Console shifter conversion
Is the pitting and peeling mostly in the flat areas? It's hard to tell from the photos but it looks like the vertical surfaces aren't too bad and are reflecting the pitting on the flat.
If it were me, I'd take some wadded up tin-foil with some water and see how well the chrome that is there polishes up. Then use some masking tape and mask off all the vertical surfaces and sand the flat areas out as good as possible that would be covered by the vinyl inlay. As in the red sections of your photo:
If you don't think any of the chrome is salvageable and want to powder-coat, then things are more difficult. You have to sand everything out really well and then everywhere there is pitting you have to drill out as much of the oxidizing metal as you can before using a filler. Otherwise it will just continue to "rust", pit, and bubble, under whatever you decide to fill and coat with.
Powder coating is a relatively high-heat process so you need to use a filler that is also high heat. Regular bondo and epoxy will out-gas as it is being heated so you have to use stuff like Alvin's Hi-Temp Lab Metal or the coating will come out looking worse than it does now. I've heard people say they've used JB-Weld if the pitting isn't too deep and you can powder coat over it but have never tried it myself. If that is the case, it is cheap and sands smooth great!
Sorry for the wall of text...
If I was made of money I would just buy this - Automatic Console Plate Kit - but holy-crap that's expensive!
Is the pitting and peeling mostly in the flat areas? It's hard to tell from the photos but it looks like the vertical surfaces aren't too bad and are reflecting the pitting on the flat.
If it were me, I'd take some wadded up tin-foil with some water and see how well the chrome that is there polishes up. Then use some masking tape and mask off all the vertical surfaces and sand the flat areas out as good as possible that would be covered by the vinyl inlay. As in the red sections of your photo:
If you don't think any of the chrome is salvageable and want to powder-coat, then things are more difficult. You have to sand everything out really well and then everywhere there is pitting you have to drill out as much of the oxidizing metal as you can before using a filler. Otherwise it will just continue to "rust", pit, and bubble, under whatever you decide to fill and coat with.
Powder coating is a relatively high-heat process so you need to use a filler that is also high heat. Regular bondo and epoxy will out-gas as it is being heated so you have to use stuff like Alvin's Hi-Temp Lab Metal or the coating will come out looking worse than it does now. I've heard people say they've used JB-Weld if the pitting isn't too deep and you can powder coat over it but have never tried it myself. If that is the case, it is cheap and sands smooth great!
Sorry for the wall of text...
If I was made of money I would just buy this - Automatic Console Plate Kit - but holy-crap that's expensive!
