What to do with "tired" chrome?

[Kens 50 PU]

OK guys, my second truck, we'll just call it "F" for short has a lot of chrome plated items on it from it's show days in the '60's. Over the last 50 years, a lot of it has become, let's just say, less than acceptable! I'm to the point of thinking that some of it should be replated and some of it should be painted.

Question for the group is: What is the best way to prepare a chrome plated parts for painting? Can it be done without taking them to a shop and having them de-chromed? My initial thought was to sand them down, etch primed them and then paint. Does this sound reasonable or am I just dreaming?

Any and all thoughts are welcome.

Keep on truckin'

Ken

 

[Blueflame236]

Sandblasting chrome parts.

Ken

I`ll agree with you here. Sandblasting is the fastest way to get rust and the old plating of your parts , but considder every part there steel structure and if they are thick anough before blasting , ad some good surface paint at once the work is done and use the final paint color you `d like. An other option is to have all the parts cleaned when having them for rechroming and pick the parts out you wanna have painted ?

Its about the time use , the money you want to put into it, and the final results your expecting right ?

Good luck Martinius.

 

[Flashlight]

There may be aftermarket or NOS unchromed parts available, that's a pretty popular model A..."F" isn't it. Just a thought as you didn't specify the parts. Maybe ebay for good used unpainted parts.

 

[Kens 50 PU]

There may be aftermarket or NOS unchromed parts available, that's a pretty popular model A..."F" isn't it. Just a thought as you didn't specify the parts. Maybe ebay for good used unpainted parts.

The truck is a '34 model V8. Nothing from the Model A's are interchangeable.

The 3 pieces i'm most concerned with right now are the front bumper brackets, the gas filler neck and the headlight buckets. All of the parts are solid, they just need to be dressed up, so replacing them is not necessary.

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[vwnate1]

Old Chrome

The healight buckets , if the stamped in print is still visible , I'd have them de chromed .

The rest is all heavy steel , have at it .

 

[coilover]

If there is no pitting or flaking we have had pretty good luck with Rustoleum Non Porous primer for surfaces like glass or chrome. It seems to never dry completely but one topcoated it is like any other paint. If pitted or flaked blasting with #5 or sugar sand gives a surface with tooth and can be primered and sanded till imperfections are buried. This said, 90% of the time we take it and have it stripped in the plating tank. Usually very reasonable in price since there getting chrome put back into their solution by just reversing the anode and cathode.