What is the best way to rechrome

[Surfdaddy]

I've been getting ready to start on my 61 GMC and I'm trying to figure out if it's better to buy the repro chrome parts or to have mine redone. I haven't had to do this in many years and don't know how the repro stuff is. Things like door handles and teh bumpers and grill as wellas some chrome in the interior.

Whats the best way to go? When I did the Squareback last year I bought a bunch of repro parts and the chrome was not that great.

[TopFuel1966]

If what you have is not worn out have it re-plated. Nothing beats the fit of original parts and you'll be much happier with the plating quality vs the offshore junk.

[PGSigns]

Not sure about chroming cost on the west coast but here in Virginia it is less expensive to buy all new stuff if you can. That spot light my clean up pretty good. The rest I would buy new repro stuff.
Jimmy

[Surfdaddy]

What's the best shop in so cal for chrome. Bumper Boys shocked me when they said they wanted 500 each for the POS bumpers on my Squareback.

[Surfdaddy]

I have to get the V6 emblems re-chromed for sure. I don't think I would find any at the swapmeet. The last time I had plating done there was a lot charge so it was better to have more than one thing done at a time.

[markeb01]

Reproduction parts like inside and outside door handles are generally cheaply made and not exact duplicates of the originals. Regardless of the inferior quality, I like most enthusiasts almost always use reproduction parts because I simply cannot afford the cost for show quality chroming of originals. The castings aren’t even identical. For example on the repro outside door handles I added to my truck, when the button is depressed it with go in so far it can stick inside the handle. A bunch of analysis and some added washers fixed the problem, but it just demonstrates the parts frequently aren’t produced with the same details as originals. A recent forum post mentioned a body shop couldn’t even use the new reproduction inner fenders provided because the holes were too far off.

The Unity spotlight is not financially practical to restore to like new condition. A new unit can be purchased from Unity for less money than the chroming would cost, or a much cheaper alternative is to substitute parts from an NOS 1980’s spotlight available on eBay. The how-to is included in the spotlight link provided earlier. The original inside and outside mounting brackets will require rechroming or NOS replacements because these parts are no longer offered new.

[slepysal]

getting anything dipped is expesive !! The last time I had anything chromed was about 10 years ago.The nighborhood lowrider car club took a truck load to TJ. It took forever and a day.... came out nice and price was fair.
Here in Cali the EPA laws drove most of the mom and pop shops out of business

[glendale]

do a search on bumper boyz. very bad! as far as good chrome sherms in sacramento can't go wrong.

[rbar]

Running about 350 to chrome a bumper in idaho or salt lake. I had the inner fenders that are terrible. I also got aftermarket door locks and mirrors and they rusted due to the poor chrome.
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[Clyde65]

The chrome aftermarket parts available today are A) cheaply made B) below original standards and C) made in China. This is why we can buy them all cheap here. Now If you want a quality rechrome job, it should be stripped, coppered ( bare metal), nickled and then chromed at least twice. The reason things are so much more expensive to have chromed here is due to the EPA rules on the plating shops, especially on the west coast. be prepared to pay dearly for a good, quality chrome job. But your item should outlast the cheap chinese items 5 fold.

I had an original bumper chromed like I said above, it was straight and perfect but i wanted it chrome, cost me 285.00 8 years ago, it looks today just like it did when I had it chromed. you get what you pay for there.

[LT1 Burb]

Medford plating did an awesome job on my suburban bumper , charged 300hun and straightened it. I bought a crappy repop chrome grill and the chrome sucks, it was all yellow so I sent it back.Repop parts suck, besides , you will never find hubcaps like that so I would rechrome them.

[Surfdaddy]

I guess I'll start looking for chrome shops. So cal has lost a lot of shops over the years. I used to do be a millrite and did field service for 10 years. If a shop was in business they could stay in business. You can't open a new shop or move the one you have. I may have to ship the smaller parts so I can have a good shop anyware do them, but will have drop the larger parts off.

[1Bad62Pro/Street]

ClasSix Part 7: Custom Grill - Budget Style
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Plating of Aluminum

Billet aluminum plates the best. Cast aluminum by nature is very porous and has a great deal of pitting. Chrome plating will not cover pitting. If you have a cast aluminum part that is pitted and requires a show quality finish, let us know before processing your order. Using our process of acid copper plating and hand polishing we can remove most of the pitting, however depending upon the casting of the part it may not be possible to remove all the pitting. You will be notified if your cast part will not be free of pits.

Plating of Aluminum Intakes

Aluminum intakes are cast aluminum and will have some pitting. The pitting is in the part due to the casting, not the plating. If your intake is severely pitted we will notify you before plating. New intakes plate the best. Yes, we can plate your used intake, but extremely old intakes that have many miles tend to absorb oil and gas into the part which results in pitting. Installation of your intake will require that washers be used under the intake bolts.

Plating of Brass

Brass plates very well. We also repair holes, cracks and dents on brass parts.

Plating of Bumpers

We provide a complete bumper restoration service. We straighten, repair dents/cracks and fill holes. (Help us out! Please mark or note any repairs you know are needed.) All bumpers are stripped down to the bare metal (sand blasted on the back), all repairs including straightening, realignment, dent and wave removal are then completed, the bumper is polished to a mirror finish and triple plated with copper, nickel, and chrome. We take great pride in our bumpers and provide you with the very best restoration service to finish your bumpers. So if you’re looking for a cheap job, go elsewhere.

Custom Polishing

Aluminum blowers, intakes, rear ends…if you prefer the polished look on your parts rather than chrome plating, we can custom polish your parts 100%. Also stainless steel—we offer straightening and repair, removal of dents and dings on trim and hubcaps. We also polish brass and copper parts.

Plating of Pot Metal, Die Cast and White Metal

Due to the natural deterioration of this type of material it requires a great deal of work and time to restore. We can repair cracks and dents. In cases of severely deteriorated parts, filling pits, repairing cracks and dents can be achieved by hand filling and polishing. We do not grind out the pits. This is the most difficult metal to refinish and your parts are only handled by experienced personnel. All pieces go through an acid copper plate and buffing process. This takes a great deal of time and is very labor intensive but results in the best possible finish. Sometimes parts may be too deteriorated to restore to perfect condition. You will be notified in such a case. We reserve the right to refuse orders that will not be satisfactory to us.

Plating of Steel

We plate all types of steel. The final finish on a steel part is related to the age, condition and type of steel the part is made of. Old, rusted, pitted, deteriorated steel can be restored if there is enough metal left to work with. Sometimes the actual condition of the part cannot be known until the part is stripped. We can repair holes, cracks and dents in steel parts. Cast iron parts are porous and extremely rough and may not polish out and plate to a mirror finish. You will be notified if your steel part is in a condition that will not result in a proper finish. New parts generally turn out the best.

Powder Coating

Parts are stripped, polished or blasted and iron phosphate coated. The powder paint is electrostatically applied then heat cured. Once cured this process provides a hard durable finish which is resistant to chipping, peeling and scratching. Hundreds of color choices are available. High gloss, semi gloss, flat, textured, wrinkle, translucent and fluorescent finishes are available.

Commercial Production Services

We have a complete in-house commercial production service, offering production polishing, hand rack and barrel plating, powder coating with fast turn around. For commercial production quotes call or fax copy of prints

http://www.advancedplating.com/
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[markeb01]

Just a tip - when shopping around, ask to see how they catalog and track your parts. If they have a good system they will be proud to explain how it works. The best pricing or quality finish won't matter much if you don't get your parts back. Losing parts was a common problem in the old days. It would seem logical any shop still in business would have developed a good tracking system, but be convinced before you hand over anything irreplaceable.

[Surfdaddy]

I used to run into that problem at anodizing shops. They would do batch jobs and mix your stuff with other customers. I would always loose something. That's a great tip. thanks. Looked up chrome plating shops in the LA area. There are a few. I just need to make a list and call them. I'm afraid of getting a walleteptamie (the money being surgically removed from my wallet). Kind of got that too when I did some work on my Squareback last year.

[slepysal]

Powder coating while not as shinny is an opption too

[Captainfab]

I agree......You might be surprised at some of the powders available these days. There is also a process called "Vacuum Metalizing" that looks real nice. That is what the "Endurashine" that Edelbrock offers, is. It should be available in your area, since Edelbrock is in Southern California.

Originally Posted by slepysal

Powder coating while not as shinny is an opption too

[Surfdaddy]

Sure powder coating and the Vaccum metalizing looks good. (I am involved with that at work we call it vapor deposition or vaccum plating) we use it to plate a very fine layer of either silver, gold or alum. on a surface for a mirror finish (optically clear) The problem with it is if you want a clean mirror finish you have to be very careful on how you clean it. For me, I'll have to poney up and quit snivvling and pay for the chrome. There is a lot of chrome on the front and it would be a shame not to have it redone.

[Heater63]

I agree with Surf. Plate it if you can. If money is tight then you may have to go with Repop parts.

Plating, is like paint, a quality job is very labor intensive, and it requires a lot of prep, a lot of steps, and it's an expensive business to try to operate.

A repop part that may cost $100 may cost two to ten times as much to replate the original.
I spent over $200 restoring and plating a '63 L6 valve cover that you can buy from China for $25. It's all in what your going for.
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[TopFuel1966]

Originally Posted by Surfdaddy

What's the best shop in so cal for chrome. Bumper Boys shocked me when they said they wanted 500 each for the POS bumpers on my Squareback.

Try Keystone Plating. They repaired and replated my front bumper for $300.00. Stay as far away as you can from Bumper Boyz.

[burbluv]

Going absolutely nuts searching for a front bumper a rear bumper and grill for my 62 Burb although I already have a great powder coated set already on my burb as you can see from the pictures below. My question is can a chrome plating shop remove powder coating and rechrome all the same parts?
Thanks,
AJ

[Surfdaddy]

I'm sure they can. I think the chroming process calls for acid dipping anyway, that will remove all the paint and whatever is on the metal. Afterall, powder coating is a really durable baked on paint.

[Surfdaddy]

Yikes!!! I knew plating was going to cost a lot but HOLLY SHEEP DIP!!! I took the Hub Caps to a few platers one wanted 500 and the other (which is a lot closer) wanted 400. This included repairing a few small dents and scratches. The owner said I should buy some new ones. These are in pretty good shape other than the chrome being worn. No rust or big dents. I can't imagine how much a dented grill would cost.

[1Bad62Pro/Street]

Advanced Plating

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[Surfdaddy]

I decided to bite the bullet and just replate as much as I can. Hre are the hub caps after plating and painting. Took over a week longer than quoted and turned out ok. Not too many chrome places around any more.