GCH writes:
I bought a Ford truck in March 2008. By February 2009, after 10 weeks of winter, the magnesium chloride they put on the roads where I live had eaten through the chrome on all ten pieces of chromed plastic on the truck including the grill and door handles. Ford refused any warranty coverage whatsoever. According to Ford, it is apparently my fault I live in the mountains where mag chloride is used on the roads. The local dealer at least let me buy replacement parts at his cost. I replaced the grill with a painted one but none of the other parts are available in paint grade.
The state DOT guy (who hates the stuff) says it can take as little as three days for mag chloride to damage cheap chrome. Chromed steel can last a couple of years. If anybody drives their high-dollar car with lots of shiny chrome into Colorado to go skiing, they literally have a day or so to wash it before the mag chloride starts eating the chromed plastic trim.
My question is how can I protect the new chromed plastic parts from future damage?
I am trying some paint sealant from Griot’s on the door handles. The only thing I have found that will permanently stick to chrome is smooth textured Rhino-liner for a black-out effect. It doesn’t look too bad on a truck. It would not be great on a car. The Rhino-liner guy also has a ceramic clear coat he can use on wheels as well as powder coat but that only works on metals parts that can be cooked, not cheap plastic trim.
Sajeev replies:
Don’t you just love dealing with multiple bureaucracies? That said, I can’t blame the carmakers entirely, even if the quality of their chrome plating may not be top notch. Making vehicles for unique conditions is more than a little cost prohibitive, not to mention the weight, safety and performance demerits of going back to chrome plated metal parts. So we are probably out of luck, but back to your question …
My advice is to have a clear-bra (i.e., clear vinyl tape) installed on the front end and any other chrome plastic parts on the vehicle. On painted surfaces with a professional installer, you can barely tell its there. On chrome plating . . . well, I guess it’d beat Rhino Liner.
And if the chrome is too far gone, just de-chrome the vehicle. Any body shop can do it, but maybe you can too: remove the trim, scuff it thoroughly with fine grit sandpaper, paint (conservatively) with Self-Etching primer, and then prep and treat like any other surface on your car.
Warranties tend to exclude environmental agents, so I’m not surprised that the warranty claim was denied. Ford probably considers the damage akin to damage done by acid rain, etc.
The way things are going in the auto business, the first priority is to get out of honoring any warranty work, especially cosmetic stuff.
Use Nyalic. The parts need to be prepped (clean and dry and warm) before you shoot ’em, but when properly applied this stuff lasts and works, and basically disappears.
(as soon as I figure out a clever acronym, I’ll use it, but for now we’ll just call it Griot’s House of Ludicrously Overpriced Stuff You Can Get Much Less Expensively Elsewhere).
I have lived in the Colorado snow belt for 33 years. The worst thing about MgCl2 is that it is active no matter how cold. Used to be the rock salt sat inactive in subfreezing cold weather. The snow would stay dusty dry and very predictable with its reasonable amount of traction it provides. When the temperatures got close to thawing, then the salt became active, and accelerated the melting process. Wet snow at or above freezing temperatures is ultra slick and demands some strong compromises in driving style. Since MgCl2 has been used, I no longer can relax when driving because the stuff is liquid, and is active even at well below freezing temperatures, resulting in the ultra slick wet snow conditions even at 0 degrees F. I can no longer let my guard down when the temps dip below freezing any more.
It also causes the use of windshield washer fluid use to just about quadruple, because a thin film of it smeared by a wiper blade quickly dries into a damn near opaque vision obscuring state.
I do know the that the magnesium ion is less electronegative than the sodium ion, and thus is in theory is less corrosive, but I am no chemist and I do suspect other factors are in play.
In my experience, the chrome wheel trim rings on my long gone ’87 Sable required some resolute scrubbing to get the MgCl2 off, but that is the worst I have experienced in terms of chemistry.
The fart-can muffler crowd seems to be fond of this product. A pint of this stuff, a quart of clear, and you should be back to bling at less cost than buying new parts.
http://www.alsacorp.com/products/mirrachrome/mirrachrome.htm
That Alsa stuff sounds promising.
It will also be my canned answer for all those annoying email forwards I get saying that so-and-so in the Arab world bought such-and-such car and had it silver/platnium plated. Bollocks!