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Spitfire Rusty Bumpers on My Spit

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My 78 Spitfire bumpers are rusty, to say the least.

I can't seem to find anyone that will do economy chrome plating. Everyone I can find wants to do "quality show chrome" work.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
John
 
I expect that no one will do a cheapie rechrome for you is to protect their reputation. If they do not come out perfect and someone asks you where the work was done they wouldn't get a very favorable impression of what to expect. The chemical process is pretty much the same for "show" and crap. The difference is in the polishing and buffing that is done between layers. bob
 
when I bought my 80 Spit off of e-bay, the PO had started a chrome bumper conversion. Behind the seats were the bumpers to be installed, he had them black powder coated. I went ahead and installed them and they look good on the BRG color of the car.

Just a idea of what to do with rusty bumpers.......


Paul


spitfire1.jpg


spitfire2.jpg
 
Personally I would go for the quality work as it will pay off in the long-run. I had an economy job done on my TR valve cover some years ago and the rust came through within a year. Admittedly it may be less of a problem in FL than Scotland! What about just going bumperless?
 
Frankly, if you can find "economy" chrome plating that will actually last more than several months: a. consider yourself very fortunate and b. let us all know who it is. To do the job right involves (sometimes) a good deal of metal preparation, and it is a three-step process: copper, then nickel, then chrome.

You might check out local motorcycle shops and/or bike owners to see if they have any recommendations.
 
Thanks, everyone. Some great ideas and observations you have offered. I'm going to check out the cycle shops this weekend, and maybe drop by a powder coater as well.

The rust is too much for Mother's to handle. I'm going to have to do some prep work and hope that powder coating seals the metal.

That's a good looking Spit, Paul. I could live with black bumpers, or some other color they might offer.

John
 
An sos pad and some aluminum foil make rusty chrome look remarkably good. It's the best you'll get without replating.
 
Powder coating will require blasting the parts with a media that will prepare the surface for the coating, then a baking process to bond it. Any good shop will probably want to prepare it for you for the same reason that no plater wants to do a cheap job. Their reputation relies on every step being done properly and surface preparation is key to the top finish looking good.

Also, a good shop will have access to many different colors of coating in the event that you will want to match the body color to the bumpers, aka late model cars.
 
I have rusty bumpers on my Spit, but it hasn't worried me enough to get them rechromed.
On the subject of Chrome plating, you can expect the price to rise over the coming years...if the EPA has their way, chrome plating would go away alltogether.
I am participating in the military's effort to eliminate the need for chrome plating...we are currently looking at tungsten-carbide cobalt/chrome coatings applied by high velocity oxygen-fuel (HVOF) technique. There is some info on this webpage: https://www.hcat.org/replace_hc.html
 
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