flash chromed stainless

["Dick Benjamin" <dickb@xxxxxxxxx>]

I thought I was pretty well informed after 55 years of playing with old
cars, but this is the first time I have heard of anyone chrome plating
stainless!   I only have one question:   Why?

Properly buffed stainless is beautiful - perhaps the color is subtly
different, but I sure never noticed it.

Stainless trim never develops "pits", so if your parts are pitted, I think
they are not stainless, at least not the type of stainless I've ever come
across.

If they are pot metal, I agree, they must be stripped of the old chrome
before they can be repaired.  This is a very expensive process (the pit
repair I mean) but there are shops that specialize in this.  I don't think
it is practical to "buff off" chrome - I'll bet a buck that the piece melts
before all the chrome is gone - that stuff is hard as the hubs of hell!  The
proper way to remove chrome is in a plater's bath, running backwards of
course.

Dick Benjamin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rog & Jan van Hoy" <vanhilla@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 6:10 PM
Subject: IML: flash chromed stainless


> I'd appreciate some feedback on this factory process and
> what you've done out there to restore the trim.  Took my '55
> [lesser] chrome plated stainless side trim to the plating
> shop today for stripping, because on one side of the car the
> trim was pitted.  He says that only by dipping and removing
> the chrome can the stainless be buffed out, but the
> stainless will be "yellow," not "blue."  He also said no one
> in the universe flash chromes stainless any more, so one
> either has to find good virgin pieces or strip and buff the
> stainless.
>
> I remember a thread a while back about buffing stainless.
> According to this master plater you either have to strip the
> chrome or buff it away.
>
> Any one out there gone thru this problem?  What cars used
> flash chromed stainless and what used plain stainless?
>
> --Roger van Hoy, '55 DeSoto, '58 DeSoto, '42 DeSoto, '66
> Plymouth, '81 Imperial, Washougal, WA
>
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