Chrome Plating

63viking · March 24th, 2009

Can anyone recommend a GOOD and reasonably PRICED chrome plating Co.?

Bhigdog · March 24th, 2009

Quote:

GOOD and reasonably PRICED

Sorry, those terms are mutually exclusive........Bob

JFranklin · March 25th, 2009

He isn't fibbing! it is a lot of work to make the piece look like you will expect it to look. The plating itself is the easy part.

Friartuck · March 25th, 2009

The previous posts are true. If you want it fast and cheap, it will look cheap. Good work takes time which equates to the final price. I've used Pauls Chrome in Evans City, PA for over ten years and for one simple reason: Over 250 pieces plated ranging from radiator shells to #4 screws & small springs and not one part ever lost and no rework. Their photographic accountabilty process seems to work. The low price of a plater is long forgotten after you have to find a replacement part.

Chris

Restorer32 · March 25th, 2009

We have never found a plater better than Paul's. Many shops will pick and choose the parts they can plate. Paul's can repair and plate about anything. Excellent die cast work. Even when their previous shop burned to the ground they were able to find all of our parts in the ashes. Expensive but worth it if you want the best. No affiliation etc.

palosfv3 · March 25th, 2009

Give Mark and Jen at the "Finishing Touch " a call . They are 5580 Northwest Hwy in Chicago. 773-774-7349 Outstanding plating. Not cheap but eveything is done correctly .

stude8 · March 25th, 2009

Since you are in NW ILL you could try Courtesy Metal Polishing in Villa Park, IL 630-832-1862 ask for Victor Durado. I have been surprised with his quality for reasonable prices on door handles (diecast 1920's type) and repro brass parts that look like new when they come back. Oh yes he has turned parts around in 1 week if the pitting is not too bad. Stude8

63viking · March 28th, 2009

I don't recall using the word "Cheap". I think I said reasonable. Most chrome platers want an arm and a leg to plate even the smallest part.

Bhigdog · March 28th, 2009

Quote:

Most chrome platers want an arm and a leg to plate even the smallest part.

That's just the nature of the beast, Jon. Chrome restoration is EXTREMELY labor intensive with the actual plating being the least of it. Typically the part must be stripped of old plating and bead blasted, plated with copper, pitts filled, sanded to shape then buffed to a mirror finish, then plated with nickle, then chrome. All the while great care must be taken to keep detail, edges sharp, dimensions held, etc etc. Add to that the high amounts of energy consumed, the cost of copper, nickle, and chrome and of course the high cost of EPA compliance and responsible disposal of depleted baths and metallic sludge. It's just one of those things and there is no way around it without sacrificing quality and/or environmental responsibility. Seen it that light the cost may be very expensive but it IS resonable. In the good old days semi skilled people would work for minimum wage, electricity/energy was cheap, and the spent chemicals were dumped behind the shop or down a mine hole. Those days are long gone.
So, it comes down to a "how bad do you want it" type of deal. And so it goes.............Bob

Packin31 · March 28th, 2009

Hi Jon,

A friend of mine has had this bug lately restoring old SCHWINN STING RAY KRATE bicycles. I was just talking to him early today and he had mention he had picked up some parts from a chrome shop in Villa Park. He said it was on North Ave and Addison road. If you like I can get the name of the shop for you.

He mention the prices were pretty reasonable and was happy with their work. He said he would use them again.

stude8 · March 29th, 2009

I'll save you the trouble, see post above "Since you are in NW ILL you could try Courtesy Metal Polishing in Villa Park, IL 630-832-1862 ask for Victor Durado."

Stude8

Packin31 · March 29th, 2009

Wow what a small world. Thanks Stude8.

19tom40 · March 31st, 2009

I have used Pauls and Courtesy and can recommend both. I would choose Pauls if the part had a lot of small detail in it and Courtesy for the more plain parts. The Finishing Touch also does great work on parts that have a lot of detail in them.

Detail work takes a lot of time to get right and is expensive to get done. If the part has small grooves or lettering, I would definitely choose Pauls or The Finishing Touch.

AmerMidChrome · April 8th, 2009

American Midwest Chrome is located in Chicago Illinois. I own the shop and the employees have been there a very long time. Experienced polishers and platers is key in the chrome business. Try us out. You might like the prices and quality of our work.

Packin31 · April 8th, 2009

Hi Janet,

I am not at the point of having any chrome work done but I may stop by some day with some smaller pieces to get a quote from you. Are you open on Saturdays?

AmerMidChrome · April 8th, 2009

Hi,
We are not open on Saturday's, we are open from Tuesday - Friday from 7-3 for Quotes, drop off and pick up.

Thank you for the inquiry. Hope to do business with you. [img]<>/smile.gif[/img]
Thanks! Janet

ojh · April 9th, 2009

Pauls Chrome, i have a bunch of stuff there now. Nice work.

ex98thdrill · April 14th, 2009

Jon,

You'll get many responses, and what looks good to me versus what looks good to you, might not even be close to being the same.

Your best bet is to go to one of our meets and look at the cars and see what you like and go from there. If the vehicle owner has pictures of what the chrome was before the restoration, then it'll give you an idea of the platers abilities. If the car owner is not happy, they'll tell you and they'll show you places that you'll never see.

We send our chrome to Canada. The Canadians can process chrome with chemicals and methods that have been banned by the EPA. But on our fire truck it cost us $700 to rechrome the siren, and $1,000 to rechrome two nozzles and a set of fire extinguishers. Is this outfit cheap, NO!!! But they do the work that we want to our level of expectation, and that's who we do business with. We've dealt with four different platers, and the canadians are the first ones who have been able to give us the quality that we wanted. There might be someone who does as good a job who may charge less, but we've dealt with three different platers who we weren't happy with, we're done taking a gamble with someone else, so we're sticking with what works for us.

Six years ago, we did a '67 Chevelle SS in our shop. That car goes to a show and often gets parked next to other '67 Chevelles and I'll be the first to tell you that you can tell the difference. The chrome on this car looks better than the reproduction bumpers, and looks better than some of the other bumpers on the other Chevelles.

What I tell people when they ask me is what are their intentions with the vehicle??

If you're going to sell the car after your done with the restoration, or if you want the car as a driver, do it cheap and enjoy the car. If you're going to point judge the car and plan on keeping it for a long time, spend the money and do it right.

AmerMidChrome · April 14th, 2009

Berry Amendment.

AmerMidChrome · April 15th, 2009

Hi Jon,
With all this great advice, I'll bet you feel you know nothing more than when you started the chain. If you bring your parts to us, you will build a relationship and we will be "your chromer".
Have a happy day and let the chromer do the work for you, they know what they are doing. I believe somewhere in this chain I mentioned that the secret is in the chromer's experience. You can have all the greatest chemicals, buffs, soaps, belts, compounds, etc., you want, but if the experience is missing, well, need I say more?
Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck with your project.
Thank you,

elmo39 · April 15th, 2009

for my small input on this, bhigdog said it all with his posting , make sure its going to be copper plated , or it's only going to fall of some time in the future. i know i've been there , i had the bumpers rechromed on my 37 plymouth some years ago , the price was good , but they werent copper plated ,they looked good for awhile, from memory i think they lasted about 3 years before they started to peel , i had no come back as they went out of busness as the owner was killed in a car crash

AmerMidChrome · August 1st, 2009

Hi Jon,
You may have found your plater by now, however, we are a polishing and plating shop with reasonable pricing and also do great work. Any work you bring into us is appreciated and business is slow now so time is on your side.

stealthbob · August 2nd, 2009

There was a mention about Canadian chromer in this thread but no names given....

I'm likely a year out from requiring the service but would like to check around frist.

I'm in the Ottawa Valley, any suggestions?

JustDave · August 6th, 2009

hello i know you guys are going to think im crazy, but watch local powder coaters,theyve been trying for awhile to match chrome,its not quite perfect yet but its came along ways in the last couple of years,i know its not original but in the future i think powder coating or a paint type chrome will be the way to go,the epa & the high price of copper will ultimately put platers out of business unless they find a different way of doing it,i live in southern calif an
plating is very expensive,i talked to a gentlemen in the plating industry that was retiring,he said that plating hasnt moved like other industries,there still doing things like they did years ago,hopefully in the future they can find cost effective alternatives
dave

ex98thdrill · August 25th, 2009

I was the one who mentioned a canadian chromer.

We use Cambridge Custom Chrome up near Toronto, Canada. They have a drop off point in Buffalo, NY and they have a toll free number and a website.

The canadians can process chrome with chemicals that the US has banned.