Spray on Chrome

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66Dvert

66Dvert

Working on my custom car parts again!
Joined
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Webster , florida
I just found a guy in my (withing 60 miles ) that does Spray on chrome... I'm thinking about taking a piece of my dash to him to see how it turns out (speedometer) after I look at his work to make sure it's what will work for me.

has anyone got theirs done that way?
what was the cost?
how long did it take?

I know it won't be as durable as the vacuum metalized version the factory did.
I just can't find a plater that will do it for a reasonable price . I've got a price anywhere from 700 to 2000 just to do my dash and that's not detailing it.
I'd go to MR G's but they don't have all the pieces anymore.
 
Is it the mirrachrome system? If it is then its a bad *** system. That system is made by alza corp and it kicks ***. There are a lot of half *** systems out there that look cheap and don't hold up. I myself have used the mirrachrome system and its amazing. Just do your homework and ask to see their finished products
 
stacey david or david stacey had it on 1 night look it up on his shows his turned out nice but i bet it wasnt in 1 take lol
he had good cleaner for changing vynal color with spray can

try some mylar never played with that yet on curves
 
I have been sort of slacking off (not enough money sucks!) and a couple of other projects jumped up and got in the way(making parts for the dart to be vacu-formed) . But now I'm able to get a little work done.


I found a local (hey 50 miles is local ain't it) guy that does the spray chrome thingy . I think it's spectra chrome but am not sure, I'll ask him when I drop of the part to get sprayed. well I'm cleaning up a couple of pieces and gonna have him shoot them for me to see how things look. I'll do the silver and black, I just want him to spray chrome on the bezels for me.
here is a working on cleaning them up progress.

he said I'm about a week down in the waiting list . so we'll see what the 1st piece looks like before I commit to the rest, I still have to fix the speedo bezel. both mine are damaged. I really want to do a custom bezel by taking the radio delete one and graft it to the A/C one and poke a hole for the convertible top switch. , but that's later for right now I want to see how the spray on chrome works out.


BTW
what color silver is the 66 dart GT dash bezels? different than the 270? and does anyone know if the black on the bezels is gloss black or satin black? I looked and thought they were satin black but a guy I met at the swap meet said they were glossy. now I'm confused and don't have a sample to look at since I started cleaning mine up.Pic's look satin but you know how picture lie!


hers the start
View attachment DSCF3758.jpg

here is the cleaned up bunch getting done up
View attachment DSCF3764.jpg

closer shot of the a/c bezel
View attachment DSCF3766.jpg
glovebox
View attachment DSCF3768.jpg
and end panel
View attachment DSCF3769.jpg


speedo bezel is still in purple power soak to remove the chrome and then allow me to fix the cracks and missing pieces.
 
I wish you luck but you may discover you've paid someone to do the easy part.
The detail painting is very difficult and time consuming. You'll need liquid mask and a steedy hand.
Niether the black or the argent/silver is glossy. Duplicolor trim black isn't perfect but close enough. Mopars argent rallye wheel paint isn't exact match either but close enough for use on dashes,console tops, most anywhere.
 
RedFish said:
I wish you luck but you may discover you've paid someone to do the easy part.
The detail painting is very difficult and time consuming. You'll need liquid mask and a steedy hand.
Niether the black or the argent/silver is glossy. Duplicolor trim black isn't perfect but close enough. Mopars argent rallye wheel paint isn't exact match either but close enough for use on dashes,console tops, most anywhere.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
yeah I know that he's just doing the easy part. but it's something I can't do. I figure if I do all the rest since I've got way more time than money I can do it. When I was a kid (a long time ago) up in Michigan I had a job at an auto suppliers place putting the black paint in the chrome knobs and the white lettering on the bezels , but we had a thin metal stencil that overlay the bezel when we sprayed the bigger colors. that's what I'm going to make to help define the lines on the bezels and it'll help me so I dont screw up. so I have some idea of how much work it takes (way more than it looks like too!) it was the WORST summer job I've ever had! I still cant look at a 65 Pontiac (I think a Catalina and for some reason I got stuck doing them when I worked there) or 65 Plymouth Satellite dashboard without remembering that couple of summers. made good money for a 15 YO but the work sucked!

I've got the liquid mask from a while ago when I was putting stripes and such back on my old 75 goldwing and didn't use it all. I found that by doing the fineline tape first to straighten the lines out and then liquid masking then removing fine lines tape I came out with a much nicer job than me trying to make a straight line or sharp corner. and I've got some duplicolor and SEM trim black laying around that I can test also on a spray out. got a friend coming over with his original bezel so I can match his up as close as I can. thank again for your info.
 
After getting my dash pieces chromed, I wasn't about to mess them up trying to paint the interior "weave texture" black. I just left it all chrome, which looks more modern anyway. Mine were done at Sacramento Chrome, which uses some 2-part spray process. I removed the flaky factory chrome finish by soaking in Super Clean (from Walmart).
 
BillGrissom said:
After getting my dash pieces chromed, I wasn't about to mess them up trying to paint the interior "weave texture" black. I just left it all chrome, which looks more modern anyway. Mine were done at Sacramento Chrome, which uses some 2-part spray process. I removed the flaky factory chrome finish by soaking in Super Clean (from Walmart).
Click to expand...
I liked the super clean too! but I was pushing the time limit to get them to him, so I used the faster process of easy off oven cleaner to get the chrome off. I dropped the pieces off to the chrome shop Saturday and should have then by next week if things go right. I found out that he's using spectra chrome as a spraying unit. I've seen some spay on chrome that was done by spectra-chrome and it looked pretty good. we will see what happens. I haven't decided if I am going to detail then out original or do something else yet. I'm look at them when I get them back and decide what to do, Might decide to go a tan color instead of gray to match the car/dashboard combo.. won't know until I see the parts.
 
Well just got an update on the spray on chrome guy.. It seems that 3 of the 4 pieces came out good but the littlest piece is "kickin" his butt! here's a pic of the ones that are done.



View attachment P__04F0(2).jpg

the pic's came from his phone, he says that they look even better in person, we'll see.

what do you think?
not perfectly smooth chrome but as close as I'll need it.

it seem almost a shame that I have to paint over most of that chrome. I might leave a little more exposed that original since it looks so good!
 
Looks great. Do you mind telling how much it cost? All my 65 Dart pieces cost $105, but he gave a discount since took so long since they were relocating. You don't "have to paint over most of the chrome". It is your car, so enjoy. I didn't want to take the time nor risk and think mine looks better all chrome anyway. If I ever sell the car (unlikely) the next owner can paint sections black if a stickler for original.
 
BillGrissom said:
Looks great. Do you mind telling how much it cost? All my 65 Dart pieces cost $105, but he gave a discount since took so long since they were relocating. You don't "have to paint over most of the chrome". It is your car, so enjoy. I didn't want to take the time nor risk and think mine looks better all chrome anyway. If I ever sell the car (unlikely) the next owner can paint sections black if a stickler for original.
Click to expand...

BillGrissom 105.00's a GREAT price! I could have sent it out and got it(5 pieces) done for about 150 to California but the shipping cost(both ways) brought it to over 200 (plus I get to see it and touch the part before I pay). that a plus in my book
it costs a bit more than your 105 , almost double in fact,but I'm happy with the results so far, I had 5 pieces done. The speedo bezel the radio with A/c, The radio Without A/c, the glove box and the end filler piece done for 200.00. that way if I ever decide to get the other pieces done I'll have a mix and match set. I'm repairing 2 speedo bezels and 1 more radio A/C-heater bezel (making radio delete since it's been hacked up for a modern radio) I am going to paint the second set for the wife's car back to stock colors. Also I'm trying to figure out how to remove the numbers that are on the clear lens(without destroying the lens) so that I can change the colors on the numbers to black on the lens and white background with black lines and letters for the rest of the gauges,

"trapster Yes, how much and who, I hope local to you was orlando and not tampa :icon_smi:"

even better for me he is in Ocala. I HATE the traffic going to Orlando. it takes about 1 1/2 hours for my grandson to drive each way to Devry University where he goes to college . I don't mind going to north Tampa at all it's a straight shot down I-75 as long as I get off 2 exits before "Dale Mabry" , after that it's just as bad as Orlando for me.
 
Wow, that looks awesome. And compared to having all the pieces rechromed is a good price. I'll bet the little cluster in my wagon (just one piece) would be cheap to redo.
 
Rockerdude said:
Wow, that looks awesome. And compared to having all the pieces rechromed is a good price. I'll bet the little cluster in my wagon (just one piece) would be cheap to redo.
Click to expand...

there a bunch of spray chromers all over the place. Now that I have been looking I found 3 in tampa, 1 in orlando, 2 in altemont springs(that really orlando isn't it or close) and the guy that's doing mine in ocala. and that just doing a casual google search. I got quoted prices ranging from 150.00 California + shipping both ways = over 220, 250 in Tampa (drop off) to 300 in Orlando. so do a search and then look some more. they're out there. I had him spray an extra coat of 2k clear on the parts so it would act just like a painted surface and it would be a little harder to scratch up.
 
I thought about buying a system (spectra-chrome to be exact) but when I found out it was $1660 for enough solution to do 500 square feet I decided it wasn't something to get just to mess around with lol.
 
66Dvert said:
Well just got an update on the spray on chrome guy.. It seems that 3 of the 4 pieces came out good but the littlest piece is "kickin" his butt! here's a pic of the ones that are done.



View attachment 1714614086

the pic's came from his phone, he says that they look even better in person, we'll see.

what do you think?
not perfectly smooth chrome but as close as I'll need it.

it seem almost a shame that I have to paint over most of that chrome. I might leave a little more exposed that original since it looks so good!
Click to expand...

This looks really good. I've tried the parts shop spray-on chrome. It never looked this shiny even straight out of the can. The stuff I tried came out looking like anodized aluminum in the end.

I'd be interested to know how well this stuff holds up to contact. Thumbs and fingers dulled the finish of my spray on experiment. I've also tried aluminum tape to replace/repair chrome plating with satisfactory results for the most part.
 
95teetee said:
I thought about buying a system (spectra-chrome to be exact) but when I found out it was $1660 for enough solution to do 500 square feet I decided it wasn't something to get just to mess around with lol.
Click to expand...

Not only that, but I'm curious to know how it looks in two, five, ten or twenty years.
 
Alsa has a new do it yourself system that is advertised as goof proof and soon to be available at Home Depot stores.
Vacuum metaized conventional chrome wll simply disappear over time. We have all seen that. A clear coat wil extend the life of either conventinal or sprayed but it takes away from the mirror like appearence of either too.
I wasn't satisfied with results from Alsa Killer Chrome in spray cans. Maybe I am a gluten for punishment but I will be trying their new product on some classic toy parts sometime this summer.
 
Redfish did they say when it would be at Home Depot?
And where did you see this?
I didn't see it on their site. I could have missed it.
Thank for the heads up.
 
They sent me a sale email back in Feb. . They didn't say when to expect to find it on the shelves. ChromeFX It is a pump spray bottle deposition.
 
2 Darts said:
This looks really good. I've tried the parts shop spray-on chrome. It never looked this shiny even straight out of the can. The stuff I tried came out looking like anodized aluminum in the end.

I'd be interested to know how well this stuff holds up to contact. Thumbs and fingers dulled the finish of my spray on experiment. I've also tried aluminum tape to replace/repair chrome plating with satisfactory results for the most part.
Click to expand...


I looked at the DIY spray chrome. I couldn't see it working for me due to the cost per part and durability.this guy that's doing mine is coating( the first clear the spectra chrome clear ) but 1 of the clear coats is/has been sprayed in 2 part clear coat just like what goes over a paint job so it should be pretty durable (at least as good as paint). I know that he's handled it quite a bit so far and it hasn't scratched,now as for how long it'll stay solid to the plastic. I know he did the adhesion promoter first. I just don't know how long it will look good. if I get 5 or more years I'll be happy and I think the process will be into my price range by then!:thumleft: so I can do it then!


BTW that picture he sent me is with all the clearcoat on the parts. it didn't dull the shine as much as I thought it would and still looks nice and shiny!:glasses7:
 
CudaChick1968 said:
Not only that, but I'm curious to know how it looks in two, five, ten or twenty years.
Click to expand...
heck CudaChick1968 in 5 years at this cost I can afford to (hopefully) do it myself with a better designed product, that lasts as long or longer than the spectra chrome does now.
 
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