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Imitating Cadmium Plating

Many of the under hood components came cadmium plated (that metallic gold color plating). Unfortunately, on my ZX, most of it has worn off due from age and grime.  This is my best attempt at duplicating the original plating. You can by kits from The Eastwood Company for ~$40, though, having the exact look wasn't important to me (and I didn't want to spend the $40 on the kit).

Here's what I did

Cadmium-Like Finish DIY Guide

  1. Clean the surface thoroughly using a wire brush, steel wool, or bead blaster. Mask off anything you don’t want painted.

    Surface prep

  2. Spray with a metallic silver paint. Recommended: Duplicolor High Temp Aluminum or Krylon Metallic Chrome.

    Silver coat

  3. Apply clear coat immediately, before the silver paint dries. Use a light misting technique (spritz).

    Clear coat step

  4. Without waiting for drying, spritz Krylon Gold Metallic paint unevenly for a splotchy finish.

    Gold layer

  5. Add another spritzed clear coat to seal in the gold layer.

    2nd clear coat

  6. Very lightly dust with Duplicolor Bronze Wheel Paint from ~24" distance to mute the shine.

    Bronze coat

  7. Spritz on a final clear coat—thin, light, and misty. Avoid heavy application.

    Final clear coat

  8. Final result (still wet in photo). A satin clear will dry to a low-gloss finish.

    Finished part 1 Finished part 2

  9. Additional examples using the same technique:

    Sample 1 Sample 2

Sources Used

  • Writen by: Redare