The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Chrome or stainless bumpers

Thinking about replacing our bumpers on the 53. The cost to re-chrome is a small fortune! Any suggestions on the chrome or stainless repo's out there? Stainless seems to be twice the cost of chrome. I know that some of the chrome quality of the repo's is not great. Any thoughts out there?
Coach Frank

Our bumper & grille were painted that magenta!? color,so we stripped the paint,and are going to use a Duplicolor brand paint like chrome or silver.Came to find out the grille has body filler,thus the paint.It will be a driver,not for show.

coach-frank.... have you ever considered powder coating the bumper. There is a "chrome looking" powder that I have seen on wheels that is not that bad....and the price should be good.

I've seen bumpers advertized in Old Cars Weekly for $105 up at Bills Speed shop in Ill. I once called and an AD bumper was $120 and from the way the guy talked they "may" even be USA made?? They are still adverizing in the paper and I plan to call before to long as I get ready for a rear bumper on my panel.

Rechroming has been talked about here many times and there should be a piece put in the tech. tips for everyone to read and makeup his mind on what type of Chroming they want. There two types of Chrome plating being done in todays auto market.

The first type is the Nickle,Nickle,Chrome.
In my estamation this Chrome style doesn't have the deep look of the older type Chrome or the shine that the old style has.
Nickel, Nickle does not fill as well when you put the Chrome over it in my opinion and you can see some sanding marks if not done well.

The second type of Chrome is the old style
Copper,Nickle,Chrome.
The Copper Base you get the deep scratchs filled with Copper which is the base for your Nickel to bond to then comes the Chrome which gives that deep look and luster.
The process is like preparing for a paint job. The better you prep the base the better it will look when finished.

Remember you get what you pay for in quality in todays market

62Blue
Don

I may be wrong but isn't stainless steel stronger than the chromed bumper? I bought the stainless. After all the work I've done, I want to make sure my truck lasts and lasts. Hopefully my great, great grandchildren will be driving it.

The stainless bumpers can be polished to a very nice shine (mirror finish). I would go with SS if a 54 1/2 ton rear bumper was available in SS.

I agree with BIG CHEVY 3600 regarding having the truck last and last for progeny. It may not be authentic but it looks original and it will last much longer (I do not know if SS is any/much stronger that original steel).

Tim:
I am not certain either on which is stronger cold steel or stainless steel. I do know if I need to drill stainless I'll bring a bunch of drill bits.

A friend just had two bumpers and 5 hubcaps re-chromed for a 1936 British Ford. Small cars, small bumpers. They were in decent shape but took a bit of hammering before plating. Total cost $2000! Crazy! But that includes 12% tax plus an environmental fee.
I was talking to the plater about doing my 49 bumpers ($600 each!) and he said its cheaper to buy reproduction units although they are not as good. I asked about stainless and he said it was good at one time but now these stainless bumpers are coming from Asia and you can expect them to rust eventually.

Everything rusts eventually given enough time. Some before others. I bought stainless.