Durability and Quality Performance of Today-s Bright Electroplated Steel Bumpers

Bright, decorative coatings on bumper facebars and other external automotive trim have been produced by several methods with a varying degree of long term success. Electroplating nickel and chromium deposits over steel is one of the oldest methods and has established itself as one of the best. Techniques for electroplating over steel are well established, easily and predictably applied with consistent quality, and offer outstanding corrosion resistance and appearance.

Experimentally designed laboratory and long term exterior corrosion studies have established that multi-layer nickel systems with microdiscontinuous chromium will withstand corrosion and surface appearance degradation for over ten years. New plating systems have been established based upon this information. An extensive field survey of used automobiles in the Greater Toronto area has confirmed that these systems offer superior performance.

Progressive plating shops are modifying their plating operations to take advantage of the new plating systems specifically designed for the automotive industry. They are also introducing computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) techniques to closely maintain the consistency of their operating variables.