This isn't an eco mod, but if you've ever had the paint wear off your wipers, this is the a fast, and very long lasting way of doing it, I did this same repair to the wipers on my old Accord about 4 years ago, and they're still a nice flat black. I'm an automotive painter by trade, so I sorta know what I'm doing. I'll be chronicling the body work and paint work over the next few weeks as I paint the whole car.
First, you need the right paint, you can use any brand you want so long as it's a quality product and it's for the intended purpose. These are both specific automotive products.
The first is called Etch Primer, if you don't apply this, or epoxy primer (a 2 part component that must be sprayed from a gun), then whatever you put on is going to peel off. Paint dosen't like to stick to metal, and etch primer is the answer to the problem, it uses Zinc to create a bond between the metal and the paint.
The second product is simply called "Trim Black" and is offered by many different vendors. If you want to use this on plastic, I recommend applying some 3M adhesion promoter first. Don't use it on rubber.
You can take the wipers off the car if you like but it's just wasted time, and the nuts (if they are external like mine) will just chip when you bolt them back on, so masking and spraying is faster and in my case, a better repair.
It's not hard, clean, spray the etch primer until the metal is fully covered...meaning you can't see the metal through the paint. Let dry for 10 minutes at room temperature (longer if it's very cold), then, 2 coats of Trim Black, about 5 minutes appart and you're done. Put the wipers back on the next day after the paint has had plenty of time to cure. Remember, dry and cured are two different concepts. Dry can mean you can touch it, but it may still be very fragile. Cured means it's as durable as it will get.
Here's the bare metal wipers, masked and ready to go;
2 good coats of etch primer, to full coverage;
Then 2 coats of trim black and that's it. It looks shiny because I took the picture while it was still wet. When it dries it'll be more of a semi-gloss closer to flat;
