Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all I recently got a new moggy and Im going to respray it but my effort seems kind of pointless because I have terrible chrome work does anybody know how to clean it up to a nice shine as usual any help greatly appreciated

Hi Edward
If you put, clean chrome ,in the search bar at the top of the main page it will give you all the past posts regarding this subject, hope this helps.

Regards
Peter

If it's blistered and pitted it might still polish up and look ok, but if it's too bad then it needs to be rechromed or replaced. Note that replacement is MUCH cheaper than rechroming, but you are still talking of more than £500. Unfortunately not all the replacement chrome is that good so you need to make sure it has lots of polish to help protect it!

How do you recrome it ?

Send it to the professionals. Most plating can be done at home, but chromium plating is especially toxic. Google chrome plating.

be warned, you can't rechrome certain things, such as the 3 parts that make up the loop that goes around the front panel (bottom right in the pic below) the side bits are reffered to as 'hockey sticks' due to their shape. and the bit in the middle is often called the 'top chrome'. the way these parts were made means that if you strip the chrome you're left with something looking like the inside of an aero! which is no good for putting fresh chrome onto.
[frame][/frame]

If the pitting is so bad it won't clean up it's cheaper to buy second hand ones than have things replated.

Put an ad in the wanted section of this site or have a look on Ebay.

If you replace, be careful some new chrome parts are poorly plated and last very little time. Source your replacements carefully. I've had first hand experience of buying replacement chrome parts that haven't lasted 12 months.

you can buy cheap chrome or expensive chrome... guess which one's better!

ASL642 wrote:If the pitting is so bad it won't clean up it's cheaper to buy second hand ones than have things replated.

Put an ad in the wanted section of this site or have a look on Ebay.

Good advice here Lou, I wish I had listened to you in the beginning.

chrisryder wrote:you can buy cheap chrome or expensive chrome... guess which one's better!

The trouble was Chris I paid for the expensive chrome and it was rubbish, so you never can tell.[frame][/frame]

Edward.21 wrote:Hi all I recently got a new moggy and Im going to respray it but my effort seems kind of pointless because I have terrible chrome work does anybody know how to clean it up to a nice shine as usual any help greatly appreciated

Depending on how bad the chrome is , you may be able to revive it by using Solvol, or some other metal polish, followed by car wax.

Or, if the chrome does revive with the metal polish, try applying clear coat or clear lacquer paint which will protect the chrome , for a while anyway.

Or - just go for a 'chrome less' car !

bmcecosse wrote:Or - just go for a 'chrome less' car !

With Brasso and a scouring pad and a lot of rubbing you can get get rid of most of the rust stains, just leaving the pit marks. The chrome can look reasonably presentable. Ultimately you will need to replace the chromework and yes, a lot of it is cr*p although hub caps may be available in stainless.
Note. This treatment is for poor quality chromework and gentler methods should be used on decent chromework.

mike.perry wrote:With Brasso and a scouring pad and a lot of rubbing you can get get rid of most of the rust stains, just leaving the pit marks. The chrome can look reasonably presentable. Ultimately you will need to replace the chromework and yes, a lot of it is cr*p although hub caps may be available in stainless.

Thanks for all your help guys I found this on eBay it seems to be cheaper than replacing it
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GOLD-SILVER-CHROM ... 3999wt_741

buy good second hand old stock if possible

That ebay kit will not work! To use that kind of plating the parts need to be perfect before you start! Would be interesting for you to have a try and prove me wrong though! I for one would love to see the results!

If it was good enough to plate originally surly if I cleaned it up I could at least get a reasonable Finnish