Chrome Plated Guides

[bigturtle]

Anyone have experience on the durability of hard chrome plated guides? on rods/reels?

[aavery2]

This is a table of common materials used for guides and its hardness as measured on a Rockwell scale.

It is subjective but is a good reference. It was borrowed from another popular fishing site.

Stainless Steel (SS): 400
Chrome: 800-1000
Carbaloy: 1000
Aluminum Oxide: 1200-1400
Alconite : 1300-1500
NanoLite : 1800
Zirconia: 1000-1400
Zirconia PVD: 1600
SiC: 2200-2400

[bigturtle]

Yes i seen that table, but the numbers mean nothing to me. I know for a fact that Aluminum oxide can handle everyday bass/pike fishing, mono or braid, very well without grooving. So can any of the material below it.

 

Can Chrome do the same?

[F14A-B]

I have a 7'11" w/ Pac bay MiNima guides.. I like them ....hard chrome over stainless... I don't use braid though... Also I still have a 30 year old Lews with oxides... Still great... Also boron rods with oxides... No troubles... Early braids destroyed rods and reels... Most were Kevlar ... But it seems newer braids are friendly to most guide trains.

I've seen so many failures with micros with rings poping out.... So I believe ring materials are up to the task.. But ring/ frame designs are, in some cases needing work.

[aavery2]

It's not the (modern) line itself that usually damages the guides it is the sand and grit that it traps in it, so a part of what is hard enough has to do with the environment that it is fished in.  I have heard many stories of chrome guides being damaged with the use of braided line, but that has died off with most rod mfg's using guides with harder inserts.   It would concern me if were my rods.

[bigturtle]

mmmk.....

[Tywithay]

I've never had one groove, but haven't used many for very long. I just can't stand the sound. They're very abrasive and make a lot of noise/vibration, especially with braid.

[WRB]

Hard chrome plating is old technology dating back to '30's and obsoleted by metal oxides and ceramics about 30 years ago do to EPA regulations. Being a plating process the durability is only as good as the processing.

Why do you want chrome guides today?

Tom

[Hogsticker]

First of all, are you talking about just the frame material with a ceramic insert, or the entire guide? If the entire guide is chrome plated stainless steel I would stay away. I've seen several with grooves, from cheapies to recoils. They started putting ceramic inserts in them for a reason. And Ty is correct. They are crazy loud. A handful of Daiwas 2012 rods had these. Now it looks like they are being discontinued and replaced. Its your choice and you got responses, ummmmk

[bigturtle]

Is this the same thing as "hard plating"?

[Tywithay]

Is this the same thing as "hard plating"?

Yes.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Guide frames or rings? Frames, the chrome looks nice, not the best choice for saltwater applications. As for guide rings, I use a lot of the Minima4 guides (SS rings) with good results. They are super light weight, inexpensive and durable. I haven't seen any problems with braid so far, but as mentioned, application and environment plat a role in choosing components.  

[bigturtle]

Sorry, I do mean its for the actual insert (the part where the line actually touches), in both reels/rods.

 

There are some rods that im considering (fenwick eagle and basspro microlite) that has rings that are stainless steel with chrome. Some reels also has this as their line guide as opposed to titanium nitride.

 

The rods look very appealing but the guides do worry me a bit.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Unless it's a deep cranking rod with braid in the harshest of conditions the guides should be fine if they are quality. 

[bigturtle]

I see, thank you.

[smalljaw67]

The Eagle rods from Fenwick have Stainless steel inserts, in fact the only rods I've seen with hard chrome inserts since 1985 are the new Dcukett Ghost. The stainless inserts aren't the best but they will work, the same for chrome but the problems with grooving happen with braided line and it is due to debris sticking to the braid. The Recoil guides are Titanium with no insert, with mono or fluorocarbon they are perfect but because braid grabs dirt and debris, they too will groove. In short, if you use braid, try to get a rod with at least Aluminum oxide guide inserts, if you aren't using braid then don't worry about it.

[S Hovanec]

The tips are where the grooving issue is really magnified. I've replaced many grooved tips on Fenwick rods. The rest of the guides were fine, but the tips were trashed.

[Tywithay]

The Eagle rods from Fenwick have Stainless steel inserts, in fact the only rods I've seen with hard chrome inserts since 1985 are the new Dcukett Ghost. The stainless inserts aren't the best but they will work, the same for chrome but the problems with grooving happen with braided line and it is due to debris sticking to the braid. The Recoil guides are Titanium with no insert, with mono or fluorocarbon they are perfect but because braid grabs dirt and debris, they too will groove. In short, if you use braid, try to get a rod with at least Aluminum oxide guide inserts, if you aren't using braid then don't worry about it.

Fluorocarbons are just as abrasive, mostly due to heat build up. It's much harder than braid as well. I know braid used to kill the old aluminum oxide guides, but not so much anymore. All of the grooving issues I've seen recently have involved fluorocarbon and SS or Recoil guides. It is especially true for the tip guide. If a rod has a tip guide with no insert, I'd replace it immediately.

[bigturtle]

So you say that fluorocarbon will definitely damage chrome guides?

[Tywithay]

So you say that fluorocarbon will definitely damage chrome guides?

Not definitely, or companies would stop using them. There's always a chance that the guides could be damaged because they're made of a softer material than a quality ceramic. That doesn't necessarily mean that it WILL happen. As I said before, I just don't like the sound the guides make when line is coming through them. It creates a lot of vibration and gives me less feel of what my lure is doing. Some folks like them, they're just not for me. Another thing that changed my mind was at a fishing expo, I watched a guy from Fuji take a piece of 220-grit sandpaper to a SiC guide ring.....it didn't even scratch it.