The question every restoration reaches

At some point in almost every restoration, a set of bumpers comes off the car and the owner has to decide what happens next. The originals are dull, pitted, perhaps dented, and there is a reproduction set available that arrives in a box looking perfect.

It looks like a straightforward comparison, and it is not. What you are actually choosing between is a known part in unknown condition and an unknown part in known condition. Here is how to think about it before you commit either way.

What you give up when you buy a reproduction

Reproduction brightwork has improved enormously, and for some cars it is the sensible answer. But there are four things that consistently favour the original part.

Fit

Original bumpers were pressed on tooling that matched the body they were made for. Reproductions are copies, sometimes copies of copies, and small differences in curvature, bracket position and mounting hole spacing are common. That shows up as uneven gaps at the ends, a bumper that sits proud on one side, or brackets that need persuading. On a car you have spent a long time getting straight, that is a frustrating place to finish.

Material

Many original bumpers were pressed from heavier gauge steel than the parts made to replace them. A heavier section is stiffer, holds its shape better under its own weight, and takes a deeper polish because there is more metal to work with.

Originality

If the car is going to be judged, shown, or sold to someone who cares, original brightwork carries weight that a reproduction does not. This is also true of parts that are stamped, numbered, or carry the marks of the original supplier.

Consistency

Reproduction quality varies between suppliers and between production runs. Two parts bought a year apart can differ in colour, brightness and plating thickness. If you are replacing one item on a car whose other brightwork is original, a mismatch is very visible in daylight.

What re-chroming an original actually involves

Re-chroming is not a new layer of chrome over the old one. The part is stripped chemically back to bare steel, which is usually the first time in decades that its real condition can be seen. Pitting that was hidden under the old plating becomes visible, along with previous repairs, filler, splits around fixing holes and rust that has come through from behind.

What follows is the part of the job people underestimate. Pitting is polished out by removing metal down to the base of the deepest pits, dents are worked out, and damage is repaired where the part allows it. Chrome is a mirror, not a filler, and it will show every flaw left beneath it, so this preparation is where most of the labour sits.

Only then does plating begin: copper first, which is soft enough to polish to a genuinely flat surface and is what gives a finished bumper its depth; then nickel, which does most of the corrosion protection and carries the brightness; then the thin, hard layer of chrome that protects the nickel and gives the finish its colour. Triple plating is standard here and is not charged as an extra, because we do not regard anything less as a proper job.

Our tanks are among the largest in the South West, which means full-length bumpers and one-piece grilles are plated whole, rather than cut and rejoined to fit a smaller plant.

What can be saved, and what cannot

The honest position is that most original steel bumpers can be brought back, and a few cannot. In our experience:

• Pitting is usually recoverable. Deep pitting takes longer because more metal has to come off to reach a continuous surface. There is a limit to how much metal a part can lose, so on the very worst pitting some marks may still show after plating, and we will tell you if we expect that.
• Dents and gentle distortion can normally be worked out before plating.
• Rust holes and splits depend on where they are and how much sound metal surrounds them. Repairs are possible, and they have to be made properly before plating, because plating a repair that moves will not stay looking right.
• A previous poor re-chrome is not a barrier. It strips off like any other plating, and the underlying part is often better than the finish suggested.
• Parts that have been heavily filled or extensively ground in the past are the ones most likely to disappoint, because the profile has already been lost.

Mazak and pot metal trim is a separate conversation

Die-cast trim from the 1950s and 1960s, often called Mazak or pot metal, behaves very differently from pressed steel. It can be porous, it can be intergranularly corroded from the inside, and it can distort. Some pieces re-plate beautifully and some are beyond rescue whatever anyone charges. If your project includes cast grille surrounds, badge plinths, door handles or lamp bezels, send us photographs and let us look at them before you make any decisions about the rest of the car.

When replacing is the right call

We would rather tell you this than take on work that will not satisfy you. Buying new usually makes more sense when:

• the original is missing, or has already been cut about;
• the part is so far gone that the repair work needed outweighs what the finished item will be worth to you;
• the car is a working driver rather than a show car, and a good quality reproduction is readily available for that model;
• you need a matched set quickly and the original parts would need staged work.

There is also a middle path that people often miss: keep and re-chrome the originals, and fit reproductions to use in the meantime, or the reverse. Original parts that are stored rather than scrapped can always be done later.

What we will tell you before you commit

We ask for photographs before quoting, and we give a budgetary estimate and a timescale rather than a number plucked out of the air, because until a part is stripped nobody honestly knows what is under the old plating. If stripping reveals something that changes the job, we come back to you before continuing.

We will also tell you when a part is not worth doing. That happens, and it is better said at the start.

Talk it through with us

Everything is stripped, prepared, copper plated, nickel plated and chromed by hand in our own workshop in Weston-super-Mare, to British Standards, and nothing is sent out. Email photographs of your bumpers, with rough sizes and the finish you are after, or call us on 01934 820 454 and we will tell you honestly what we think of them.

FAQs About Re-Chroming Classic Car Bumpers