spraying, and is known as ‘silver plating’) that we will briefly see below, and which are even more different.
The three types of chrome paint
First, there is the traditional mirror-finish chrome paint, which has been around for about twenty years, and second, the new ‘Neochrome’ chrome paint, made from semi-precious metals, which was introduced in 2024 and represented a genuine innovation in the field of paint worldwide.
There are also a new product which was named Brush-on-Chrome (2), Chrome Brush, Easy Chrome®, Go Chrome®… presented as a product to be applied with a brush.
1/ The professional or traditional version
It is a liquid product like water, with a mirror effect by evaporation.
Spray application on a shiny background.
It is called mirror chrome paint and is formulated using high-quality ‘VMP aluminium’ mirror pigments, produced using a vacuum deposition process
Advantages: more resistant, which can be varnished (using a special technique only).
It is resistant to UV and high temperatures.
Mirror effect 90% unvarnished and 70-80% with varnish .
Varnishing provides resistance to abrasion and friction.
Disadvantages: 3 steps to follow to the letter, including a hard and shiny base, application in fine and repeated veils and fairly long and restrictive drying times, moderate grip.
How it works: 99% of the product evaporates and the "chrome effect" pigment flakes are positioned on the shiny background, so as to create a mirror.
2/ NeoChrome® paint
This is a technological innovation that incorporates a pigment based on a semi-precious metal, which possesses extraordinary properties in terms of lustre and light reflection.
Neochrome paint produces a brighter and clearer chrome mirror effect than traditional aluminium-based paint.
This paint is applied using the same classic three-step (and possibly a fourth) process: the glossy base coat, the metallisation layer and the topcoat to protect against abrasion.
Advantages:
► This paint is naturally resistant to UV rays and corrosion. It therefore offers far greater durability than any other aluminium- or silver-based paint or chrome effect, which oxidises rapidly in the presence of moisture.
► It is easy to clear-coat, without any loss of the mirror effect.
► It has light-reflecting optical properties comparable to those of silver.
Neocromo paint is therefore a paint system suitable for use in the automotive industry, interior design and even architecture, and is also available to private individuals in aerosol format.
3/ Chrome with a brush
It's Go Chrome, the real brush-on chrome paint, with a floating chrome effect.
Application : with a brush, spray, liner, spray gun, dipping, in short… As you wish.
Benefits : all supports, 1 single layer, very fast, 95% mirror effect.
Disadvantages : fragile to friction. It is not possible to varnish it.
Functioning : the mirror pigments float on the surface and create a mirror in seconds. The product evaporates little, it has a high solid content. It is filling and thick. Its thorough drying can take several days.
What is the difference and which chrome paint to choose?
Some competitors actually sell a single chrome paint (chrome by evaporation 1) under two names and two applications, as we did before (see video below), because they have not found the secret of floating chrome.
Stardust is the only company that has achieved four chrome metallic finishes, including the new ‘Neochrome’ paint finish and true brush chrome (floating chrome)
>> Indoor artistic or creative use
Floating chrome is great, but these applications are unfortunately limited to artistic and decorative applications, for all objects that you want to chrome easily and quickly, without requiring resistance to friction or weathering.
Chrome paint can be successfully used for headlight lenses, or even for collector's vehicles that are only intended for display or occasional use.
>> Use for bodywork
In this case, it is imperative to varnish. It is therefore necessary to use professional chrome spray paint because Go Chrome paint cannot be varnished.
Recently, the invention of Neochrome paint has made it possible to combine all the necessary benefits for applying a long-lasting chrome effect to bodywork components exposed to harsh weather conditions and abrasion
►easy to apply (by spray gun or aerosol)
►anti-corrosion and anti-UV guarantee for over 20 years
►100% mirror-finish chrome effect, even after varnishing
>> For the airbrush
Go Chrome paint is quick and easy to use.
It allows you to handle objects, miniatures, figurines...
For more intensive use, the professional version is particularly easy to apply with a airbrush (more than a spray gun, especially for varnishing).
Other chrome techniques
Silvering is often confused with painting. However, this process is a chemical projection and has nothing to do with painting.
It is a complex and difficult technique to achieve, which gives magnificent results, clearly, the best of all.
This creates a silver mirror, which unfortunately does not like UVs or temperature.
Silvering at home
It is currently the same chemical system with silver nitrate, but in an "easy" version.
Nothing really easier in truth, but it can be noted that no machine is necessary to spray all these products: we are satisfied with plastic sprayers, practical, but very limited in power and capacity! The process is therefore suitable for chrome plating a small part.
Stardust offers three different silver-plating formulas:
1 – JetMetal R5 formula: a formula for the general public, suitable for parts of any size, whether small or large, operating at a minimum temperature of 20 °C
2 – JetMetal R2S formula: a formula reserved for professionals which contains formaldehyde, intended exclusively for small items
3 – DUO+ Lithium formula: a formula reserved for professionals, suitable for items of any size and at any temperature
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