De-Chroming Hubs


Let me start by saying, I hate chrome. Especially on my Jeep, so I've made it a point to eliminate all the chrome I can. Imagine my disapointment when I got my custom Tera 60 axles with shiny chrome hubs. I just had to do something about that. OK, that was 4 years ago and I just got around to it, so sue me!

After I had the hub's cap all apart and cleaned, I had to do is remove, or at least scuff the chrome plating so I could paint it. I don't have a sandblaster, and even if I did I would have had to be very carefull not to damage the seal surfaces. I tried regular sandpaper discs on my drill but it was way too slow and the discs wore quickly. Then I tried this fancy sanding disc for angle grinders. It did the trick, it was fast and hardly wore at all.

Beware though, the metal beneath the chrome is fairly soft and the sanding disc did a good job on it, especially since it was 60 grit. I didn't care though, as long as the chrome was off!!

The rest was regular painting procedure, lots of masking including the surfaces where the hub selector goes. I put the hub cap on the hub, which was also sanded down and was going to be painted. I cut holes in cereal box cardboard for the hub and lugs, then covered the lugs.



A coat of primer and 2 coats of flat black later and it was all done. Doesn't this look much better? :)



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