removing chrome from parts

[essexbill]

Hello.

I have been trying to de chrome some parts, tried the dishwasher with no success, so I am guessing its paint remover or ???

Any suggestions and tips welcome.

Many thanks

[bsy2010]

drain cleaner usually works for me

[Wandy]

Oven Pride takes it off within minutes. I stripped the chrome off a Blackfoot grille and rear bumper with the stuff.

[beefmuffin]

Oven Pride takes it off within minutes. I stripped the chrome off a Blackfoot grille and rear bumper with the stuff.

So, do you think any oven cleaner would work the same? Or is there some specific ingredient I should look for? Here in the States all the cleaning products are different.

What's the process once you have the cleaner? Spray it on and let the parts sit then wipe the chrome off? Wash it off? Leave it overnight?

Thanks!

[taliesin]

Regular Easy Off oven cleaner will do it in a matter of minutes for those of us in the states. Spray it on, let sit for a few minutes, use a toothbrush to scrub a bit, then rinse.

Repeat if necessary. Comes off pretty easy.

[7echo]

I used bleach and it worked well. I think I will try the Easy-Off as well.

[beefmuffin]

The reason I'm interested is that I've just realized, to my abject horror, that Kyosho never made box-art off-white wheels available as spares for the Pegasus. There are sets of wheels which are identical to the originals, except they are chromed. It turns out - if I'm correct in my deduction - the only way to get NOS off-white Pegasus wheels is pulling them from a NIB kit!

Luckily the chrome ones are ugly, cheap and plentiful (those last two things probably related to the first thing) and under the chrome are the box art ones. So, I must arm myself with oven cleaner and a toothbrush and do what must be done.

[Nitomor]

I dld this with my Lunchbox chrome grille and exhaust pipes, using brake cleaner, it was a mess, although I got the chrome off, it wasn't great in all the nooks and crannies, on my Blackfoot grille I just went straight over the chrome with primer/sealer coat which worked out much better, then clear coated it. It's had a fair bit of abuse and not come off so I'm happy and the finish was much better thsn the lunchbox episode for me imho.

[jeekelemental]

I did the same work with a strong degreaser, it takes more time.

[ChrisRx718]

Have you got a dishwasher?

Try that first, the de-greasing agent (I think) can strip plated chrome right off.

I did it with some 2-piece Tamiya wheels, 6 in total. 4 wheels came out completely stripped - the other two were just very, very clean. So it's possible there are two different plating methods at play there, one of which was totally unaffected by the dishwasher.

Worth a try before you make a mess!

[Percymon]

The reason I'm interested is that I've just realized, to my abject horror, that Kyosho never made box-art off-white wheels available as spares for the Pegasus. There are sets of wheels which are identical to the originals, except they are chromed. It turns out - if I'm correct in my deduction - the only way to get NOS off-white Pegasus wheels is pulling them from a NIB kit!

Luckily the chrome ones are ugly, cheap and plentiful (those last two things probably related to the first thing) and under the chrome are the box art ones. So, I must arm myself with oven cleaner and a toothbrush and do what must be done.

Thanks for the heads up on those beef - just grabbed a set for £7 posted, which is more than i paid for the buggy chassis, and half what the new bodyset cost. Let me know how you get on with the chrome removal, and what lurks beneath.

My originals have been painted gold by some young scroat, was going to go John Player Special with the paint scheme as a result, but perhaps now i have other options

[Wandy]

So, do you think any oven cleaner would work the same? Or is there some specific ingredient I should look for? Here in the States all the cleaning products are different.

What's the process once you have the cleaner? Spray it on and let the parts sit then wipe the chrome off? Wash it off? Leave it overnight?

Thanks!

As taliesin mentioned above, the oven cleaner that all of you guys in the States use is Easy Off. The UK equivalent of Easy Off is Mr Muscle and I have found that stuff to be useless. The only UK oven cleaner that has worked for me is the Oven Pride.

As far as I am aware you just spray the Easy Off onto the parts and leave it to do it's work. Oven Pride comes with a sealable bag in which you place all of your parts and then pour in the liquid.

[mr crispy]

Oven cleaner is also good if you need to remove an anodised surface.

Ordinary household thick bleach works great to remove chrome from plastic parts, it's quick too and doesn't require any hard rubbing. Just put the part in a tray, cover it with bleach and watch the chrome go away. Probably cheaper than over cleaner too 😏

[taliesin]

Oooh, I never thought about removing the anodized finish from aluminum bits. That could come in handy.

For chrome I just use the regular Easy Off, and normally for paint on hard bodies it works a charm, but once in awhile there is a paint that just won't come off the plastic (automotive perhaps) and then I use the Extra Strength stuff. That will usually remove the paint, although I've seen it fail a few times on really hard cases, but it just reeks and the missus isn't keen on me using it. Whatever is in that stuff can't be good for you.

[essexbill]

Thanks guys for all your comments and suggestions.

Ended up using bleach overnight

[beefmuffin]

Thanks guys for all your comments and suggestions.

Ended up using bleach overnight

results pics??

[mr crispy]

Not my video but it really is this easy 😉

[Pumesta]

I removed the gold from a set of Monster Beetle rims with metal polish and T-cut. It was pretty quick with out having to use nasty skin melting chemicals. Also the mequires metal polish smells nice too

[Wandy]

After seeing those cheap Pegasus wheels on ebay I decided to nab a set and buy some more Oven Pride to confirm my previous experience with stripping chrome off with this stuff.

It turns out that the stuff is even more potent than I remembered as the chrome on these wheels simply dropped off as soon as the Oven Pride touched it. No joke, every last flake was removed with a bit of agitation within 120 seconds.

Weirdly though, the bare wheels look yellowed after the chrome removal, as if they have been sitting directly in the sun. Were the kit supplied wheels yellow tinted like this from fresh?

Before and after pics below...

[beefmuffin]

WOW yeah, the boxart pegasus wheels are a 'bone' off-white. check out the actual box art and u will see the contrast with the white paint of the body.

what u have there is a set of real-deal NOS pegasus wheels! nice!

[Wandy]

WOW yeah, the boxart pegasus wheels are a 'bone' off-white. check out the actual box art and u will see the contrast with the white paint of the body.

what u have there is a set of real-deal NOS pegasus wheels! nice!

Yeah, they are a lot nicer when stripped than in that nasty chrome.

Only trouble with these is that I bought them in the hope that I could fit them to my re-re Scorpion but they use the old drive pin & hub system to spin the rear wheels rather than the "interference fit" system on the new Scorp.

[Percymon]

Some cheap Chinese inroad wheels came today, I wanted them white so take one dishwasher tablet, some hand hot water and a recycled (dog) food tray..

After 3 minutes immersion (wheel top left was the first one in)..

After 10 minutes immersion, tap water rinse and dry..

So no need for the dishwasher cycle, keeps the wife happy and good enough result

[mr crispy]

Wow, I'd always assumed it was the washing action rather than the detergent in the dish washer that worked. No danger of warped plastic either! Great tip Percymon, out of interest what brand did you use?

[Percymon]

Wow, I'd always assumed it was the washing action rather than the detergent in the dish washer that worked. No danger of warped plastic either! Great tip Percymon, out of interest what brand did you use?

I think the tablet was Tesco's own brand '3 in1'

[beefmuffin]

Okeedokee - I tried it on a set of cheap chrome Pegasus wheels too and WOW !! So glad for this topic... finally have perfect new wheels + tires for my shelfer Peggy.