So tell me about rechroming a bumper....

[57NAPCO]

Didn’t know where to post this so thought I’d try here,

On my 1987 short step 4X4 I have a lot of surface rust spots, the bumpers are rock solid but I’d like to make them nice again. I do not want to replace them as they are the originals.

I’ve never had anything chromed or rechromed so I thought I’d ask here for opinions and or guidance. Do I prep them by somehow taking off the rust? If rechromed will they last and look as new?
Thanks for any input...

Front


Rear

[4u2nv]

All I can say is it's not cheap .

[57NAPCO]

Dang, that’s not what I wanted to hear

Originally Posted by 4u2nv

All I can say is it's not cheap .

[blazer2007]

Here they said it would start a 600.00 and up depending on how much more was involved

[mongocanfly]

I can tell you this much...I had mine done for my IH , the shipping cost more than the chrome job did..
Not sure if your in Texas or Maine...
I used (Elpaso plating), came highly recommended by folks on this board...
I'd talk to more than one place, we have a local plating company and they're prices are 5x what I paid...

[57NAPCO]

Thanks, Maine has nothing. I’ll be driving the fella back to Texas come fall and I’ll find someone in Houston.

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

If you plan to modnor fix the bumper. Let them do it. Otherwise what you think is straight is not, and draws original cost.

I welded a bumper shorter+thinner, and let them grind it down to look perfect.

[SCOTI]

QUALITY re-chroming will cost more than a re-pop for sure. But, be pre-pared for life after. I had OE bumpers chromed on my dually. 1st week out someone tagged the rear/pass side. That expensive chrome job was for nothing. I thought about it & tried an aftermarket (premium unit from LMC). It cost less & I couldn't tell the difference. If it gets tagged again, I'll just get another re-pop.

When getting bumpers done, they're stripped to bare & prepped for the process. Unless you're doing custom mods, they do the work.

[mongocanfly]

Agree with Scoti...I used a repop on my C30..I couldnt tell any diff in quality from the old beat up orig..
But the one on my IH was only used for a few yrs...so there are 0 bumpers out there for it..

[Pontiac1976]

As said it can be cheaper for after market. But if there custom work to the bumper the best bet would be sanding welding holes if you can do it get it as smooth and as straight if you can do this it with knock off a lot of there work unless you make it worse. then do not touch it make it with painter tape of what hole are not need or need to be fixed. the less time they have to spend on the bumper taking out scratches fixing then it just the chroming there charging for. for a re-chrome they have to remove the old chrome. The labor on the bumper really bring the price of re-chroming up. So nice paint bumper can be cheaper then a chromed bumper re-chrome.

[LT7A]

Most of that will come off with Turtle Wax chrome polish. None of us like to know that our bumpers and panels are subject to corrosion like that, but it's a reality at their age. If it resists coming off with the chrome polish and a cloth, 4 aught steel wool and the polish will probably remove anything that's left. I would then coat the bumpers with a good waxing and keep that maintained, re-polishing the chrome as necessary. You may even reap the benefit of brightening the part of the metal that's not showing rust. Other than on a concours restoration, I would bet that you will find those bumpers to be acceptable. If not, put them in storage and run repops and get the originals re-chromed when you do your concours restoration.

[Factory Guy]

I would recommend getting a repop and just keep the originals for the future.

[Mathew21]

I had a lot of surface rust on my chrome bumper. The older gentleman that lives next store to me told me to take aluminum foil and dip in it water and scrub the bumper with it. It worked great. I googled it after he gave me the tip. Online it said the aluminum foil is softer then a chrome bumper so it won't scratch it. But to be safe I would try it on the bottom of the bumper first. That's what I did.

[Axle]

Can confirm, aluminum foil works like a charm.

[VWNate1]

It's never cheap and the shop you use is the single most important detail .

$500 sounds a bit high to me but every place has it better and less chrome shops .

I'm in So. California where good chromers are very hard to find indeed, most don't do a proper job , "triple chrome" is the standard basic job they're all supposed to do, base plate of copper followed by a plated coat of nickle, this is to fill in the pits and hide the stamping marks etc., it gets polished then the third plating is the actual chrome .

No way any re pop is as good as a proper re chroming .

You'll need to clean the back side and paint it with some sort of rust retarding paint to finish the job, they'll never do it .

I use fish oil based rustoleum paints .

The bumper you're showing look good and will be nice to have re chromed .

FWIW, any place that has clever names like 'bumper boyze' is telling you up front they're crooks and if you give them a perfect but rusty bumper that's popular you'll get someone else's poorly repaired thing back and it won't be triple plated in any case .

Always ASK AROUND first and keep a penn and paper handy, knowing the bad places is just as important as knowing the good places .

When you see custom Motocycles, ASK ~ they'll know who's good or bad .