Alternatives to chroming?

its all on what you can afford too

 

I would like someone to tell me I cut corners with this car. The fact of the matter is, rechroming is overpriced and many times the quality is poor. I chose to paint my bumpers and trim because 1) I hate spending good money on junk, and 2) I knew I could do a better and longer lasting job myself. Whether you like the look or not is personal preference, but it is certainly not indicative of poor workmanship.

 

Cast aluminum paint for my bumpers.

 

There are alternatives to chrome, but there is no replacement for it.

 

I totally agree..

 

I found a product from a company called alsa corp that makes a spray chrome. I KNOW I KNOW I was reluctant too, but I'm quite impressed with it. CHeck it out
http://www.alsacorp.com/
It's not the cheapest but it looks the best.... check out the spray can video.
Hope that helps a little.
Cheers

 

Well in my case it's not even about that. Yes $600 is a lot of money and I'm not going to throw it around lightly, but I truly think my car's bumpers look better in black. If I spend that much money on bumpers I want to be able to bolt them on, step back and say, "Damn, that looks amazing, takes it to a whole other level!" not "Wow I should have left them black, but at least I did it right..."

I installed new chrome door handles recently. They have a great finish and I thought they were going to look awesome on the car, but I keep looking at them and thinking they need to be black again. Then I think about that "stigma" you're talking about and I leave them alone. You're right, the stigma exists, and it's a shame. When somebody paints over chrome, some people can only think it's because they were being cheap and not because it contributes to the whole look of the car. But Sam's blacked-out car above for instance would not look as good with chrome bumpers...

Then again, maybe I am being cheap. When it comes time to paint my car again, I won't be spending $650 on clear coat...

 

Well I must say this is a VERY interesting product - though in itself expensive. I would only possibly use it under strict controlled conditions (temp and isolation) so as not to allow contamination.

Could be a real good solution for small parts. Bumpers? Perhaps - again under strict control - but you'd need a lot of material and it would probably approach the price of real chrome. In that case, I'd opt for the real stuff.

Chris

 

go chrome! its period to the car. it is also time less! and yes the reason why chrome is so expensive is becuase the EPA did it to them!

when i see painted bumpers for some reason it reminds me of the 80's when they did all the mono-chrome type of stuff and ugly ass colors like hot pink and aqua.... it sort of reminds me of a.... mullet! so maybe the fad didn't impress me much. i also look at new cars and think wow what happened to all the chrome? lol! then again they aren't bumpers anymore they are bumper covers...lol!

however painted bumpers can look good! when i think of the 427 farlines with painted alum bumpers... that looks cool!

as far as paint under the hood of an old car, i like chrome. personally i think painting things like the alternator, valve covers and rad shield etc as as an after thought. personally i have used paint to hide stuff that looks ugly in plain jane so when i see painted stuff i think someone is trying to hide something truely ugly. maybe that's just me because i have done it but i know many have done the same thing! now unless its some custom piece the same color as the car or something like a engine cover or what not then yeah cool deal. but think about it.... most set ups you see, be honest, when you're at a car show what catches your eye more? chrome? or the same item painted?

other things i have done is done power coating on suff that won't last chromed or painted like control arms, spindels, swaybar and stock wheels. btw you can also power coat a aluminum color with a clear coat... it looks fairly nice!

lastly is anything aluminum i just poilsh nothing beats a nice polished aluminum look!

each to their own but then again what do i know.

 

Sams car looks good because he blacked out ALL the trim and it's a black car.Drews car looks good because of the color combo.But 99% of the time I see black bumpers on old cars and think of '90s base model work trucks.

 

Keep it chrome!! I don't care much for the chrome molding on the fender wells and along the side, it kinda says sport granny mobile! HA right? The bumpers should be kept chrome man! Shiny, sleek, nice! These cars are classic bad asses!! I say don't paint the bumpers It will look too modern and kinda under radar! People seem to look more at shiny ****! My 65' mustang gt is a head turner because it's metallic charcoal black with silver racing stripes! HEAD TURNER. So I guess its just down to if you want people to notice you or not!!

 

I want to do a white car with black trim/bumpers with black rims and black stripes i think that would look bad!!

 

here's my opinion. If you can turn out a car like facelessnumber and especially Sam M. then you can paint it and it'll look amazing. I am totally a chrome bumper guy, because that's what sets are cars apart from the new painted plastic bumpers. But, if I could pull it off I would definitely paint them and save the money. Chrome will always look good and even if it's a little beat up and rusted out a little on the bottom it'll still be cool.

 

i don't know much about re-chroming. will they re-chrome them after they've been painted?