I am finally beginning to restore the bed on my 1950 1/2 ton. I like the looks of the bed strips that do not have the bolts showing but they are polished stainless steel and I had planned to paint my strips to match the truck color. Can you paint polished stainless? If so, how?

Has anyone taken standard steel bed strips with no holes and welded bolts on the bottom to achieve the no bolt look? I am concerned that due to heat the strip ends up looking like a pretzel.

thanksforthehelp,

Nick