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      PHOTO 31: Each piece receiving chrome plating is inspected, polished, and packaged for delivery.

      Technicians at Plains Electro-Plating lay out and photograph the bumpers or other parts requiring repair and chrome plating as soon as the parts arrive. Just as in restoration work, photographs tell it all. After being photographed, the parts are each assigned a work order and are entered into a computerized tracking system. Then a person issues each part a tag with a computer-generated work order number along with a short description of the type of work that it needs. I watch someone tag and note my Charger’s bumpers as it is in need of repair and chrome plating.

      The next stop is the straightening room. Here, I am treated to the expertise of a man who has repaired bumpers for more than 40 years. Being a novice myself, having a mere 20-something years of experience repairing metal, I marvel at the way the bumpers are hammered, heated, and twisted back into shape. In less than 10 minutes, my Charger’s bumpers are repaired and ready for the next phase, grinding.

      Hammers leave tracks, but technicians remove all traces of those tracks before the chrome plate goes on. Much like finish-sanding plastic body filler, the bumpers are first ground with a 50 grit grinding disc to smooth the surface of the metal and remove all signs of the hammer. After that, it is on to 90 grit, then finally, 120 grit.

      At this point, the bumpers appear ready to be chrome plated, but the straightening and grinding process is only half of the preparation. Next comes the sanding and polishing. Emery wheels beginning with 150 grit and graduating up to 220 grit accomplish this task.

      The final step in the sanding and polishing process is the burlap wheel. This coarse cloth wheel does little in the way of cutting metal, but what it does do is add a slight gloss that really defines any imperfections that may be left. Technicians return any imperfections that they find to the emery wheels for removal.

      Rechroming

      Many parts come to Plains Electro-Plating with little more damage than scratched, chipped, or rusted chrome plating. For those parts, the first step in the chroming process is to remove all traces of the old chrome plate. Technicians accomplish this by dipping the parts into a vat that electrochemically removes the old chrome.

      After that, the parts move through an array of electrically charged chemical vats beginning with a thorough cleaning and degreasing to remove all traces of contaminants. Once this process begins, no human hands are allowed to touch the parts.

      Next, technicians dip the clean parts into another vat that electrochemically coats them with a layer of nickel. The nickel acts much like a prime coat does in automotive painting, giving the chrome, which will be applied over the nickel plate, a proper surface to adhere to.

      After that, technicians dip the nickel-clad parts into the chroming vat for a few minutes, where the electrochemical chroming process takes place. When the parts come out of the vat, they are covered with a copper-colored residue left from the electrochemical process. Technicians wash off this residue to expose the bright chrome plating underneath.

      Ever notice the layer of polish on fresh chrome work? I thought this was simply residue left from putting the shine on the piece. Wrong. Technicians leave the polish on chrome-plated parts partly to help protect them during packing and shipping. But the technician’s primary purpose for applying the polish is for quality control. If something goes wrong during the chrome-plating process and the parts fail to be completely plated, an application of polish turns non-chrome-plated areas a brassy red color. Thanks to my visit with the technicians at Plains Electro-Plating, this is something I’ll know to watch for from now on: brass coloring on chrome indicates a poor job of chrome plating.