stainless trim revisited

[Karl #35089]

Further to the thread below discussing repairing stainless trim...

I believe most of this trim is stainless buffed & then given a quick blast of chrome. (glove box & behind seats on C1 for example) I take it that for any such parts, just buffing them out is not good enough - i.e. one would still need to have them replated. Is that right? Any thoughts/experiences appreciated.

Thanks,
Karl

[John M.]

Re: stainless trim revisited

Karl,
I would doubt that more than a handfull of people ever bother to have their trim re-flash chromed on C1 cars! I don't know that I have ever seen a point deduct for trim being missing the plating. The only stainless where it is really noticable is on the wheelcovers because they are so large. Flash chroming is one of those subtle little items that for the most part only anal retentive restorers worry about (myself included). If you polish your stainlees on a regular basis with a good polish, the look of it will be pretty hard for anyone to see. At an indoor venue it is sometimes hard to tell if the lighting is causing the yellow cast to the trim. The Flash-chromed trim will be eaiser to maintain as it does not tend to oxidize slightly like the stainless does and even at it's best, the polished stainlees does not have the icy blue gleam of chromed stainless. The up side of flash-chroming your trim is that it is usually pretty cheap to do since the trim is already polished and the process is a single-step process unlike regular chroming. The down side is that all of the old plating must be stripped with acid before polishing, as the new chrome will not adhere to the old chrome, only the unoxidized nickel in the freshly buffed stainless. The are are few shops that will mess with flash-chroming stainless, and I have found Rick Applegate at AREBA services to do a nice job on such trim.

Regards, John McGraw
You can find contact info for him in the driveline.

[Tracy C.]

Re: stainless trim revisited

The seller of the Hubcaps featured on the attached link validated there was no application of "flash chrome" on the stainless before or after the restoration of these 63 hubcaps . These look pretty dang good.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/item=2419382692

[John M.]

Re: stainless trim revisited

Having never owned one,I cannot speak directly to any trim on a C2, but can say without a doubt that ALL stainless on C1 cars is flash chromed. Just start buffing on a piece of trim and it will be real obvious when you break through.
My guess is that despite what the seller says, that the trim on C2 cars was also flash chromed. You can polish the stainless to a mirror finish, but you cannot get stainless to have the icy blue color any other way. It will allways have that slightly yellow color. I would also be shocked if any seller on Ebay ever misrepresented a part! LOL

Regards, John McGraw

[roy braatz]

Re: stainless trim revisited

I have had many 53 to 62 Corvettes and have never seen FLASH CHROME on S/S parts, like the S/S behind the seats or else were.They are just polished and if you have scratches you sand them out and re-polish to a mirror finish. Icy blue What??? yellow color Where??? If you chrome S/S it will sooner or later Flak off.

[John M.]

Re: stainless trim revisited

Roy,
I have polished a LOT of trim and I can say without a doubt that all C1 trim IS indeed flash chromed. If the trim is properly prepared, the chrome will not flake off. The process is entirely different then traditional triple chrome plating and is very durable. GM used the process on most stainless of the era and not just Corvettes, and the processs is seldom repeated by most restorers of stainless trim since it takes a practiced eye to tell the difference. The main difference is in the long term look of the trim, Polished stainless will oxidize over time while flash-chromed trim will not. I will promise you that if you sand and buff one section of original trim, you will see the difference in the look of the trim. If you are coming to Hershey, I will be glad to do one half of a peice of seat back trim to show you.

Regards, John McGraw

[Mike M.]

Re: stainless trim revisited

agree compltely. years ago i buffed a piece of stainless off one of our c-1s(trim surrounding seats) . I got too carried away and once you burn thru the flash, its obvious, even to one with 50/500 vision,there are two different hues.mike

[roy braatz]

Re: stainless trim revisited OK John *NM*

[Tracy C.]

Re: stainless trim revisited

I couldn't resist fella's.

I have an old 63 hubcap that looks like aunt Mildred's mule tried to kick a field goal with, so I loaded my trusty Dotco with a 120 grit disk and beared down on a spot for about 10 - 15 seconds. Then I progessively worked it back smooth with 240 and 400 grit and then buffed it back to a mirror finish.

Drum roll please..........

There is NO difference in the color with that of the adjacent "unsanded" area.

Apparently, the flash chrome process ended "sometime" prior to 63.

I also spend a little time at lunch visiting with the plating guru at my day job (Aircraft) He informed me that decorative chrome is only a couple mills thick. (about a fourth of the thickness of notebook paper)

I'm pretty sure I ground through this thickness in the first 2.5 seconds of my experiment.

I'll bettcha the General abandoned this practice in the intrest of economics.

nuff said,
tc

[Mike M.]

Re: stainless trim revisited

tracy: most of the posts in this tread deal with C-1 stainless trim and i agree that 63 spinner hubcaps aren't flash plated but i seem to recall buffing 63 exhaust bezels several years ago and buffed thru to a different hue( ie bezels were probably flashed)regards, mike