Re-Chroming - (economical time and cost methods)

[koolio]

Is rechroming expensive? I have an old school bike with lots of chrome bits like chrome front and rear bumpers, chrome rims with chrome wire spokes.

The only parts that have rusted through are the wire spokes, condition is much like the photo below (except for no rust on the rims).

https://cyclenetparts.com/images/P1050048.JPG

On the bumpers and rims the chrome is actually very good with no rust, what is present however is a load of "pitting" or what appears to be deep scratch marks.

Question is this, whats the most economical way both time wise and money wise to clean this all up.

The biggest problem posed is with the wire spokes and rims

I don't want to go through the bother of re-wiring the spokes on the rims and rechroming will probably set the wires so that they are not adjustable. So I'll be using a wire cloth on the wire spokes, then coating with a zinc primer and then with acryllic chrome coloured paint.

How can I then sort out the chrome on the rims themselves?

Any economic restoration info would be appreciated.

[chris-red]

The easiest way would be to get it re-spoked and get the rim anodized/polished. Personally I think polishing each spoke would be a waste of time and the finish would last. I might be inclined to paint them but even that won't last.
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[Bezzer]

It's usually cheaper to have new rims than get old ones refinished and rechromed unless they're very rare irreplaceable ones, new chrome or stainless rim and stainless spokes are the way to go.
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[koolio]

[DrDonnyBrago]

[hazza]

rebuilt is the only way to go if your fussy. From personal experience, painting dosent last. It lasts a bit longer if you use hammerite but as soon as you put a chain through the wheel spokes and pull it out its goodbye paint. Also, painting spokes is THE most repetitive boring job ever.
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[truslack]

What sort of bike has bumpers!?
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[finpos]

The budget solution is to polish them up in situ - using chemical rust remover, emery cloth and polish you'll get a half decent shine on them - then lacquer them. The lacquer won't stand up to any real abuse but if the bike its for pootling about on nice days it will be fine.

F.

[Ade75]

I dont know if you can do this to chrome, but have them sandblasted and powdercoated? Guy near me does bike wheels for around £30-40 each and there is a huge choice of colours, maybe there might be a chrome-like effect colour?

[chris-red]

I can't see powder coating work on a spoked wheel, too intricate.
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[koolio]

[mad4it028]

you could get them powder coated chrome from a few feet away looks like real chrome but up close looks the same as chrome paint but will last alot longer than paint.
if your local to peterborough i have a friend that owns a powdercoaters a does a good but cheap job
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[koolio]

[mad4it028]

i had my xr600 spoked wheels done black looked good and lasted
this is the only pic i have
https://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/62163_481826080349_535040349_7432058_4460950_n.jpg
https://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/5980_153573065349_535040349_3944553_6697709_n.jpg
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[chris-red]

[Bezzer]

[Teflon-Mike]

As all above.

Chromers will not touch a built up wheel, it would have to be stripped, and in all probability they'd only do the rim & hub for you. The spoked would have to be individually wired in the electroplating tank! Cheaper to buy new ones, as probably also true for the rims.

Rebuilding wheel on old hub, yes, decent wheel builders will probably charge about £70 for a rim, and £50 ish for the build & true. But dont hold me to that, been six years since I had one done.

Spray paint over chrome? No! It looks naff, and lasts Oh... maybe a few wheel turns until something chips it!

Alternatives are to polish & laquer, which doesn't last, or to get powder coated.

Looks OK for a while, but glues the spokes into the rim and hub... making truing them up a pain, and the powder coat then cracks where the spokes attach to rim and hub.... moisture gets into the gap, and the metal rusts from inside the coating, until wither the wheel colapases or the coating is cracked off by the rust expanding under neath it.

Personally, I'd go with a rebuilt wheel, with new rim and stainles spokes, and as a 'rider' rather than concourse bike, I'd probably look for a rim to suit more modern tyres, probably an aluminium one.
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[stinkwheel]

Me too, I'd get them rebuilt with stainless spokes and a tasty alloy rim. Maybe get the hubs either polished or powdercoated.

Actually, I wouldn't, I'd just ride it as-is but if the state of the wheels was bothering me that's what I'd do.

Incidentally, I too have seen a whole spoked wheel powdercoated. It's one of the jobs that'll need undoing when I finally get round to having a go at fixing up my Dads 350 kawasaki triple. The powder coating looks fine mind but that one is a pretty rare and unusual bike and would probably justify returning it to the original state.
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[koolio]

Thanks chris-red, CHR15, Bezzer, Teflon-Mike, stinkwheel and everyone else, I really appreciate the pointers.

I see it in two parts, the spokes which are rusty, and the rest of the chrome which doesn't look bad but has slight scratching and pitting.

As you all mentioned permanent solution for the spokes is removing them and then adding new stainless steel ones, which I could maybe outsource.

So that sorted it only leaves me with the rest of the chrome on the bike (after removing the spokes), there are chrome mud guards and rims and a few other bits and bobs in chrome. The chrome looks fine but there is a lot of pitting or what looks to be like scratches.

I've heard that chroming is very expensive from several sources including yourselves, just what am I looking at, for lets say front and rear mudguards, both rims (no spokes) and a handlebar?

If it is too expensive how can I at least secure the chrome so the pits don't get deeper (will get a photo soon), chrome hammerite paint?

My main concern is making the bike look at least decent and making it as weather proof as possible.

[hazza]

Honestly, Chrome paint is awful. If it has to be painted them silver hammerite will be the best. The chrome bears no resemblance to chrome at all. Is the bike a 400/4?


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HONDA-CB400-4-CB-400-FOUR-CHROME-FRONT-MUDGUARD-4990-/160609726882?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item256515f1a2#ht_1159wt_912

That what your after?

Id expect re-chroming to cost more than that too.
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[Gazdaman]

My silver powdercoated rims look alright... I got the rim and hub powdercoated, then laced up with new spokes and bearings.

When I picked up some of my parts from the powder coaters I saw that someone had had a spoked wheel powder coated as one-piece. Sproceket included, it looked absolutely terrible.

https://www.gaz-racing.co.uk/images/vehicle_1564.JPG

Gaz

[Teflon-Mike]

Your mudguards etc, where chrome is lifted, usually means the metal underneath is rusted through.

Lets talk you through the rechroming process...

You start by dipping the part in electrolyte and 'de-crhoming' it... basically the same process as chroming, but the battery connected the wother way around to take the chrome OFF rather than put it on.

Blasting chrome doesn't really work very well, and it takes a hell of a lot of acid to dissolve it off, so you reverse plate.....

Chrome 'off'.... you then acid dip to stablise the part and remove any electrolyte etc. A lot of rust will have been removed during de plating, but they wil have tried to be 'skinny' to avoid erroding good metal.

So after de-plate and dip, THEN you blast..... that takes metal back to good steel, and leaves a horribly rough finish, depening on how badly pitted teh part was to start with......

OK...... now we can start making good.

So, any holes have to be brazed up, and polished down, cracks welded or whatever.....

So, NOW, we hopefully have 'good' metal part, but we are still one shot short of where we would begin a plating process with something made of new metal, straight off the presses.....

To get a 'good' smooth finish for the chrome, we need a good smooth finish on the metal, chrome is a plating, it will plate whatever is there, will make it shiney, but if you have a rough surface you wont have mirror finish, just a shiney rough one!

So, the first step is to copper plate, to build up the metal and get a 'soft' surface that can be polished to a high finish.

Starting with a factory fresh bit of metal, this step need not take much copper, nor much polishing....... starting with something basted and salvaged, will need more copper to build up the level and take out the surface inperfections to allow polishing, which will have to be harder.

So, that 'common' step done, but with more work, than on a new part, we can then get on and lay up chromium plate, as per a new part.

Ie: re-chroming is a pretty labour intensive process, and theres a heck of a lot more stages in re chroming an old part, than there is chroming a new one......

And whether you can EVEN salvage the bit at the end of the day, depends on how bad the rot is under the old chrome.

IF you have a ready supply of after market or pattern parts, then it is very often FAR cheaper to buy new, than it is to rechrome, and a garanteed way of having a part that will actually work and or last....

Handlebars, I wouldn't even bother considering re-chroming.

They are around £25/320 a pair, and there are hundreds of different bends available on e-bay, that it would be VERY unlikely you couldn't get something that was if not exactly the same, very very close, or close enough for you to be happy with.

Mudguards, again, plenty of front guards available, for reasonable prices, for the common wheel sizes. If you cant find an exact match, again, you are likely to get pretty close, and at the very worst, you can use a standard guard and a fabricated 'stay', which will normally look pretty close to authentic if not absolutely 'Factory'

Similarly the rear.... with a little craft, you can get something to look 'right' enough.

Re-Chroming really only starts to become viable, if you have a bike with a lot of unique features, either completely unavailable 'Classic' bits, or custom made bits for a custom.... and in either case, only then IF the bike is going to be put ion for concourse, where 'details' like that will be scored.

On a road bike, few will be so clued up as to notice small indescretions to factory spec, and if they ARE, they'll understand why you made them, and as often as not, be intregued to your solution......

Meanwhile, eeking out 'old chrome'..... and a trick that's sometimes useful on new chrome..... polish and laquer.

Polish it out, get as good a finish as you can, then coat with clear....

Dont work too well on exhausts, but mudguards, headlamp bowls that kind of thing, can bring them back to a nice shiny finish, and hold back pits.... AND saves so much solvol work in teh future.... you just wash wipe and go!
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
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[Ariel Badger]

New rim and new spokes £200 per end.
Those rusted spokes are weak and will fail no matter what kind of paint you use.
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[kestrel]

Save yourself a lot of grief with those wheels, strip the hubs out and bin the rims and spokes. Buy new rims and spokes from Central Wheel Components and rebuild the wheels. If it's a job you don't fancy doing yourself then get them to do it for you.

Re-chroming a rim can be expensive, often more than the cost of a replacement and is only worth doing if it is a very rare irreplacable item. Many platers won't touch rims, after stripping and blasting it is necessary to polish them before the initial base plating and the spoke holes in the rim tear chunks out of polishing mops.

As others have already said, either alloy or stainless rims laced with stainless spokes will make a pair of wheels that will outlast the rest of the bike and will be virtually maintenance free. Wheels are definitely something that you get what you pay for. Rebuilding the wheels yourself could save you some cash, it's not the black art that some would have you believe. I first spoked and trued a pair of wheels about thirty years ago and it took me several days, i can do a pair now in an afternoon. There's plenty of literature on the net so why not give it a go?
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[Vincent]

If you're on a budget, replace the spokes yourself - one at a time - and use solvol Autosol on the rim. As you remove each spoke, (just clip them off with some snippers or bolt cutters), clean the hole where the spoke goes through the rim and the one in the hub, (Solvol is also god on cast ally). For the stubbourn rust, try some wire wool with the Solvol. Stainless Spokes would be best but steel ones are half the price. Once polished up, you'll jhave to keep on top of the polishing otherwise the rust wil soon come back. It's not the best way, but it is the cheapest and should get you through this season

BTW: Be weary of any chromed pattern part. I've yet to see anything pattern with decent quality plating.