I am having trouble bring this bumper back to life. The center piece shines OK, but not great. The outsides are foggy looking. The chrome is not cracked or peeling just cloudy. I tried steel wool and metal cleaner but it will not bring it back. Any suggestions? (yes this is from my 62 Volvo that I am working on at the same time as the 53 Commander)
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Shining Bumper Issue
Collapse
X
-
The chrome may be gone and you are trying to make the nickel base shine. Nickel is silver but much duller then chrome. The chroming process for triple plating is cooper, nickel, chrome.sigpic1966 Daytona (The First One)
1950 Champion Convertible
1950 Champion 4Dr
1955 President 2 Dr Hardtop
1957 Thunderbird
-
Need a trip to the replater shop...and the bank.sigpic1957 Packard Clipper Country Sedan
"There's nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer"
Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle
"I have a great memory for forgetting things" Number 1 son, Lee Chan
Comment
-
We have a member who is a plater. Hopefully, he will see this thread and comment. My knowledge, of the plating process, comes from supplying customers with pumps and associated equipment. I may be looking at it wrong, but your bumper seems to have three distinct pieces. The shiny middle part could have been plated in a different vat, or by a different company. Like any process, chrome plating has a variety of issues that can negatively affect quality. Poorly grounded parts, contaminated chemicals, plate time, turbulence, Faraday cage effect, and parts hung too close. Most of these flaws I've observed, reveal themselves as spots, or splotches. I've rarely seen them as uniformly bad over the entire part. It could be that someone skipped a step, or didn't allow the parts enough time to gain appropriate chrome thickness. Like has been suggested, the thin chrome has worn or been polished away.John Clary
Greer, SC
SDC member since 1975
Comment
Comment