Rechroming - best experiences

[abcman3000]

Can someone explain to me the correct way to re-chrome the fenders. I've heard there ave various procedures but I'm jus not sure which one is the best one. Thx.

[kmac33]

Do you mean re-chrome the "bumpers"? To properly re-chrome any of the chromed metal parts on your Spider: bumpers, windshield frame, headlight bezels, door handles, top latches, top cover hooks - you need to send them to a metal re-finisher. Not a job you can do yourself. Tail light housings are chromed plastic - these have to go to re-finishers that can chrome plastics.
Before resorting to re-chroming, you can try to polish the parts back up. Your window trim, door sills, and sill strip are all stainless and can be polished. To really make these parts shine a buffing wheel makes a big difference. Again, for parts that really need work, you are probably better off taking everything to a professional.

Here is the place that re-chromed my tail light housings - you can see what all is involved in re-chroming parts on their web site.
http://www.paulschrome.com/

[abcman3000]

Thx. I didn't even think of re-chroming the bumpers myself. I just wanted to test the procedure and see if there is an agreement about what is the best procedure. Not every "professional" is professional in the same way...unfortunately.

I'll send a message to Paul's Chrome ! Thx for the contact.

[supplyguy]

Kevin - Would it be rude to ask the cost? Getting my 71 painted and rechromed tail lights would be nice. Thanks - Chuck.

[rodman]

They make a spray on chrome, its very neat with today's technology.

http://www.sprayonchrome.com/index2.html

[kmac33]

Chuck,
Not rude at all. I am more than happy to share with anyone the costs I incurred in my restoration. That just helps everyone make informed decisions!
Re-chroming the tail light housings was $300.00. The quality of the work was exceptional. MUCH better quality chrome than what left the factory. I expect the tail light housings to last forever now. Ended up being much cheaper than getting new ones.
For metal parts, I used Dallas Plating http://www.dallasplating.net/. They also do exceptional quality work. They are about an hours drive from me, so I didn't have to ship anything to them. They can even handle pretty big parts - they did my windshield frame and roll bar (not a lot of places have tanks big enough to dip a roll bar!).

While the spray on chromes are getting better every year, in my humble opinion, they still don't match chrome plating for finished look, durability and ease of upkeep.

[basarabam]

I recently bought the Chrome FX system and am building my booth and will be posting pictures of parts redone within the next couple of weeks.

Plastic, metal, wood, whatever, I will be able to chrome it for a fraction of the cost and it will look like new. The tail lights will be about $50 if they are already sanded smooth, if not maybe $100.

[kmac33]

I recently bought the Chrome FX system and am building my booth and will be posting pictures of parts redone within the next couple of weeks.

Plastic, metal, wood, whatever, I will be able to chrome it for a fraction of the cost and it will look like new. The tail lights will be about $50 if they are already sanded smooth, if not maybe $100.

I hope it is successful for you. My friend that did the final paint work on my car bought the system for his shop (it is a motorcycle repair/customizing shop that deals with a ton of chrome jobs) a few years ago. He was hoping to eliminate the need to send parts out for chrome plating. He ended up selling the system a few months later. The end results just did not come close enough to plating. Not sure how much better the system has gotten in the past few years though.

[fiat218]

I got my 69 tail light housing rechrome and mirror cost me 500

[baltobernie]

I'd imagine it would be far less expensive to have metal parts re-chromed in Italy or Croatia; the shipping costs to/from the US would exceed the plating charges.

For the taillamp housings, an alternative is to paint them Black.

[4uall]

I looked into this and it is awesome, cannot wait to try it out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-1cTpSZ1l8

[abcman3000]

I'd imagine it would be far less expensive to have metal parts re-chromed in Italy or Croatia; the shipping costs to/from the US would exceed the plating charges.

For the taillamp housings, an alternative is to paint them Black.

off course. I never considered re-chroming in the US....I was just interested in the technology used for the job.