Good Quality Chrome Parts, Where to Get'em

[lakeroadster]

Looking to buy a chrome grille and chrome front bumper for my '65.

For those of you that have bought these:

A) where did you get them,
B) did you buy them recently and
C) are you happy with the quality of the parts you received?

Thanks in advance.......

[terd ferguson]

The best quality chrome I've seen is old factory pieces. Every repop chrome piece I've seen in person has started to rust after a year or two. I can't remember which one, but one of the catalog places had bumpers "guaranteed for life".

My philosophy is to only buy old factory pieces. For right now, they won't look as good as a repop. But they'll look better than the repop will in two years.

[63 & 64 Bowties]

Actually, I have a LMC bumper that's been on my 65 K-10 for at least 7 or 8 years that still looks brand new. It was their "premium chrome" whatever that means. If I remember right, it's about $50 more than the standard chrome bumper.

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by 63 & 64 Bowties

Actually, I have a LMC bumper that's been on my 65 K-10 for at least 7 or 8 years that still looks brand new. It was their "premium chrome" whatever that means. If I remember right, it's about $50 more than the standard chrome bumper.

The "regular" ones will rust up. I've never seen a premium bumper in person. Good to know that they're good quality.

[watahyahknow]

in the old days they had better chemicals to clean the metal and they used thinker chrome .
theve chromed a toyota landcruiser here once and they told us they used gold plating for the last verry thin layer to bring up a better gloss and prevent rust .
the maker of that story and owner of the carmagazine chrome and flames was french and allways considered excentric so he might as whell sucked the goldplate story out of his tumb , might be a nice thing to ask a plater though

[mbgmike]

Actually the chemicals to clean steel before plating have not changed a lot and if anything they are better. The So called Premium bumpers sold by LMC are the same bumpers we sell as our regular bumper. Re-plating a factory bumper is the best way but it does cost. It also depends on the shop. The aftermarket bumpers have a lot more quality control then some of the plating shops. We use a company here that also does the work for a British Bike Shop.
Their customers are so picky on the restoration of the plating so we use the same outfit. Their are many great plating shops in the US and alot of crap ones. If you want the best it will cost.
Even with the Premium bumpers we have had some returns lately. Three this year so far which is not bad. Mainly the outer chrome layer flaked off around the bolt hole.

[watahyahknow]

the teutels from occ are allways verry happy with there chromer forgot there name though