Re-Chroming: What This Process Looks Like And How It Will Fix Your Fenders
When you get into a little fender bender with another driver, it tends to leave the chrome on your fenders a complete mess. You will want to fix that at your local auto body repair shop right away. If you do not, rust will develop in all of the areas where the chrome has been scraped off in the accident, or where the fender has been crunched and now reveals creases of metal sans chrome. The re-chroming process goes something like this.
Damaged Fender Is Removed from the Vehicle
First, the fender is removed from your vehicle. It actually takes more time to do this than you think, especially if the fender is quite crunched. Then the fender is heated until it can slowly be pulled and manipulated back into a fender shape.
Reshaping the Fender
To re-chrome the fender it first has to be reshaped. It is heated until the metal becomes pliable enough to gently pull it back into its elongated shape, or until the worse of the crunched areas are no longer crunched. While it is still hot, the technician uses special hammers to pound out the creases from the back side of the fender. Once the fender is more or less back to a very straight and very normal-looking fender, it is time to re-chrome.
Chroming Two Ways
Chrome can be added to an object one of two ways. Primarily, it can be electroplated, like paint, but the other process dips objects into a liquid metal chrome before buffing and polishing the hardened and cooled chrome into a perfect shine. After a fender has been in an accident, the latter process is a better option because it can fill in any remaining tiny creases and make them disappear. If you were to use the electroplating re-chroming process, it would not be able to hide those slight but remaining flaws.
Reattachment
If your auto body repair technician does not have a liquid-dipped re-chroming station in his/her shop, the fender will be sent out to a company that can do that. When the fender is sent back, your technician will reattach it, good as new. Since the fender has now been re-chromed using the dipping process, it will last a very long time. If your fender was not that badly damaged, and you opted for the electroplated chrome process, it will still look good, but you will have to clean and polish that fender often.
For more information, contact a company like High Point Body & Paint today.
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