Just have to complain to people who share the same problems! I took out my 61 Dodge that I put together about 6-7 years ago, and have driven only occasionally, garaged the rest of the time. While cleaning it, I noticed that the wheels, Astros I bought new back then, the bumpers, and the lake pipes have all become pretty rusty. While most of it cleaned up, it is pretty disappointing that CHROME, a metal, does not hold up as well as my paint job! the paint still looks fantastic, and some of it over not so great bodywork (it was an old custom & I left as much of the original work I could). Now, these were from different sources, of course, new wheels, rechromed bumpers, and purchased lakers (probably Chinese, so I would expect this). All them are failing WAY before my custom paint! Back in the old days, your chrome would last many years, and the paint would have to be redone more often, to keep looking perfect. Anyway, anyone recommend a good brand of Astro Supremes to replace these, while I hunt up a different plater?
First of all, as I understand it, chrome is porous and therefore moisture gets to the metal beneath it. Many chrome plated items are plated directly over steel and the rust follows in the absence of constant upkeep. Quality chrome jobs plate steel with copper, nickel, then chrome, aka "triple plated" and the copper and nickel serve to both shield the steel and provide a coloration or luster to the chrome finish. Of course, that costs more and may make a product uncompe***ive in the marketplace. The sad part is, you can't even buy quality chrome in many items even if you are willing to pay the extra cost. The Astros for instance.....I am certain they did not offer both 'cheap chrome' or 'triple plated', your choice. Paint, on the other hand, has continually improved in it's durability. Modern paints are light years ahead of cellulose lacquer and alkyd enamels of yesteryear.
Our tree hugging friends @ EPA have made it almost impossible to get good chrome work. My front axle is a Magnum dropped, drilled and filled one plated @ Advance. It was on an uncompleted rolling ch***is from Pete&Jake topped with a Brookville 30/31 "A" roadster body. The axle is peeling around the area of p*** side spring perch mounting boss. Friend had had it in his garage for 3-4 years, only rolled out a few times to transport to people he hired to do some work, such as the sectioned and chopped '35 dashboard. I bought it, and it was in my shop for several more years while I completed it. Only in the last 6 months has the car been outside for other than transporting to other shops and garaged all the rest of time. Called P&J about it, and they were as nice as could be about it, but since I wasn't the original purchaser, all they could say was if I wanted to pull the axle and ship it to Advance, they would get it redone at their volume discount. But I don't blame Advance or P&J for the peeling, I blame the federales! Plating was once a 3 step process, 1st copper, then buff, then nickel and buff again before the final layer of decorative chrome. I'm not real clear on what step(s) the EPA forced changing, but chrome ain't what it used to be. Maybe somebody who is or was a plater can chime in here and give more detail.
no offense....i know you said it's garaged , but does your garage stay dry or does it get damp in there? are you close to the salt air? is it heated? it seams to me with the wheels , pipes and bumpers all having rust there is something else going on
any more i try to stay away from chrome anything if possible. i did see a vidio on Utube were J leno was endorcing a chrome polish/ sealer, he said he uses the product on his cars with great succes. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
chrome has been failing for years. back in 1976 my buddy built a 55 Chevy, had everything rechromed and built himself a nice car, had it at the San Mateo car show and a few others, this was when only nice finished cars were allowed in shows. fast forward to 2010 and I saw the car on a trailer for sale at Pleasanton Goodguys and there was no chrome at all on the bumpers and all the deluxe bumper guards that were on the car. they were 100% rust. the guy selling it said at one point an owner died and the car was put outside for 20 years
Chrome on steel will eventually break your heart. I worked for a hospital equipment manufacturer for 40 years. We had our own foundry and plating dept...best blue triple chrome available. No part of any of the equipment we manufactures had any parts with chrome over steel. Br*** and bronze and some cast nickle parts were chromed. Everything else was stainless or anodized aluminum. All steel parts were painted. Chrome over steel never did hold up well. The only way to extend it's life is constant cleaning and paste wax. In the off season, cover all chrome with a good paste wax and don't wipe it off till spring. I see you live pretty near the eastern shore. That salt air will make things much worse for you.
Good luck with that,,I'm afraid as a old school hot rodder I am addicted to chrome where it should be...I just love it too much to be swayed away from it. HRP
I agree, must be moisture somewhere to make this happen. ****s, don't it? that happened on my 63 merc, had to keep it under my deck, (enclosed but not moisture proof) for a winter because of lack of space. I figured what the hell, better than outside, when I pulled it out in the spring, everything was covered in surface rust, the supreme's, bellflowers, bumpers, I was sick, It cleaned up with some elbow grease and naval jelly, but never again. dry storage only, and paste wax on everything chrome. moisture is chrome plating's worst enemy these days. ****s too expensive to re-do to have if get ****ed up again.
I agree, seems like new chrome just does not last as long as old chrome, I have a '37 Cadillac and the front bumper is original and it only has some VERY minor pits beside the bumper guard the rest of the bumber is perfect. The hubcaps are in very good shape also. Some of the new chrome on the car like the replated rear bumper is not fairing as well. I guess it is all about quality they just don't do as good of a job as they did back in the '30's.
Poor chrome quality today may have something to do with the chemical bath. In the "old" days it was the hexavalent chrome process. Now a lot of it is trivalent chrome bath due to the EPA. Always ask your plater which type of chrome plating bath they use.
Its obvious that chrome plating in days of old was far superior. Many times I have seen old abandoned automobiles in the junk yard that are nothing left but rust and the bumpers are still shiny and usable. Cars made in the 50s had plating on them so thick that when it did start to peel it looked like a piece of sheet metal coming off. I am afraid those days are good for good. We just have to try to preserve the cheap **** we get nowadays.
Some stuff I have now on my roadster is stuff I had plated by a guy who I won't disclose name or location, as I have the distinct feeling he is operating under the radar with absolutely no advertising, signs or other visible evidence of a plating shop and that stuff really looks good! Still not sure what I'm gonna do eventually about that axle.
When I bought my '34 Ford in the 70's the guy told me it had been built in the 60's. All the window mouldings were chrome. When I sold the car a couple years ago, that chrome still looked like new and It didn't receive any special care over those 50 years. The days of quality are gone.
Hillarious! You put these cars in the great lakes rust belt where I live and that chrome will be brown in 2 years with no upkeep. Junk yards around here are full of cars rusting away so bad that the wind will soon blow them away...depends alot where you live.
The old saying, Ya get what ya pay for, is never more true than when it comes to talking about chrome and chrome plating. All the pieces that Advanced Plating in Nashville TN did for me are still picture perfect and they are going on 10 years and most of the pieces have over 125K miles on them. Big Olds sits in an unheated, non-airconditioned environment. I HIGHLY recommend their services for pieces that you want to last.
What ever you do, DONT try to flake old chrome off with your fingernail. A) Youre not that strong. B) Its just like running a razor under your nail. C) Your friends will laugh and exibit no sympathy. None whatsoever. 1957 Country Sedan bumper chrome is pretty thick. It looked like it would just peel off.
Not sure anybody is able to run a chrome shop 'under the radar". I've been told the gov monitors who buys the chemicals used in plating, so they know where to inspect for violations of EPA stuff. BUT I did talk to a guy a few years ago that wouldn't disclose his actual location, just a point for drop off and pick up. I believe he'd been closed down at another location years earlier for dumping stuff in the creek out back. That was a while back, guess he'd go to jail for that now. A buddy of mine always talked about opening a chrome shop in Mexico, or a pirate operation off-shore.....
Thank goodness those chemicals are being monitored...lose the ozone and we're cooked! Might as well boil us all in a big chrome vat!
may of you guys have it right the EPA is killing alot of the platers off , when I started driving a Chemical tanker in the late 1980's most of my accounts were plating outfits in the midwest , I hauled a lot of hydrocloric acid , sodium Hypoclorite , sulfuric acids , to these places , and many of them had major waste treatment systems in plant to remove the heavy metals in the waste stream , slowly over the years one by one the companys closed up due to treatment costs and enviormental rules , they couldn't compete , basically now they act as a middle man and pack the stuff up and ship it to Mexico or Asia where the pollution rules are lax , one place I used to go to all they do is polish and buff and package stuff . one of my old customers Here in the Chicago area , I remember having a bumper rechromed in 1990 it cost me $150 ( no discount ) , and that was a chrome/nickle, copper deplate , they knocked all the dents out , then replated and buffed it and then chrome it . recently I asked for a quote to have a old Pontiac bumper redone this way and it was around $750 just for the plating alone the labor was cheap . all due to the cost of waste treatment ( which was about 1/3 the cost ) and materials cost . but still like the guy said , I could send it to a chromatic acid dipper and get a flash put on ( which will rust real quick , and doesn't have the depth to it ) or do it right and have the 3 step process done ( which I will be paying for ) and that first bumper . last time I saw that car the bumper was still bright .
besides the chemicals ( some had chain of custody paperwork ) the electric costs are a big factor , and some processes they have to use convertors to make HVdc for the solution baths . one plant I used to go to in upper wisconsin they generated there own electricity with a natural gas generator as it was cheaper than buying off the grid .plus it was more reliable too .
It's probably better for all of us if chrome platers don't go around dumping hex chrome wastes in the stream out back, don't you think? When 30 nearby houses lose their wells and a $2,000,000 remediation bill shows up, Bob the shadetree chrome plater isn't going to be able to pony up that cash. What I take away from all this is that you can still get real, nice chrome if you want it. It just costs money.
Bronze bumpers buddy. I'm going to bronze bumpers. Actually, the Plymouth has so much stainless from the factory, I should ditch all the chrome and make it all up from stainless.
Vendo was a big plater in the old chrome Coke machine days. It took them like 10 years of steam injection to clean up the ground around the old plant here before they moved out and tore it all down. You'll notice coke machines haven't had real chrome for a long time now. Powder paint and plastic trim has replaced it.
When I had my bumpers chromed 10 years ago the guy at the shop said most of the problems with bumpers is that most do not wax them. He also said it was mostly "white" guys who don't wax their chrome. Don't hate, I'm just relaying what he said. I've only waxed mine once so far, so he may be right.
The chrome on that axle peeled sitting in a shop that is air conditioned to not exceed 82* in Summer with attendant humidity reduction, and kept heated to a minumum of 40* in Winter, not waxed, but also never rained on until way after chrome peeled.. 200 miles or more to salt water. No rust, just peeled.
Thank for the support! As for the environmental conditions in the garage: My 55 Olds is sitting right next to it, and the chrome still looks great, after being completely redone in 1981 or so. Just plain ****py chrome these days...but I might as well try Advanced for my next project! The bumpers I might send to Tri-CIty plating in TN, IIRC, they have a lifetime warrantee on their plating?
The Jalopy Journal
