I pretty much had no idea what chrome plating was, until I did some research & came up with this: chrome plating & chromium plating are the same; it’s just that some people prefer to say the “shorter” version. Even though they mean the same, it does not necessarily mean that all chrome plating is the same.
There are typically 2 types of chrome plating: hard chrome plating & decorative chrome plating. Hard chrome plating is just the simple chrome plating, but is applied as a reasonably heavy coating that is used to protect against wear resistance, lubricity, oil retention, & other things that can cause it to wear quickly.
Decorative chrome plating is done by first plating nickel before plating the chrome. It tends to be very thin & mainly made out of nickel. Even though it is very hard, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is as strong as the hard chrome plated original 2007 Buick Allure wheels you have on your vehicle .. or whatever OEM chrome rims that you have on your car.
Learning something new everyday,
Mykalanne.