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Polished Aluminum vs. chrome

6K views 30 replies 19 participants last post by  396_Ways_To_Spit 
#1 ·
What do yall prefer? Pro's and Con's?
 
#12 ·
Done it all on the hot rod. Chrome is the ONLY way to go for hasslefree maintainance. Aluminum will dull and start to get white flakes and corrosion as will polished aluminum. Polished aluminum needs alot of polishing to keep it looking shiney and pretty. You can clear powdercoat it but alot of the clear powders will yellow over time and it is also acceptable to chipping. Powdercoating is fairly hard but it still will chip at times but not near as soft and easily to chip as paint clearcoat. Chrome is the best by far but not cheap.
 
#13 ·
Have you guys ever had anything Jet Hot coated? From what i've read seems to be really good for metal. For alluminum i guess the company makes you sign a waver just in case they warp the peice during the curing process. But for headers seems to be a good way to go and half the price of chrome and supposeably better.
 
#14 ·
I got the opportunity today to stop by the local powder coating shop. I asked about powder coat chrome and he said the stuff isn't very durable and chips easily. He also said that when a customer has to use the pc chrome he covers it with clear pc also. He showed me a front bumber gaurd he powdercoated with chrome and then with clear, it's color and finish looked grey and kind of dull. I think I'm going back there agian with a jet hot coated header and maybe a polished aluminum piece so I can compare them together. Powder 1 in El Cajon is awesome.
 
#18 ·
Chrome or polished stainless is the only way to go. Polished aluminum is too much work. Chrome powdercoat/clearcoat doesn't look any better than painting something with dupli-color paint and dupli-color clear. Here's a pic of my timing cover with chrome/clear powdercoat. I was going to do the tunnel ram with it and decided to just paint it with chrome aluminum engine paint.
 

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#22 ·
If you look closely , headers are not chromed inbetween the pipes. And if you read the paperwork that comes with them it states that they will rust if you dont oil them inbetween uses.

My vote is chrome will look better and be the least amount of maintence.
 
#26 ·
Bottom line is, do you want to polish it every single day, or not.

Any sealant polyurethane coating you put on will get chipped off, you know it, and it will corrode/darken/oxidize in those spots, then you have to strip, polish, coat AGAIN.

Don't coat it and it seals itself off from the air, with that grey Aluminum Oxide that you keep polishing off. This process is immediate and constant.

So, bottom line is up to you, look at the nisce shine, or polish it every few days, all year round
 
#27 ·
I had a blower intake I fabricated out of a tunnelram coated Jet Hot Sterling. It turned out nice. The Jet Hot Sterling is very close to chrome, more than other chrome or polished silver powders.

Also there is good chrome and bad chrome plating. It is all in the prep work and who is doing it and how much ya wanna pay.
 

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