bumper redo

[moparfun]

So I took the bumper guards off and realized the bumpers were to bent up to run. They needed straightened and rechromed, so I thought I would smooth them out a little and welded in the center bolt hole. Here is what they look like, before and after

[oldodge41]

Looking good!

[bartenderfloyd]

Looks great! Is re-chroming expensive?  I tried getting all the rust out but I'm having a tough time. 

[Eneto-55]

I realize that a photo doesn't show it all, but your BEFORE picture looks pretty decent to me.

Did you get it done copper-nickel-chrome?

[moparfun]

The re-chroming was $980, the guy came to my house and took them down to LA and delivered them, They do this service for all the local body shops. they looked ok but with the guards removed they were pretty bent the guards hid the damage (pushing or being pushed by another car) so that's when I thought to weld in the center bolt hole. They did all the prep, straighten and stripped, if there's some rust have the chrome guy look to see if it's a problem, they do a lot of prep (sanding and polishing). Yes they did triple plate them.

[andyd]

Triple plating is the correct way that ferous or steel parts should be chromed......the copper stops the rust, the nickel gives the blue tint & the chrome the  final hard finish......BTW did the platers give the back of the bumper bars a polish or are they a rough finish?.......if  rough then I would strongly suggest using the best & thickest wax or polish you can find on the back of the bars as a rough finish will allow moisture to sit & attack the chrome, notwithstanding what plating was done.........the cost of chrome plating is directly related to the effort that the platers put into the polishing of the items & how long they spend in the tanks.........andyd 

[Eneto-55]

4 hours ago, andyd said:

Triple plating is the correct way that ferous or steel parts should be chromed......the copper stops the rust, the nickel gives the blue tint & the chrome the  final hard finish......BTW did the platers give the back of the bumper bars a polish or are they a rough finish?.......if  rough then I would strongly suggest using the best & thickest wax or polish you can find on the back of the bars as a rough finish will allow moisture to sit & attack the chrome, notwithstanding what plating was done.........the cost of chrome plating is directly related to the effort that the platers put into the polishing of the items & how long they spend in the tanks.........andyd 

Also, don't be tempted to stop with the nickel plating.  That's fine for interior parts, and looks very close to the look of chrome, but nickel plating has tiny pin holes which will let rust creep in. I have an old horseshoe I heavily plated with nickel, and since it's just inside the house, it has no rust.  But I plated the fan on my 62 Chrysler as well, and it didn't take long before it was covered in rust.  It cleaned up easily, but it had to be kept waxed.  (I'm just referring to bright nickel, they type that id done cold.  Industrial nickel, which is done hot, may be different.  Hot nickel is not an electrical process.)