Restoring chrome

[weaponsgrade]

I have a repainted Colnago that I think may have some chromed portions that were painted over. I'm thinking of having another repaint done, but this time I'd like to see if the chromed areas could be restored. Is this possible? or would the chrome have been removed during the first repaint? Is there anyway to remove the old paint and not damage any chrome underneath?

[dvs cycles]

You won't know until you strip it.
My Pinerello was all chrome when I stripped it but any where the factory paint was was not polished and rough so the paint would stick better.

[Craig Ryan]

When areas of a frame are chromed, they must be submerged. If a frame has chrome head lugs, the whole front of the frame has to be chromed. Once chrome has become pitted and flaking, the piece can be re-plated. I recently did a restoration where I had the back and front ends of a frame re-chromed, then the fork crown and drop-outs. The whole fork was effectively chromed, but only the crown and drop-outs were polished. Likewise for the frame.
Craig

[ultraman6970]

This is one of those case when all will depends on what do you find under the paint.

[Dave]

Chrome can't be restored. It can only be completely stripped off, the frame repolished and plated again.

Chrome plating usually consists of a thin copper plate, followed by a heavy layer of nickel and then a very thin layer of chromium.

The chrome layer is easily removed in a few minutes, using reverse current hot alkaline cleaning solution. That same cleaning tank will remove the paint if left to soak long enough. The nickel stripping requires a lengthy dip in a strong chemical solution. If the frame is left in the tank too long, it can damage the lug brazing, since the stripper will remove nickel, copper and brass.

The chrome shop where I worked never used the initial copper layer. We polished the parts until the shine was nearly as good as the finished chrome would be, then plated heavily with nickel and then briefly with chrome.

A heavy layer of copper is often applied to parts that have rusted and have a lot of pitting. The copper is used to partially fill the pits, then the part is polished. It's a lot easier to remove and polish copper than steel. After polishing the part it's cleaned and plated with nickel and chrome, just like a bare steel part would be.