Hot Rods Silver or chrome front dropped axles

Thinking about powder coating my front axle silver. Any body have pictures?

 

I had a spare tube axel silver powder coated. Its stored away so no pics, but it looks like Argent Silver wheel paint. Its ok but not as nice as that expensive chrome..

 

I bought chrome "Super Bell" from Speedway from their "garage sale" page when I built my roadster. I believe it was a returned item. Perfect chrome, and it was less $$$ than a raw one.

 

I'd say powder coat will be fine. It won't draw attention away from that Olds engine.

 

Might be a nice treat being it’s going to be a full fender car. Thinking about same silver on the rear backing plates too

 

Nothing says hot rod like some good old-fashioned chrome. Powder coat is too late model of a finish. More durable, more practical, bah humbug, not much is practical about a hot rod.
I say treat yourself. $$$? You can't take it with you....

 

Friend had a roadster with the whole front and rear ends along with suspension in Argent Silver; wasn't as neat as chrome; but looked good. This was back before powder coat was a thing and was done with Centari.

 

Had all my misc done in electroless nickel (brushed).

 

hotrodhoodlum on the hamb has an old complete chrome front axle for sale on the hamb

 

That f’ing nice….mines going blue as well

 

The only real chrome I seen on the street back in the day was show cars and hot rod magazines. Not much on actual real street hot rods at least not until the street rod movement in the 80's. Then it was billet and chrome everywhere..

....

 

Chrome dropped Ford:

 

While Chrome is better looking I had my axle "Chrome " powder coated. Not nearly as shiny, 40k miles later and no chipping for acne on the axle. I was at the NSRA western Nats in Bakersfield yesterday and there was another deuce roadster with a "chrome" powder coated axle we chatted why we did it and the durability of powder coating VS chrome. We both agreed that given the option again, we do the same thing again. I did it knowing that driving will cause tiny pebbles to be kicked up by the car in front and cause small, almost undetectable damage to the by e chrome finish and lead to moisture penetration and future rust.

 

Mill the holes in the axle to fit a SS "sleeve". Powder coat the axle black, pound the polished sleeves in the all the holes and it would look kewl!

 

My original '32 axle was dropped and stretched and filled, stock width, many many years ago. Axle and Lincoln backing plates are powder coated. Spring, shackles, perches, lower shock mounts and shocks are chrome. Ended up going with '40 spindles with the arms heated and bent slightly and they are painted with Rustoleum Hammered Silver as is the wishbone. I paint them outside when it is fairly cool so the paint stays smooth instead of "hammering"! Matches the powder coat very well and is pretty tough too.

Dave

 

Chrome plating introduces something called hydrogen embrittlement, it weakens the steel, I wouldn't chrome plate suspension parts because if it.

 

I think @Rocky had his jet hot coated silver. Looks great

 

How much of the project will be chrome? Will it blend in, stick out, or be an accent?

 

Hey Bob ,
That’s a beautiful gold short block you have going on there,,,,we need a build thread on that engine,,,when you have time .

Oh yeah,,,,great looking chrome on the hot rod !

Tommy

 

Somebody gots to say it: chrome won't get you home...

 

Not an issue if you properly heat treat the part after chrome plating it. I worked in a chrome shop and we did this a lot.

 

But it’s pretty when you push it

 

Not a lot, but it will be a full fender car, so very little will be visible.

 

I have a chromed unit in my full fender 33 pickup. Like you mentioned you dont see much of it, but when you do it really pops out. Plus here is a comparison between silver and chrome. I painted my spring silver, but I think im gonna pull it out and have it powder coated chrome. A buddy does coating for a job and was showing some of the new chrome he was using and it was pretty convincing looking. Great for small more out of the way stuff.

 

I like it!

 

Yeah, I drilled the shit out of it and had it jet-hot coated. I keep a very keen eye on it, looking for cracks or bends.
OK after 4 or 5 years...

 

Hole-ly sheeite that’s holey. Neato

 

Blessed at the hotrod church of speed!

 

https://www.prismaticpowders.com/shop/powder-coating-colors/UMS-10671/super-chrome-plus

 

I dunno but to me, an Olds powered ‘32 5w deserves something special. However, since you went with the stock Olds engine color, maybe the front suspension shouldn’t stand out. Paint it black and let the body color and the engine set the style. IMHO, silver or chrome powder coat says Street Rod to me.
Sure, your chrome will take a beating if you drive it a lot, but like blue on chrome headers, it shows that it gets driven, not some perfect, pampered trailer queen. It really just comes down to the overall look you want to achieve.
Hydrogen embrittlement, sheesh. Folks have been driving hot rods with chrome front suspension for decades. I bet there hasn’t been a half dozen failures attributed solely to hydrogen embrittlement due to chrome plating. Material fatigue, shoddy engineering, crappy modifications, lack of maintenance, is way more likely.