Prepping for chrome

[Kory Fox]

I will need to have most of the chrome on my car redone. Much of it is pitted and or scratched up. I assume the chrome shop would charge quite a bit to get that stuff ready for chrome. Is this something I can do? How would I go about that?

[joefrazer]

You're much further ahead to look for NOS. Chrome for the early series cars is easily sourced...there always seems to be some on ebay. And, even if it does need plated, compliments of shelf wear, it has to be cheaper in the long run than trying to replate pitted parts.

[Kory Fox]

Wow. That's hard for me to believe that it would cost less to buy parts and have them rechromed than to just have my existing parts done. Even if they are pitted. What about pieces that are just scratched and worn?

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Unless you are very good and very lucky, scratches would still require re-chroming.  The chrome plate itself is a hard shell, mircons thick.  good chrome is electroplated to a copper base which was already electroplated to the pot metal (Zinc alloy ZN3 is a good plating metal and is preferred by many die casters who cast for plated parts).  If you have tiny pits you need to go down to the bare metal and smooth the surface before copper base re-plating.  The copper is buffed to get it warm and moved around the surface to fill the small holes and pits that remain.  Because of its characteristics, hexavalent chrome (aka hex chrome) is best suited for plating outdoor parts (door handles, turn signal housings, bumpers, etc.).  When it electro bonds to the copper, it does not fill in the holes, it contours around them, highlighting the pitting so the surface had to be smooth before plating.  You then buff the part to get the luster.

Oh yes, you cannot effectively plate magnesium, stainless steel or aluminum.

[Kory Fox]

So if I wanted to try to smooth out the metal to at least save some money on the prep work, how would I go about it? Or are you saying that its not worth it to try? My he door handles are the pieces that are pitted. Bumpers are just scratched pretty bad but no pitting.

[dpledger]

The first step in rechroming is to remove the old plating. This is a chemical stripping process, beyond what diy-ers want to attempt. Stuff is toxic and EPA surveilled. The question is how much of the pit and scratch depth goes beyond this layer. If after stripping there are still imperfections, they can be dealt with by polishing if not too deep, or application of multiple layers of copper followed by polishing. Depends on whether you want things totally removed or are willing to accept barely noticeable blems. Or, how much do you want to pay? I recently redid all the chrome on my '53 Manhattan, and sort of used all the above suggestions. Was able to get a few pieces on the bay or from other members. These were generally those that I didn't have very good ones of, and didn't think they would rechrome that well. Also got a few pieces that way that needed rechroming themselves , but were better than what I had. The rest I had re done. The only way I found to reduce cost was to make sure nothing went it that had dents or distortions. The chromer will take care of these if he finds them and charge you accordingly. Make sure you have removed all the dings before taking it in and you will have done all you can to reduce the $$.

[BigDave LM6174]

For our 52 Henry J, I just had the window channels, windwings frames, front parking light housings and hood ornament spear and base rechromed here in California for $275.  Spear was badly pitted.  I took some of the pitting off of it with a wire wheel on a grinder, but the chromer said it does not matter until after he takes all the old chrome off.

I agree, remove the dents is the best you can do.  Chroming is not cheap, so finding some new old stock or better ones may be cheaper than rechroming.

[Kory Fox]

O.K. thanks guys.