to steel or not

HugYourPlumber · Post by **HugYourPlumber** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:53 pm

I recently purchased an old bumpside plumbing truck for $300.00 with a steel grille. My 69 bumpside has a banged up aluminum grille. I really love the look of a finely polished aluminum grille. im wondering if i could strip the black paint off the steel grille and have it chromed. Has anyone done this.Did the chrome job come out looking ok? Sometimes when you have something chromed it comes out a little yellowish. Or would it best to find a decent aluminum grille and polish the crap out of it???

michaelbrainard · Post by **michaelbrainard** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:51 am

Depends on what you want! I keep struggling with the exact question. I have a very nice aluminum '67 grill I picked up for my 69...but I keep wondering, ( since this isn't a real restore ) if a painted steel grill would look better. At least I could strip a steel grill,paint it and it would look as new as the rest of the truck. The aluminum grill is going to look somewhat dated because of the poor finish on it. Not sure I Have the ambition yet to refinish the aluminum grill...

1970F250 · Post by **1970F250** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:10 am

polishing looks like a lot of work. painting is not as much work.

alvinator · Post by **alvinator** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:54 am

you can always look into powdercoating the grill. It will be about half of what chroming cost and will be very duriable. You can go with a chrome powdercoat.

fordman · Post by **fordman** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:24 pm

i recently saw a show on Trucks that showed what was involved chroming steel parts. they cooked the chrome off of the piece and then polished it cooked in it cooper twice hard copper and soft copper and then they chromed over that.

mrsnicks · Post by **mrsnicks** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:46 am

Triple plated chrome job is the oen you wanna go with. And go with a company that will sand/polish out the imperfections between dips and coats. Chroming is like painting, final results depend on prepwork.

Patrick

Big D's 69 · Post by **Big D's 69** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 8:09 am

I have battled this question. I know you can chrom esteel but why don't you see one. I have never seen a chrome grille in these trucks. I know it is expensive but looks better and will last if it is taken care of. THat is what I'm going to do when I find a good 69 steel grille and bezels.

The FORDification.com Forums

to steel or not

to steel or not

re: to steel or not

re: to steel or not

re: to steel or not