Problems with Chrome-look paint, Q&A's

A. If you're looking for very inexpensive "over-the-counter spray paint", you could try 'bumper chrome' ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , David. From its name, you know they are trying to get the look right -- but one-component rattle-can paint doesn't actually approximate the look of chrome plating ... although the more complicated and much more expensive 3-layer "chrome-look" paints look pretty close. Good luck.

A. I agree that most spray commercial spray paints don't approximate chrome. This has to do with the differences in surface architecture between a plated surface and a conventional metallic pigment. (bounce angles of light, uniformity, dispersion, etc.) However, there is a new generation of coatings based on VMP (vacuum metallized pigments) that do in fact approximate chrome. You see this in the automotive industry as many of the interior chrome parts are now a coating instead of conventional chrome.

Thanks, Frank. Vacuum metalizing of auto interior parts may be recently improved but it's not new. The armrests, window cranks and dashboard parts of many 1960's automobiles were vacuum metallized plastic. The metalizing wore off very quickly and exposed ugly mustard color plastic underneath.
Car buyers weren't told, so they mistakenly thought this garbage was "chrome plating"; that misidentification gave chrome plating of plastic an undeserved bad name. Real chrome plating of plastic is used for the grills and exterior parts of most cars & trucks today, and it will stand up to decades of sun, salt, and ice.
Vacuum metalizing is the technology used on the "jewelry" in Cracker Jack and gum-ball machine prizes. I believe you that it's better today than in the 1960's, but to the degree that we can, we're not going to let the public be fooled with a cheaper technology riding the coattails of chrome plating's outstanding performance and ruining its reputation a second time around :-)

Readers may wish to see our "Introduction to Chrome Plating"

A. Hi Ray. While the vendors of the high quality chrome-look paints apparently originally wanted this to be a technology they would offer to OEMs and established shops, it caught the consumers' imagination and it just made more sense to sell it to a clamoring public than to restrict it to shops. Also, the technology has improved rapidly, and it is easier to apply. So earlier answers you see on this forum (including some from me) are somewhat out of date.

But I'm sure you only get what you pay for, and how far does 8 ounces go? Compared to the price of real chrome plating, even the most expensive chrome-look paint is very cheap. Good luck!

A. Concerning the question of chrome Paint and the claimed suppliers of such a product, I have extensive experience with a product called [deleted by editor] and a product called [deleted by editor]. First, [the first brand] is neither user friendly nor is it near as durable as suppliers of this product claim. After a substantial investment for equipment and the product itself a person can produce a sprayed on chrome finish on just about anything. The problem is this finish does not last more than six months, it appears to start discoloring most of the time around the edges (but not always) and eventually just peels right off the substrate. I could go on for some time about the poor quality of this product but I think it will suffice to say that this product does not work more than a very temporary basis. The supplier of [the first brand] will not confirm the shortcomings of this product if confronted, but just remember they only need to sell you the system and the supplies once and they have just made good money off one more sucker. [The second brand] is considerably more user friendly and much more cost efficient. If applied properly it looks very much like chrome until it is top-coated at which time it's reflectivity is reduced to about 85 to 90 percent. This a very nice effect to have in your bag of tricks as a custom painter, but if you're looking for a chrome paint to replicate the look, feel, and durability of chrome plating, such a product does not exist. -- Just the truth.

A. Thanks, Larry. Yes, chrome plating is the application of very hard, slippery, corrosion resistant and abrasion resistant metals. You are right that no paint offers what a layer of real chrome metal offers. Chrome plating been the premium decorative finish for over 75 years.

But we ask that people not offer testimonials to one brand or to slam other brands here (why?). If we print your letter with brand names, do we owe JoePhony@hotmail.com the opportunity to write "The brand that Larry recommended is a cheat and worthless!". If we don't print Joe Phony's letter, are we censoring people, or deleting a phony plant? We get many suspicious postings every day, including some where the IP address matches a supplier's website and proves that they are phony :-)

This is a "no registration required" site, and we can't do police background checks to determine if "satisfied customers" are real, or whether there are vested interests in postings -- so it would be silly for a reader to try to determine the quality of a product based on praise from shills, or complaints planted by their competitors. It's better if we just serve as a technical site and place of camaraderie, and not print commercial slams or testimonials :-)

A. Hi James. Each time we've posted inquiries about satisfaction with chrome-look paints it degenerated into people saying something like "Brand X is fabulous, brand Y is worthless". If anyone offers generic answers that apply to all chrome-look paint we'll be happy to print them -- but you can understand how printing commercially motivated "testimonials" from anonymous posters in a public forum gets very silly very quickly :-)

A. Let me take it one further. There is a banner at the bottom of this screen with companies that support this site. Talk to their sales and ask the same questions. Then ask for lab testing reports on the one that you like best after the initial conversations.

A. Hi, Sandi. I am glad that you're pleased with Alsa, but be thankful that the shops who chrome plate the landing gear of the airliners you fly on know better than to believe you that chrome-look paint is "REAL Chrome broken down in a spray form" :-)

Chrome-look paint is NOT chrome and has nothing at all to do with real chrome; chrome is an electroplated layer of the element chromium. It is 100 percent metal, "grown" onto the metal substrate by electroplating for perfect adhesion. Chrome-look paint is just paint designed to look like chrome, not to perform like it; it does not have the lubricity, the low coefficient of friction, the corrosion resistance, the emissivity/absorptivity, the UV resistance, or the hardness of chrome. Please see our FAQ: "Introduction to Chrome Plating". Thanks!

I am not knocking chrome-look paint at all! To the contrary, it pleases me that hobbyists are using chrome-look paint instead of fooling with toxic carcinogenic hexavalent chrome plating solutions! I am simply saying that we mustn't pretend that it is chrome plating; aside from some shininess making it look like chrome, it has nothing in common with real chrome at all.

Regards,

A. Hi, John. Any of the major brands of chrome-look paint should be fine. What is required for durability is that, after the very thin layer of silvering or aluminum flake, that the paint system include a durable clear coat to cover and protect that metalizing from rubbing off easily.

Regards,

A. Hi, Dan
I personally would not expect this to be a problem. Some outdoor "statues" like the "chrome" jaguars on the marquees of Jaguar dealers are chrome-look paint. Further, most of the shiny stuff on cars, but behind clear protective plastic (like headlight reflectors are not chrome plated but vacuum metallized (which is very similar to chrome-look paint). Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi G.V.

"Chrome-look paint" is actually very similar in appearance and performance to the vacuum metalizing that you are doing. Both start with a base coat; then they have a bright layer of either aluminum deposited in vacuum, or aluminum deposited by spray painting the carefully designed tiny flakes, or two-part silvering; then they have a clear top coat applied. It will probably be very hard to tell one from the other.

I think the biggest difference between vacuum metallizing and high quality chrome-look paint is simply that the vacuum metallizing will involve much higher capital cost (because of the need for a vacuum chamber) but significantly lower labor cost (because the vacuum deposited aluminum easily and automatically covers the component, whereas spraying requires care and handwork); therefore the selection between the technologies would be based primarily on production volume rather than appearance or quality.

Regards,

A. Hi D. You may be able to just put a translucent blue lacquer on top of the existing piggy banks to change the color. Otherwise, see the banner at the bottom of the page for sources of tinted chrome-look paint.

Regards,

A. Hi Caleb. We appended your question to a thread which should answer it. Chrome-look paint should give you the faux chrome look you are seeking. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi, Chester. First, are these accents on plastic or metal parts? If the parts are metal, they probably have real electroplating and the parts can be sent to a plating shop for replating if you wish. If the parts are plastic, it is probably not real electroplating but vacuum metallizing (a basecoat, followed by a very thin layer of vacuum-deposited aluminum, followed by a clear coat or a gold/brass tinted translucent coat).

Rather expensive machines are required to do vacuum metallizing, but today's "chrome look paints" are essentially the same 3-layer thing as vacuum metallizing except that the shiny layer is applied by spray painting.

Regards,

A. Hi Chris. If there is actually a hole, paint won't fill it. If you mean that the finish is worn off, yes it can probably be painted, but best results come from best application situations, so it is not ideal to do it in situ. A photo would help; it's not completely clear that you are talking about an interior trim item molded or glued to a vinyl door liner, as opposed to the trim on the exterior of the door. But prepping the metal or plastic for paint is just as important, or more so, for chrome-look paint as for any other paint. Without proper prep the paint will peel; so it's important to know exactly what you are trying to paint. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Ashok. To my knowledge all of the major high quality chrome-look paints involve those same three layers: a smoothing base coat, the "chrome" layer per se, and a clear topcoat to protect it. Whoever you bought the chrome-layer paint from probably also offers the base coat and the top coat. See the banner ad at bottom of page for a couple of brands.

Regards,

A. Hi Rick. We added your inquiry to a thread about the subject. In brief, yes, high quality chrome plating is terribly expensive but the "silver-based" process is just "chrome-look" paint rather than real plating. If it's done well it will probably hold up reasonably well on a fresh water or show boat, although the lines may wear away the paint if the cleats are used much.

Correcting the pitting is a monstrous labor problem for real re-plating, where grinding plus soldering or brazing are required on every tiny pit; it's much less of a problem for chrome-look paint, where body filler can be used.

Regards,

Q. Thanks for immediate response BUT the use of Chrome Paint is NOT what my question is about. I'm more interested in comparing and/or your recommendation on Nickel Chrome process vs. Silver Process to re-chrome boat hardware such as cleats, bow lights, handles, etc.

Ah, but it is, Rick.

Please read our "Intro to Chrome Plating" and it will hopefully be clearer. Your "silver process" refers to the higher quality chrome-look paints which consist of a base coat, followed by two-part silvering (as is used to make mirrors), followed by a clear coat.

It's not your fault: some of the vendors of these chrome-look paints call them spray chrome, silver chrome, or chroming -- but they are not "chroming" except in the very limited sense of making something look like chrome. It's paint, it's not metal.

Regards,

A. Hi Jon. Yes, the new generation of high quality "chrome look paints" and "vacuum metallizing" generate coatings that are very similar in makeup and performance, with the biggest factor in selecting between them just being production volume -- with "chrome look" spray painting requiring more labor and attention, but not involving the million-dollar capital costs.

In either case the question is whether the elements can be practically kept away from wreaking slow havoc on the shiny layer. Silvered glass (mirrors, thermos bottles, etc.) or aluminized plastic can last many decades when sealed away from the environment, and I think many automobile headlight and taillight surrounds and reflectors (sealed behind glass or plastic) are vacuum metallized.

But I believe that the clearcoats for metallizing or chrome-look painting have a limited life when exposed to UV and difficult environmental conditions, and that it's a major struggle to make a clearcoat both impermeable and non-yellowing -- such that we still can expect only a limited life from such parts. I welcome other opinions, since mine are more book knowledge than actual experience.

Regards,

A. Hi Buddy. I wouldn't know what the process was, but would probably guess at vacuum metallizing.

Obviously you're not going to be able to do that, but you might consider gold leaf.

Regards,

A. Back in those days the process they used was vacuum metalizing. If the new gauges that you are installing are already chrome plated and it's true nickel/chrome, you could use a small gold brush plating kit. Now if the new gauges you are using are again vacuum coated, but it's not gold but silvered colored, you could use a gold tinted clear coat that will give the appearance of gold plating.

A. Hi srinivasan. To the best of my knowledge there is nothing you can do to repair a damaged nickel-chrome plated wheel short of removing the scratch, stripping the chrome, re-activating the nickel plating, and nickel and chrome plating it again.

Regards,

A. Hi Danny. Chrome is a metal that is deposited by electroplating. To get a paint to look somewhat like it is not a simple one-step process, but is 3 separate coats as a minimum: a smoothing base coat, a very thin aluminum or silver metallizing layer, and a clear top coat to prevent the metallizing layer from instantly rubbing off or oxidizing to dullness.

The first coat has to be designed for super smoothness or you'll never get reflectivity; the second coat is pretty high technology; the third coat must stay clear without yellowing, offer UV resistance, be fairly hard, and be impermeable to keep the metal from oxidizing. Thus, when you ask for inexpensive chrome-look paint, it's a bit of an oxymoron: an expensive 3-coat paint system may look like chrome, an inexpensive single coat system never will. See the banner ads at the bottom of this page or google for "chrome-look paint" -- sorry, we don't compare brands here (why?). Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Michelle. Yes, rechroming is fabulously expensive because of the almost countless hours of highly-skilled labor required -- I'm not referring so much to carrying the part to the chrome tank as the grueling precise drilling out of every pit followed by welding, brazing or special soldering to repair it. You don't seem to be talking about an authentic restoration for car show competition, but just something nice, so you could try the chrome-look paint we've been talking about. We've linked to our FAQ on Chrome Plating several times on this page and I think you'll find it informative.

If I haven't quite answered your question, put "chrome plating at home" into our search engine and you'll find at least three long discussions about it. Good luck.

Regards,

A. There are many ways to skin a cat and in your case using Nickel should be a very good alternative to chrome, it's readily available as hobby kits, the tricky part in your case it that it seems that your piece is pot metal and is badly pitted, I have restored these type of articles successfully without having to do the extensive prep work required to plate nickel directly on the pitted pot metal (sand blasting, cyanide flash copper, filling the pits with solder, cyanide copper, acid copper, Nickel plating).

What I do is I send the part (or do it myself when I have the time), to a painting specialist and have the item prep to the primer base (fill the pits with putty, self etching primer, sanding primer), when I make sure that the piece is in perfect shape I coat the piece with conductive copper paint (allow to dry for 24 hours), and plate the now conductive piece with a thick coating in the acid copper plating tank (4 hours), and polish the piece to a mirror finish -- this piece is now ready for Nickel plating bath.

A. Hi Mo. Brass is probably the most easily plateable substrate material. If you've been stymied for 30 years looking for realistic paint, maybe it's time to bite the bullet and try nickel plating. Once you've got the process down on brass, you can try to paint the wood pieces with some graphite or copper based paint in order to nickel plate them as well.

Regards,

  Ted -- Thank you for your response! I was doubting you'd still be monitoring this site and I'm pleased you are. I have purchased a chrome plate paint that was recommended on several sites and will see how that works. I am not in a position to actually have these miniature pieces nickel plated, although that was what was used in the early 20's. Thanks - you have a great site.

A. Hi Mo,
I recently saw all sorts of home electroplating kits on Amazon.com.

If you go to Amazon and search "nickel electroplating", you can also find various reagents and so on, but the "brush on kit" is easier, and probably not much more expensive, than figuring out how to hack a Wal-mart and buy all the necessary tidbits ;)

They also have electroplating kits for applying silver, copper, gold, and so on.

I hope that helps!

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Ed. note: Thanks for your help, Kris! You'll notice that we had to delete a few lines from your posting. For one thing, as part of our agreement with Amazon, we are forbidden to post any of their prices on our site (except 'live' ones which they dynamically include on some ads). We also have been specifically requested by the vendor you mentioned not to post their name on this site.

A. Rust-Oleum® Bright Coat Metallic Chrome Finish Spray Paint.

Bare-Metal Foil

on Amazon

(affil links)

A. Try Bare-Metal Foil (https://www.bare-metal.com/)! Bare-Metal® Foil is perfect for duplicating chrome or nickel on model cars, model trucks, and model aircraft, etc. Made in USA!
Hope it helps and good luck!

A. Hi Richard. I think "chrome-look paint" with different translucent lacquers to give other metallic looks might be just what you need. See the ads at the top of this page. There may be other approaches, and readers are encouraged to offer them (non-commercially).

P.S. Apologies, but part of your posting asking for testimonials or private contact was omitted because we don't do those things in this public forum :-(

Regards,

A. Hi cousin Albaraa. We added your posting to this thread which already addresses your subject. 'Nickel chrome' plating means electroplating a layer of nickel metal on the object followed by a layer of chrome metal; the two work together to produce a shiny, corrosion-resistant, tarnish-resistant, hard metal coating on the object. We have an "Introduction to Chrome Plating" here which you might find interesting.

If you only need the "look" of nickel-chrome, but don't really need the properties of a metal coating, you may be able to use "chrome-look" paint; it is easier, less toxic, and less expensive. Chrome look paint consists of three layers, the first is just a smoothing basecoat. The second layer may be a very thin layer of silver which is achieved by simultaneously spraying a solution of silver nitrate (dissolved silver) and a reducing agent such as formaldehyde and sugar. The reducing agent causes the dissolved silver to become a thin layer of silver metal. This process has been used for a long time to make glass mirrors, and is called the Brashear Process. The silver is very thin and would be easily rubbed off, so the third layer of the system is a clear coat to cover and protect the silver. Good luck.

Regards,