Chrome plating of wheels and parts, nickel plating and painting

Comments: no Published: 02/08/2016

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Tags:Chrome platingTires and Car wheels

Today there are many ways in which every car enthusiast can distinguish his vehicle from the gray mass of cars on the road.

One of the most affordable and popular is chrome plating of alloy wheels - applying a special coating to a car that helps create a mirror effect with a silver or gold tint. This tuning has been popular for many years, making it a classic. This decoration for car rims not only looks great on any car, but also protects the rims from corrosion and various types of damage.

Chrome wheels on a car

Among the advantages of chrome coating, experts and car enthusiasts highlight:

• providing a mirror effect;
• protection from damage and rust;
• resistance of disks to weather changes;
• possibility of painting with your own hands;
• relative price availability of materials.

Chrome plating allows alloy wheels not to be afraid of temperature changes when the brakes heat up. However, it is worth remembering that some types of chrome are quite expensive and require re-application to the part if even one scratch appears on them.

When choosing chrome parts, a car enthusiast needs to make a decision: paint existing products or buy ready-made ones. When purchasing, everything is simple: purchase it, put tires on the rim. There are several methods of coloring.

Chrome wheels on a car

Chrome application technology

Layers of chrome coatings are applied using one of two methods:

1. Galvanic,
2. Diffuse.

The first method is considered to be of higher quality, since the coating lasts for a long time. However, it is also more complex. Electroplating, as such, involves the introduction of the substance used into the molecular lattice of the metal coatings of the disks. As a result, their moisture resistance and heat resistance improve.

A similar technique for chrome-plated casting of auto parts is more improved in terms of protection against anti-corrosion formations. It ensures the formation of a protective film on an oxide basis, which slows down the appearance of rust.

At the same time, the diffuse method is, in fact, the usual painting of castings with powder paints. This operation is much cheaper than electroplating.

At the output, diffusion also gives a mirror effect with a fairly thin layer of paint, but the painted surface is not protected from the risk of the formation of corrosion spots and various types of damage.

Chrome plating is very popular among fans of tuning and restyling, as it significantly increases the strength of a number of automotive parts to which chrome treatment can be applied.

What will you need for work?

To carry out galvanic chrome plating of parts at home, you need the following materials and equipment:

• spacious glass container;
• tubular type electric heater;
• mineral wool;
• non-metallic container (for example, a basin);
• wooden box;
• several durable wire clamps;
• fiberglass;
• plate or rod anode.

A wooden box is used to create a base, similar to a large thermos, after which it is covered with fiberglass and filled with mineral wool and sand to form a thermal insulation layer. The clamps act as a cathode, they are connected to the negative, the glass container is placed in a basin - then the anode is secured.

Restoring chromium at home involves making your own electrolyte. To do this, you need to mix sulfuric acid and diluted chrome anhydride in the required proportion (for example, 2.5 g of H2SO4 per 250 g of chrome anhydride).

To make really high-quality chrome plating, a liter of distilled water heated to 60 degrees is poured into a glass container, anhydrite is added, then acid. After the solution is ready to restore the coating of the discs, a current is passed through the liquid (until a red-burgundy tint appears).

Proper care of chrome wheels

Many car enthusiasts prefer to use chrome products. However, not everyone knows how to properly care for them in order to maintain their original appearance for a long period of time.

To properly clean chrome wheel products, you need to use detergent additives with active reagents. In fact, such substances do not contain reactive components: ammonia, toxic gases, acetone. Therefore, they do not have a negative effect on chromium.

To apply the product to a chrome surface, use a soft sponge to avoid damaging the base. After cleaning, the remaining particles of dirt should be washed off and the disc wiped dry. To add extra shine, experts recommend using polish.

Recovery

Usually, after serious accidents, deformation changes - dents and scratches - form on chrome. In this situation, you will have to use the help of specialists. If the damage is minor, you can treat the disc yourself.

For example, if small dents are found on it, then chalk will be needed for processing. It must be crushed to a powdery state and applied to the damaged area.

Alternatively, you can use varnish and apply it to the damaged areas. However, these methods may slightly improve the condition of the chrome plating.

Chemical chrome plating

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Chemical chrome plating is performed in a bath with a solution of a chromium-containing reagent in distilled water with special additives. The cleaned and degreased disc is placed in a bath, as a result of which the solution enters into a chemical reaction with the metal of the product. As a result, a thin film of chrome coating is formed on its surface. Given its small thickness, varnish is additionally used for protection. To increase the thickness of the coating, phosphorus can be added to the solution, which will increase penetration.

The chemical method of chrome plating is safer than the galvanic method, due to the absence of an electrolytic process. It does not require the use of complex equipment; it is enough to maintain the required concentration of reagents and control their interaction. However, the chromium layer is less reliable than that produced by electroplating.

Main recommendations

Here are some basic tips on how to properly clean and care for chrome wheels:

1. Flushing must be done regularly. Do not allow dirt to dry on the surface, as it can leave serious scratches later after washing.
2. If it rains outside, it is not recommended to wipe the disc with a dry cloth. Because dirt hardens and forms microcracks and scratches.
3. It is not recommended to clean under strong water pressure. This will cause additional problems with chips and dents. In addition, the chrome shine is removed.
4. Do not use aggressive chemicals for cleaning. Regular use of chemicals such as ammonia, chlorine, and acetone deforms the shiny coating. It is best to use a soap solution and a soft sponge to avoid damaging the surface.

If you follow these recommendations, the car owner does not have to worry about the preservation of the appearance of the chrome-plated product.

Painting

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The simplest and most affordable way to chrome rims is to use special paints. Their application to the surface of the part allows you to create a metallized coating with a characteristic shine.

Chrome plating paints come in one-component and two-component types. One-component formulations are sold in aerosol cans and are easy to apply. However, the surface layer created with their help is characterized by less durability. Two-component paints are supplied in cans. They are applied using a brush or spray gun. Parts must be painted with such compositions by a trained master, but the coating is more stable.

Due to the simplicity of the technology, it is the method of painting wheels that is most often used for self-chrome plating. It is also used by many small services that provide tuning services. Using this method, the thickest metallized layer is obtained. It is not reliable - its service life does not exceed 2 years.

Types of chrome plated wheels

Many people are mistaken when they say that chrome wheels belong to a separate group. In fact, there are only three types of rims:

• stamping;
• forged;
• cast.

Therefore, do not confuse the metal coating of the disk with the material from which it is made. Chrome adds additional shine to any type of wheel product, but in no way affects its performance characteristics.

When it comes to stampings, the chrome coating protects their factory paint from rapid peeling. Basically, chromium protects only those products for which powder paints are used.

Other types of paints do not interact with the metal coating because they contain active reagents.

Cast wheels are also chrome-plated, but much less frequently, since they are made of light aluminum alloys that are not subject to corrosion. Therefore, the use of chromium is only advisable for aesthetic reasons.

Business idea or why chrome plating of car wheels is doomed to failure from the very beginning.

Business idea

Chrome plating of car wheels is an idea that lies on the surface.

Read part 1 “Home business FunChrome. Philosophy of construction. Preface"

How to learn galvanic chrome plating yourself?

A business idea is one of the important factors when organizing a new one - many people puzzle over this issue. According to statistics on Yandex alone, the request for “business ideas” was made more than 283,000 times in a month! A business idea is only one of the success factors because there is a second immutable component – ​​work.

Labor, being busy, working and giving your all are the same integral factors of success as a business idea. We do not believe any fairy tales about “passive income” unless you, the reader, are a rentier, a recipient of royalties, or the owner of a substantial stake in a successful enterprise (although, in that case, why would you need a home business with minimal investment?)

A high-quality business idea must meet a number of criteria:

Relevance

Business and products must be in demand by society and consumers. The capabilities of a newly opened enterprise must correspond to the needs and spirit of the times for at least a medium-term period (up to 3-5 years). We live in an interesting time, in which new technologies, solutions and products quickly emerge, “light up” and “extinguish” just as quickly. The task of a new enterprise is not to get lost in this “whirlpool” and to acquire its own “face”.

Novelty

We are convinced that in the vast majority of manufacturing areas of business, the niches have not yet been filled and almost everyone can be “promoted,” however, this is not a task for small businesses and with minimal investments.

Accordingly, you need to do something that no one (or almost no one) does. There is another option - to make products that are already on the market, but at a completely different quality level.

Clear focus

Within the framework of one business idea, you can go in different directions and in different ways. But, in conditions of limited resources, there is no need to try to “embrace the immensity” - you need to choose a specific direction of activity and follow it. We must not allow efforts and resources to be scattered. And only after establishing work in one direction, you can think about organizing the next.

Flexibility

A business idea for a small enterprise should be flexible and allow for ample room for maneuver. Why do we think this? - Everything is very simple. We live with you, dear readers, in conditions of a permanent crisis. Financial, state, sanctions, and sometimes the banal lack of “gray matter” among those in power - over the past 30 years we have experienced the collapse of the country and defaults, a period of timelessness and the introduction of sanctions. And something tells me that “we will only dream of peace” in the future. That is why a newly opened business must have enormous stability and flexibility. Organizing the release of new products should take no more than 5 days - only in this case there is a chance of not getting into 90% of enterprises that closed in the first year of operation. Demand is fading in one direction - within a week you need to rebuild and produce products that are in demand.

Independence

As our long-term business practice shows, the less a small enterprise depends on the state, specific officials and their decisions, the better and more dynamically it develops. This is an escape from constant delays in payments from the budget, corruption in its various manifestations (from licensing procedures and documenting activities to participation in government procurement and kickbacks)

Minimum costs

Limited resources are a basic postulate of economic theory. In this article we will not consider outright nonsense about huge earnings “out of nothing.” In order to organize your own manufacturing business that will generate profit, you need to make certain financial investments. In our understanding, this is an amount of up to 300,000 rubles. In principle, it is available to almost any beginning businessman. It is possible to save it or take out a loan from a bank (you can treat loans as you like, but starting a business is one of the reasons why you can take it out).

Isn't it quite difficult? We not only ask questions, but also give answers to them.

Chrome plating of wheels. Why is a business idea doomed to fail?

Every day the FunChrome office receives dozens of calls. At least every other day they tell us that they want to organize a business and chrome plating of car wheels is the main area of ​​activity. And every time we try to open the eyes of our interlocutor. Now we will not try to review this business idea for formal compliance with the criteria we presented above; you can do this yourself. We just want to share our experience.

Of all our partners who tried to build a business on chrome plating, none succeeded! Why did it happen?

FunChrome provides full technical support to all users of our technological processes and materials. Communication with many has been going on for more than 10 years and has probably already become not only business, but also friendly. In addition to fulfilling our obligations, this is also excellent feedback for us from manufacturers who directly provide services to consumers. And here are the conclusions we came to as a result.

The business of chrome plating wheels can be divided into two types:

1. Application of high-quality coatings that are at least as good as factory ones and allow you to look the customer in the eye without shame;
2. Application of coatings, which initially, due to a number of quality indicators, cannot last long on car wheels and, especially, in Russian conditions. Someone, by doing this, is mistaken himself, and someone deliberately misleads the consumer

About technology

Based on the quality indicators of the resulting coatings, I would like to highlight the technological processes by which these coatings are applied:

Chrome plating of wheels. Quality.

High-quality chrome plating

High-quality coating is ensured only using galvanic processes and in general terms looks like this: preliminary preparation of the disk surface; applying a layer of copper using the galvanic copper plating process; polishing the resulting copper sublayer; applying a layer of nickel using a galvanic nickel plating process; directly chrome plating of disks (applying a mirror layer of chrome using a galvanic process, because this process is called chrome plating!). Slight variations are possible, but galvanic processes cannot be avoided!

“Native” car wheels for giant auto concerns are made using a similar technology based on galvanic processes, only everything is very economical (do you remember that “a capitalist will commit any crime for 300% of the profit”?) - the copper sublayer is thin, and sometimes it is completely absent; the intermediate layer of galvanic nickel is either absent or very thin; The layer of shiny chrome is also extremely thin and reaches 0.5 microns.

Why is the factory chrome plating not durable? The answer is simple - because of total savings. The fact is that chromium coating is very porous and through these pores salts and other chemical compounds get under it. Nickel and copper also have their own porosity (and sometimes these layers, we remind you, may be absent altogether). As a result, salts penetrate through the pores all the way to the disk and corrosion of the aluminum under the coating begins, aggravated by the copper-aluminum galvanic couple. As a result, the integrity of the mirror coating is violated and all the chemicals from our roads without any obstacles fall under the “pie” of the coating and destroy it.

Applying mirror coatings to car wheels according to the principle “the main thing is that it shines, and grass won’t grow there!”

The most common is the application of coatings using the technology of chemical metallization with silver using the spraying method (spraying from a gun). The technology itself is not bad, as it is sometimes written about in various sources. It’s just that the coating applied using this technology is not intended for use on our roads and chrome plating of wheels cannot be done using it.

This is purely a decorative coating!

And further confirmation of our words is a simple fact:

Not a single giant automobile concern (Daimler, BMW, VAG, Toyota, General Motors and others) with their enormous capabilities and practically unlimited financial resources uses this technology, but galvanic technologies are used.

We invite each reader to think about this question and draw a conclusion...

Market

High-quality chrome plating of wheels does not come cheap and it is sometimes many times more expensive than low-quality chrome plating. Based on the many years of experience that we have accumulated, we can conclude that only a few consumers are willing to pay for quality. Even in such a “cash” city as Moscow, the market of people who want to “be, not appear,” that is, are willing to pay for quality work, is very small. What can we say about the market, for example, Bryansk, Tver or Tomsk?

For the vast majority of consumers, the main thing is that the disc “shine richly” today and at a minimal price.

What will happen to him tomorrow? Well, it’s tomorrow – then I’ll think about it. Here's the line of thought. We think that in the field of high-quality chrome plating everything is clear.

The market for applying coatings not suitable for automobile wheels is also very specific. In addition to moral considerations (in our deep conviction, one must either do it well or not do it at all), fierce competition with the Chinese and bargaining for every penny reign here. Rest assured that the conventional “Vasya”, who needs cheaper and richer products, will reduce the cost to a minimum, and the manufacturer of low-quality services has no choice, since “Vasya” will leave him for Chinese discs. And a situation arises that we eloquently call “buying a job” (you invested money in an organization, you seem to be working and doing something, but there is no profit). With such “work” the profitability is meager and cannot in any way justify the investment. It is for this reason that most “chrome plating” points are closed.

Chrome plating of wheels. The essence of business is one dialogue.

But that is not all. Let’s simulate a typical conversation with a fictitious client for whom “we need something cheaper” and call him “Vasya”. He ordered chrome plating of the wheels and bargained hard to the last penny when ordering.

Our conditional greedy “Vasya” comes to you to pick up your order, your precious discs! But in his heart he doesn’t want to pay money, because he is greedy and morally unclean, and a dialogue begins:

“Vasya”: “Somehow it seems to me that they are different in color...”

“Contractor”: “No, the quality is at the highest level (let’s assume that it really has no “jambs”).

The shade is the same on all four discs!”

But we remember that “Vasya” simply doesn’t want to pay:

“Vasya”: “But it SEEMS that it’s different...” - but you can’t object to this “IT SEEMED”, although you understand perfectly well what’s going on (the situation is very familiar to car painters).

And a lot of things can appear to “Vasily”: a “trash” on a disk, a shagreen mark on a protective varnish, an invisible scratch—the list goes on and on. The bottom line is: don’t pay the money!

As a result, our conditional “Vasya” will pay only half of the order or even less and ruin the whole mood. So it turns out that “work for the sake of work” is at a loss. Of course, the situation is a little exaggerated, but it reflects the general situation.

Many people will think that they shouldn’t limit themselves only to car wheels and, in principle, this is correct. However, this is not the topic of this article and the situation there is not much better.

Conclusion.

Chrome plating of wheels as a business idea does not meet any of the formal criteria that we discussed at the beginning of the article.

The main conclusion is simple - for a business based on high-quality chrome plating of wheels, there is not enough effective demand even in megacities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, not to mention regional ones, based on the application of low-quality (or more correctly, “coatings not suitable for such operating conditions” ) coatings - “work for the sake of work” without a positive financial result with a bunch of damaged nerve cells and a “tarnished” reputation.

You can discuss this article on our forum.

Advantages and disadvantages of chrome wheels

Chrome plating technology has been practically brought to perfection, so many manufacturers sell wheel products at an affordable price. Experienced drivers use chrome on stamped wheels as protection against corrosion.

Discs treated with chrome practically do not become dirty when driving over rough terrain. Dust generally does not settle on them, unless the surface is wet. In addition, chrome-plated wheels are quite easy to care for. The procedure does not take extra effort and time.

Main stages

Painting wheels in chrome is carried out in several stages:

1. Cleaning;
2. Primer;
3. Laying the substrate, polishing;
4. Application of chrome paint;
5. Varnish coating.

The disc is cleaned using sandpaper. It is necessary to remove all dirt, rust, as well as possible scratches and chips from the surface. After completing this work, the disc must be washed and dried thoroughly. Thus, it will be ready for the second stage - priming.