I am in the process of restoring a car, and right now I’m working on the interior. Some of the chrome pieces from the dash could be rechromed to make the interior resemble the original car.
Now the dash pieces in question are plastic, which makes this so difficult. I have not been able to find a chrome paint that will adhere to plastic, although there are a few colors that will. It seems the only way to rechrome plastic is to send it out to a specialty shop which goes through a meticulous process to do the job.
My question is why? I can buy primer that adheres to plastic, and like I said, some colors that adhere to the plastic and/or the primer. Is there something special about chrome paint that won’t work, or does the plastic need to be heated at a high enough temp to absorb the chrome?
Does anyone know of a way to do this as a do-it-yourself project, or is it something I will just have to send out and pay the high premium that this service seems to be able to command?
Plastic is generally chromed using vacuum deposition or perhaps a special powdercoating system, nither are a DIY propostion. You might try MirraChrome paint, I’ve heard good thing but have no direct experience ,it’s certainly not cheap.
We made a part for a man that sold it to car restorers. The part had to be perfect on the surface to apply chrome and no oils could come in contact with the plastic parts before we sent them to the company that put on the expensive chrome. No mold sprays could be used, and clean cotton gloves had to be worn at all times somebody handled the part. Body oils from the fingers would mess up the chrome plating. You can’t just spray on actual chrome as a paint on your old parts for a mirror shiny surface.
bluezooky, thanks for the MirraChrome paint tip. I’ve never heard of it before. I did a quick search on it and you are right. It *is *expensive.
Harmonious Discord, thanks for the links. Seems that the vacuum/heat process could be the way to go, if I can find a place to do it that I can trust. I’ll have to do some research.
I’d still like to do it myself, but the MirraChrome might be just as expensive as shipping it out. I guess it’s not something a DIYer does without the proper equipment.