can you chromed your grill shell or will it wreck the metal, has anybody done it? do you have any pics?

 

I talked with a guy last year at a show that had a chromed grille shell on his 79 Bronco. It looked awsome. I'll look tonight and see if I can find any pics of it. -Ed

 

I've been wondering the same thing. I don't think there are any bonafide chrome grills out there, just highly polished aluminum. I'm pretty sure you can't chrome aluminum but I could be wrong on both counts. Hope somebody out there that knows for sure speaks up.

 

Here is the link to a pic of the "chrome" grille shell, not a great pic (so far away). I have talked to this guy a few times and he says it's chromed, and it certainly looks like it to me. It looks just like his front bumper that's chrome. -Ed

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...&albumid=15417

 

Our grille shells are clear-annodized aluminum. I don't think you can chrome a porous material like aluminum, only polish it.

 

if you can find a nos grille shell from ford, the annodizing on them makes them look like chrome, they are very shiny.

 

Yes, you can chrome plate anything including plastic. There are a couple of process and in this context the chroming is electroplating which is what you do to a bumper AND ANY METAL OBJECT. Aluminum is commonly chrome plated with varying degrees of success. The issue with chrome plating aluminum involves electrolysis. Eventually the aluminum and plating bond will fail and the results get ugly. This does take time and the better the process the longer it takes before failure becomes evident. I have seen items such as OEM plated wheels on a Lincoln fail in as little as 5 years in a salt environment and others from California cars are still pristine 15 years later. It all depends on how clean the aluminum is and how good the process is. Any item that conducts electricity can be electroplated and items that can not conduct electricity are often plated using a process called vacuum metalizing. Hawkrod

 

Thanks for the education, I always wondered about that.

 

What about the flexing of the weak aluminum grill that can crack the chrome?
I would use a metal grill. What about the use of Black Chrome on a grill? It was a fad in the late 60's / 70's and looks cool. Ceramic coating in aluminum like on headers? Just paint? Options and money, your choice.

Carl....=o&o>....

 

I have a chrome grill surround on my '75. The previous owner had it done so i dont know all the specifics but it looks way better than the stock aluminum ones i think anyways. There might be a pic in my gallery.

 

Are the front grill and side trim molding on a 1977 F250 ranger XLT both anodized aluminum?
I would like to bring the shine back rather than buy new. One FTE user said use oven cleaner to remove the anodizing then you could polish them back to a shine and put clear coat paint to keep the finish.

 

You can pollish it,do it right and it looks like a mirror.

 

When I had my truck painted I polished all of my chrome by hand. I used everytype of polish I could find but to no avail. It just wasn't cutting the oxidation so I bought an 8" electric buffer (looks like a bench grinder) and spent months buffing them with various compounds. The chrome looks like a mirror now, but it took me countless hours. I am just finishing the lower rocker chrome this month and I started polishing the chrome about 1.5 years ago. If you are going to polish it yourself I would highly recommend purchasing a buffer it saves alot of time. I don't know what it was about that chrome but it just did not want to clean up with the hand polishes ( and believe me I tried every product under the sun). I used an airway soft buffing pad with the green (fine) buffing compound on most of the chrome. On the stubborn areas I used a harder buffing pad with the reddish (medium) buffing compound. They sell a very fine compound that I suppose I could have used as the final compound but I don't think it needed it as the chrome looks ultra shiny now. One warning though, if you buff the chrome trim too hard or too much it will cut through the anodizing and leave a burnt spot in the chrome. I did this with a real stubborn piece of lower rocker chrome and it does show. However, I was really going at it for a while and should have realized it sooner. The anodizing is very durable and will hold up very well so don't be afraid of burning through as it will only happen with extreme pressure/stationary movement.

Hope this helps.

 

The oven cleaner works great. Get a piece of scrap trim and try it. You can polish your trim to a higher luster than factory and it will look like chrome.

 

I will try to use a buffer first and save the anodizing, I don't want to remove the protection of that if I don't have to. Then if that doesn't work oven cleaner here I come.