Can Fiberglas be Chromed to look like a real bumper? Or are they available?

Maybe they can be hydro-dipped or vinyl wrapped to resemble chrome?

It can be painted and there is paint out there that looks like chrome

Paul's Chrome can chrome plate fiberglass.

I first heard about it on My Classic Car (Dennis Gage).

http://www.paulschrome.com/index.php/what-we-do/surfaces-we-plate

From their website.

Surfaces We Plate
Each part provides its own unique set of challenges. Here at Paul’s we are experienced at repairing, polishing, and plating a wide range of surfaces, including:

Pot Metal (Zinc Diecast)
Aluminum
Steel
Stainless Steel
Cast Iron
Brass
Copper
Lead
Fiberglass

Contact us for a free estimate!

What paint can be used? I've tried several in rattle cans for small pieces and they look silver and if you use clear coat, they look grey after clearing them.

In my experience, no paint/powder coating really looks shiny like chrome. However, there is PVD (?-phase vapor deposition...or something like that) which I'm guessing is what the guy is doing that is coating fiberglass. Aluminum (not chrome) is vaporized in a high-vacuum chamber & is deposited on parts in the chamber. They do a lot of modern wheels like that since they found out how dangerous/toxic chrome is.

There is a new series of chrome paint that is out there, it doesn't come in a can. I have seen a few high end exotics painted in it while in Hong Kong and China. I have seen it in silver (chrome), blue and red.

I'll take a picture if I see one on my next trip.

Paul’ is actually plating fiberglass just like steel. Copper, nickel, and chrome. It’s the real deal!

Yeah I contacted them mucho $,I'm going to start looking into the paint idea or possibly a wrap

True, but it boils down to you get what you pay for.

If you want it to look like real chrome that's your best route.

If you can live with a look that is less shiny, the other alternatives might be your choice.

Alsa MirraChrome
This is the closest to chrome paint I have ever found. It is probably more like a polished aluminum. It is applied over a high gloss black surface.

I'd look into the chrome wrap first,

How nice do you want or need it to be? Is this for a show or cruise car or racecar 50/50..........(50 MPH @ 50 feet )

I have something that might work for the 50/50 that may be worth a try and may only set you back between $7 - $17 and a little time.


Mike

Exactly!

I looked into wrap and every place said the curves on a bumper are a problem compared with flat panels.

I had mine painted silver base coat/clear with a fair amount of metallic.

Don't know if that is true for all wrap material. The Crossfire above was just one of the examples of chrome wrapped vehicles I found and lots of curves and body lines there. Someone is making a chrome wrap material that would work IMO. What I did with non-wrap chrome material would make you laugh and say "no way that would work"

So spill the beans! Id like to hear about it!

Try to make it as short as possible: For lack of a better word I "restored" my wife's 2001 Chrysler Town & Country Limited last year that we've owned since new. It helped me with gaining some bodywork and painting skills for the next couple of projects. I removed rust, replaced rockers on both side, some replacement of front or the rear wheel wells, hood rust, etc., Then the repaint and finally what to do about the "chrome" strips/moldings and the CHRYSLER callout letters on both front doors that were in bad shape. Started to search the internet and our local Chrysler dealership and the best I could do was $49 each door for the CHRYSLER callout letters ($98) and $100 EACH for the front 2 doors and $100 EACH for the side sliding doors ($400) or a total of almost $500 total . More searching and decided that I was going to try something that I learned back in the late '70's for repairing door panels with a 1" wide plastic chrome strip across the top.

I went and found the chrome film (tape) I had for another job (way cool too) and decided that I'll just head on down to the local national chain auto parts store and buy some fresh chrome film tape and found some that is 8" wide and 60" long and used for the bottom of pickup trucks from the rocker to the lower body line.

Pencil graphite traced the CHRYSLER letters out, cut them out and copied them to the chrome film tape (reversed so chrome side is correct) then cut them to the letter shape. Took the heat gun and heat shrunk them over the old letters and Exacto knife cut excess off. Then cut long strips for the four door's moldings and recovered those too. For $6.99 and a lot of material left over for other possible uses it saved me $490 for just a few hours of fun work on a nice spring day.

That's why I said that for maybe $14.00 the OP may find this as a money saving 50 feet @ 50MPH way of getting a "chrome" look fiberglass bumper.


MikeR

And it shrunk with a heat gun! Thanks! That’s interesting for sure.