50 headlight rims

[john grady]

Looking for a good pair, or info. two sets I have are very poor, cracks, seem very flimsy, inner top clip is gone on all four . I can see hy they end up painted. Prep for paint, how to remove pocked chrome? or any suggestions on restoring are sincerely welcomed . New at 50 -51

[studegary]

Early 1950 models had painted head light rims and later 1950 models had chrome (except lowest trim level) head light rims.

Gary L.
Wappinger, NY

SDC member since 1968
Studebaker enthusiast much longer

[unclemiltie]

1950 Champion and Commander are different. 1950 Champion are the same as all 1951 models

Milt

1947 Champion (owned since 1967)
1961 Hawk
1964 Convertable
1967 Avanti
1961 Lark 2 door
1950 Commander Starlight

[royvaldez]

John, where are located. I know of a John Grady out of Salinas,Ca.

[john grady]

hey JG are everywhere..evil twin, not me;

thanks uncle... Already found that out the hard way; I wonder why they did that? positively weird

[Roscomacaw]

There's no way to "remove the pocked chrome". It's the base metal under the chrome that's pocked. You can pay some specialty chrome shop to FILL the pits - doing this after they've stripped off the chrome-nickle-copper plating first. It's NOT cheap! Once repaired, they replate it.
If you can find some that were only painted (the lower trim level cars wore these), they should take plating nicely. Since the painted ones were never plated, they never pitted.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[john grady]

I guess what i was thinking of, was painting pitted chrome ones..(what i have) , which means either getting chrome off it, which seems very difficult, or sanding and filling after removing loose pieces around pits. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with that approach? Chroming seems to go north of 500$ if you have to hand fill all those pits after copper..unreasonable amount of $.

[sweetolbob]

Don't know if this is the correct way to paint over chrome but here is what I did with my 54 grill surrounds.

I bead blasted them to remove the corrosion from the pits and used a roloc 50 grit disc in an air grinder to feather any sharp edges.

Primed them with krylon auto primer and filled the deep pits and gouges with a glass-filled polyester filler (Bondo).

Smoothed and final smoothed with standard Evercoat Rage, sanded smooth and then primed and sanded until paint ready.

Bob

[Tom Bredehoft]

I did about what Bob did, with my '55 front end. It was pitted too badly to save and I didn't want to spend more on the chrome than I had for the car, so......

Using a die grinder and a 1/8 needle point grinder, I cleaned all the pits, sanded the chrome with a sanding disk in a rt angle grinder, sprayed the surface with "Bulldog Adhesion Promoter" to keep the paint from peeling from the chrome, filled, primed, sanded and painted the whole thing. Some of the pits show where I didn't fill them often enough, but it's just a cheap job anyway. It looks great from 20 feet.

[img=left]http://www.alink.com/personal/tbredehoft/Avatar1.jpg[/img=left]
Tom Bredehoft
'53 Commander Coupe (since 1959)
'55 President (6H Y6) State Sedan
(Under Construction 564 hrs.)
'05 Legacy Ltd Wagon
All Indiana built cars

[Michidan]

John, just so you have one more opinion, I have been redoing all the pitted beltline chrome from a 52 - by hand.
And it's not really much fun. No grinders or blasters, just 60 grit and patience. The worst pieces are easiest, as the chrome is almost gone and all that is left is copper. Chrome is hard.
Once sanded, spot putty, prime, sand, repeat...
It can be done.

https://www.studebakerhardtop.com

[john grady]

thanks for all the help, guys!!; it really is a of great value, as we all try to find a way to paint deteriorated chrome parts.

I was afraid of peeling/adhesion of conventional paints over any chrome left behind, and also if it would keep peeling after, as chrome is so very hard that sanding to totally remove it is a long if not impossible deal, and grinding may make a mess of the part.. i have sort of convinced myself that painting it, especially w epoxy primers, ought to seal it and stop further peeling. Then it is just a finishing issue.. If the primer sticks...

Weathered chrome may not be that bad for pint adhesion; I also was reading Larry Lyle's book on Project 36, and a short article by him on water base paints, which stick by grabbing a "tooth" on microscopic surface roughness, rather than 'melting" by strong solvents...so totally different adhesion method. While by no means an expert, it would seem the water base might be better for this application.. Larry became a big fan after being cynical of water base paints, but then trying them out, it won him over, as being better than the old stuff!!! . I admit to the same prejudice,we may be wrong

[BobGlasscock]

One of those headlight rims you noted on my car is chrome. Sand blasted it, primed it, and painted it. Easy. I can't tell which one is which anymore.

'50 Champion, 1 family owner