Chrome Plating

[jonlabree]

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

[Bhigdog]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> GOOD and reasonably PRICED </div></div>

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

[JFranklin]

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]

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]

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.

[Guest palosfv3]

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 .

[Guest stude8]

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

[jonlabree]

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]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Most chrome platers want an arm and a leg to plate even the smallest part.

</div></div>

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

[Tom M]

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.

[Guest stude8]

I'll save you the trouble, see post above <span style="color: #000099"><span style="font-weight: bold">"Since you are in NW ILL you could try Courtesy Metal Polishing in Villa Park, IL 630-832-1862 ask for Victor Durado."</span></span>

Stude8

[Tom M]

Wow what a small world. Thanks Stude8.

[19tom40]

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.

[Guest AmerMidChrome]

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.

[Tom M]

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?

[Guest AmerMidChrome]

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.

Thanks! Janet

[ojh]

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

[ex98thdrill]

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.

[Guest AmerMidChrome]

Berry Amendment.

[Guest AmerMidChrome]

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,

[Guest elmo39]

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

[Guest AmerMidChrome]

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]

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]

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]

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.

Edited August 31, 2009 by ex98thdrill (see edit history)

[ex98thdrill]

i think powder coating or a paint type chrome will be the way to go

The NASCAR boys are doing it now with the wheels on their stock cars. About 20 years ago NASCAR outlawed chrome rims because they were having problems getting the wheel weights to stick to them.

I want to say that Michael Waltrip is one of the ones using the chrome powdercoat on his race car (hasn't made him run any faster:rolleyes:).

[Guest dgiorgi]

Do the prep yourself, have them dip it to strip it and then work the piece and return it for the cooper , re-prep or re-dip until you get it where you want it to look without waves. Do this only if you are experienced with metal working and buffing. It takes a lot of time to prep, like painting a car and thats what drives the cost up. Of course if the part is just too rusted through and needs repair pieces like grille bars missing and you are not capable of doing this, give it to the pro's. You can do this with some small parts and work your way up as your skills increase. Good luck.

[Guest Bob Call]

Bhig Dog is correct. The acutal chroming is the final step in a very labor intensive process. Prices that seem high to someone new to the car hobby are probably reasonable for the labor involved. If you are restoring a car that will be shown and judged, find a shop that still uses the nickle and copper process. A lot of shops now use a new process without the nickle and/or copper plating.

[Guest Bob Call]

Speaking of putting platers out of business, I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and there is a plating company located in the downtown area in what was an industrial area when they started business, been there for over 75 years. They'll probably be out of business within the year. They local double A baseball team has a perfectly good stadium at the county fairgrounds, in the middle of the city, which never draws more that 3,000 on the best night usually around 1000 to 1200. They threatened to move to one of the suburbs unless the taxpayers built them a new stadium. The wild eyed liberals that run this town and want to "revitalize" a dead downtown caved and we are building a 15,000 seat stadium a few blocks from the plating shop. The city "fathers and mothers" have established a special tax district to tax the property near the new stadium to pay for it. They say the stadium will bring in new revenue to the fru-fru restaurants and bars in the area that will more than offset their new taxes. The 1200 or so people that attend a ball game on any given night are not going to patronize the plating shop after the game for a snack or a cocktail. So, with a 100 to 500 percent increase (final rate not determined yet) in property taxes spells death to the plating shop and simiular business within the special tax district. If the plating shop closes at this location it will be cost prohibitive to meet new environmental regularions to establish a new plant at a new location. The liberals kill another free enterprise business.

Edited September 1, 2009 by Bob Call (see edit history)

[Guest AmerMidChrome]

Hello Tom,

American Midwest Chrome is located in Chicago. Thank you

[A by the sea]

Always remember that most shops want to make the parts pretty.

Sometimes pretty and functional are not the same.

For what it is worth. I spent $2000 with Pauls Chrome. They never read the directions and diagrams I sent so they could do a check to make sure the convertible parts I sent them worked while they did the job.

All of my parts did not fit together or function, but they looked pretty.

Pauls is used to redoing parts cause everyone I have talked to that had a problems found they were good at trying to fix what they broke. I was fortunate to have had extras that they could make closer to functional.

[Guest AmerMidChrome]

Hi Jon,

Not certain if you have found your chromer yet, but you can send your parts to us, we are reasonable and do great work. We have a great reputation with quite a few restoration shops that work on anything from classic to antique autos. We have done quite a bit of work on autos such as Packard, Duisenberg, Rolls, Caddys, etc.

Hope to do business with you.

Edited September 7, 2009 by AmerMidChrome (see edit history)

[Tom M]

Hi Janet,

I am off next week and may swing by your shop one day to get some quotes on some pieces.

What would be the best day for me to stop by?

Also will need some directions to your shop from I55 and First Ave?

Thanks

[Guest buicks39]

one more vote for pauls

[Guest cilghal]

Lakeside Custom Plating is cheaper and excellent quality. They are in Conneaut Ohio. Only advertise in Hemmings Motor News. Relatively small advertisement, but a diamond in the rough of platers out there. Great median. Not too cheap to worry and not going to break your pockets. They even got instructional video on process on youtube. search them on there and check it out. www.customchromerestoration.com

[Guest Bluesky636]

Hi Jon,

Not certain if you have found your chromer yet, but you can send your parts to us, we are reasonable and do great work. We have a great reputation with quite a few restoration shops that work on anything from classic to antique autos. We have done quite a bit of work on autos such as Packard, Duisenberg, Rolls, Caddys, etc.

Hope to do business with you.

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Edited October 15, 2009 by Bluesky636 (see edit history)

[Guest mercman86]

I know this is an old old thread but.......

Just picked up my bumper from Courtesy Metal polishing in Villa park. Just wanted to say that they did an EXCELLENT job on my Ranchero's rear bumper! They had it done in a month, and a month sooner than it was promised. Cost me just about 400 bucks to have it done. If you use these guys, make sure you have cash as they do not accept checks or plastic! Its run by 3 brothers: Victor, Temo, and Roy.

[Tom M]

Hi Alex,

I have used them also. That sounds like a good price for your bumper.

I had dropped my bumpers and bow-ties off on Saturday got a estimate and then received a phone call Monday morning stating the estimate I received was not correct :eek:. It should of been $400 more then I was quoted. So at this point I will be pulling back my bumpers because it is a little over my budget. Will have to have then done at a later date.

Yes cash only but watch if you go to pick parts up on Saturdays. If you like to hear why PM me.

All the other parts I had done by them were done well also.

[Steve Braverman]

I just picked up the radiator shell for my Plymouth from Nassau Chrome in Mineola, NY. The price was very reasonable ($325), and it looks great. It was very ugly when it went there. They can be reached at 516-746-6666.

[Guest sregenauer]

J R CUSTOM PLATING in forest lake mn. but then i work there im there die cast man lol