Excuse me, this is gonna cost HOW much???

Seems about right......the chrome bill (from the "unmentionable" company) on a '41 Cadillac in our shop was upwards of $13k. Grill, rockers, hood trim, interior pieces, tail light bezels, head light bezels, etc. It's the best chrome plating I've seen in my life...

 

When you have $13K and $50K tied up in chrome-plating it had better be the best chrome you ever saw!

 

it had better be!

 

i'd shat myself if I heard that price quote. I had no idea chroming cost that much.

 

Might want to check for a chrome shop north of the border (CANADA). Don't have a card or address but the names that come to mind are Fraser Valley Plating and Alberta Plating. Prices seemed to be a lot more reasonable a few years back and their work was excellent. Hopefully they're both still in business.

 

I got quoted $120 to do three heater door vents from an old heater the other day. Each door is about 2"x6" with decent old chrome on them already. Going to check with my powdercoater today to see if he can help.

Flyinbrian, $5K wouldn't be an option for me either. I'd be forced to paint, polish, or powder those pieces.

Thankfully, 99 times out of 100, Bob Drake & Dennis Carpenter have all the chrome pieces I need.

JH

 

Hey Brian;
was going to tell you to contact this one man shop south of Fort Wayne,
Indiana. Couldn't find his card and this is what a Google earth search
found. Too Late!
Bill.

 

I agree with Josh. There is a lot of work involved.

Plating is just like painting , the quality of the job is in the preparation. It amazes me how many people think they are getting ripped off by the plater. Maybe its that they just are not aware of what is actually involved ? Its not until you sit beside a skilled craftsperson and watch the amount of skill ,effort and time that go into the process that you truely understand why things cost what they do. Over the years I have tried several platers and even resorted to having them copper plate and our staff work the part down to the final steps ,only to have the plater ruin the job by not monotoring the chrome process correctly. ( Fuzzy edges , ect). From here on in there is oly on shop I will take my plating to, and yes I have asked him if he takes the first born in trade ?

It boils down to what you want as a finished part and what your willing to pay. Just dont expect the high end product for the low end cost.

 

We have rather large plating bills here. I'm not impressed by some of the "high dollar" plating shops I've seen. The same old too much copper thing still happens. But that brings up what I think you should do. 1st find a shop that does aluminum or diecast without melting it. Some shops don't use copper any longer and they don't have the ability to do diecast. Clean your diecast really good, find all the big holes or pits, then very lightly drill into them without going through, then have it copper plated. Get it back and sand and polish it like you were doing a cut n buff on a paint finish. Any holes you drilled you now need to use low-temp siver solder and fill em in and sand down like doing small putty repairs. Once done you can get 1 more copper plate and polish it to your standards. Make it all pretty and shiney and send it back for plating. The thing with diecast is that it takes hours to repair the right way. The more hours a project is obviously the more $$$$ it costs. You also will have the ability to test fit your stuff before plating to make sure things go back together as designed vs having to grind chrome off to build your parts. Works for me. You'll have hours in it but you'll spend those instead of green-backs. The steel stuff is easy. Same gig, no "pot holes", skip copper and polish the nickel. The non-copper shops do grey nickel (soft), bright nickel, then chrome but the solutions will dissolve diecast. We can keep this going guys...I'll bet a shit load of us can't afford full chrome service. Whose next with good ideas?

 

Something I'd like to mention; pot metal sometimes does'nt survive the plating (or maybe it's the stripping) procass. This isn't such a big deal on something that is easily replaced, but I'd be afraid to send that grille off! Consider doing another process to the grille and see how much it'd be to plate the rest.

 

Prep work is a large cost of plating, even in these days of high environmental cost. Try prepping the stuff to within an inch of its life and get an estimate on plating with no additional prep work. If you don't like that number, your ready for some type of home brewed finish. The guy will prolly insist on no guarantee on the quality of the finished product.

If you can't do the prep, don't complain about paying someone who can.
Bill

 

That's the best powder coat chrome I've ever seen, period.

 

It's not cheap these days...that's for sure...I used a place in New England called NuChromefor a hood ornament and some taillight bezels and odds and ends...they were slow but the quality seems pretty good considering how pitted the stuff was when I sent it in...they did a 3 piece DeSoto hood ornament/scoop for 380 bux...they did two 1954 plymouth taillight bezels/housings for 225...they are hold to get ahold of but ultimately it was worth it...

 

couple ideas here brian; American truck Historical society puts out a monthly magazine... has want ads and for sale ads...maybe try locating pieces that would be better than yours?...www.aths.org ; the other dumb idea.... a few years ago I had a an opportunity (?) to buy a chroming outfit for small parts from a fella that made fishing lures...didn't buy it,but....how hard is it to set up our own small chroming outfit??? under $ 5,000...I should hope so, ain't rocket science....Getting to the point of..If we can't do it all and ain't got deep pockets, we can't afford our hobby, huh??

 

If you want to get another opinion, you can try Custom Plating Specialists in Brillion, WI, just send the same pictures you sent to the other guy to tmeetz@AOL.com Certainly doesn't hurt to shop around a bit.

I would strongly advise you NOT to start prepping anything yourself until you've talked to a shop who will do the plating, as many shops do not want the parts tampered with before they get them. You could be adding even more cost to the bill that way. You're better off to talk to the company that's doing the work, tell them you're on a budget and see what kinds of options they have for you.

I'm not fond of the spray-on chrome unless you're doing something that couldn't be plated otherwise, like a fiberglass part. I say that because it takes a ton of prep work and the surface has to be basically perfect for stuff like Alsa or Spectrachrome to look right.

 

Hey, Michigan here also. If it's the same place, way south of us, they wanted $600 EACH to chrome some Y-Block Ford Valve Covers. It would take 4 months to get them back also. There is a place located in Sterling Heights or Warren that would do them for $250 for the pair. It would take him 2 months. I've never seen his work though. I have the number at home, I'll PM it to you later.

 

or he could polish it and then have a high gloss clear powder done.

 

B&L Plating in Warren charged me $600 for a 65 GTO Frt bumper, while Finney quoted my buddy $1100 & 6 months for his.

Crack is less expensive.

 

the powdered chrome does look awesome by itself, but alas, it doesnt weather well at all, water spots etc etc. especially with a small fuel spill its gone in a blink. Soooooo, that being said, you can do the chrome powder, but you have to use a high gloss clear over the top to seal it, the bad thing is the clear dulls the bright shine you see in the pictures to a highly polished aluminum look.
I've played with tons and tons of powdered chromes an just my observations with all the brands available.

 

I'm no plater so I can't really comment on that part, but I sometimes get that same kind of reaction when asked to quote engineering jobs. It might look simple on the surface, but when you add it up, there may be as much as 50-75 hours in that job, plus materials. I can see where you could get a quote for $5k.

But I bet they're hedging a bit on the high side. I would if all I had to work from were photos. You have to be a little cautious if you haven't seen the work in person. If the stuff were right in front of him, you might get a better (or worse) number depending on the actual condition of the part.

 

i didn't care for the quotes i was getting stateside,so i sent my 30 chevy parts to australia. that was 4 years ago,but was cheaper than here. the shipping was a bit much but that wasn't the aussies fault. do a google search,there are a lot of platers over there.

 

are you sure that price quote wasnt for plating the entire vehicle EXCEPT the grill etc?
a handful of chrome costs more than the car?

 

[SIZE=+1]Manufacturas y Acabados de Metales[/SIZE] &#8226; Juan Monrreal &#8226; 5 De Febrero # 525 Col. Esperanza &#8226; Nogales, Sonora, Mexico &#8226; 631-31-3-89-86 <SMALL>- Contact us for chrome plating service.</SMALL>

 

Getting a quote on chrome is like getting a quote on paint. There is no such thing as simply getting something "chromed" as the difference is quality depending on the amount of prep work can be limitless. They probably quoted you their top end job. The suggestions to do your own prep were good as it will save you money and you will get the job to the level of your prep work.

 

I am guessing if this is a top end chrome shop they are not going to allow him to do his own prep work and get a job to that level. In the end it is still their name on the work and they are not going to let half assed work out the door when their reputaion is at stake.

 

Yeah, I was going to point that out too. Same as with paint. A good painter won't paint over your prep work because of when it looks like crap and people ask who did the paint.

 

I'm well aware of how much prep is involved, and that like paint, it's the prep work, repairing pits, cutting the copper, polishing, buffing etc, not the two or three molocule thick layer of chrome over the nickle that makes it expensive. Still, that amount to prep the grill and other parts doesn't seem like it'd take as much prep as say, my time to prep and paint the entire truck sheet metal. I guess what surprised me the most was how out of touch I was about the cost involved. It'd have made me think twice about buying the truck in the first place, if I'd thought it'd cost that much to do the plating. No wonder "patina" is in. I'm rethinking my attitude towards tractor enamel on hot rods. I don't know how to plate something, other guys don't know how to paint stuff, so I guess it all equals out!

I'm seriously considering making (if I can't find some original) stainless hood trims. The photos of the chrome powder coat look good in photos, I've seen spectra chrome finish in person and was impressed, and I can always just leave the die cast and polish it up, so I do have options. Do more with less...

Brian

 

Adams Plating in Lansing did some work for me a couple of times and I'm sure the price has gone up but it might be worth checking with them. Like many others have said the prep work is what takes the time and money. Also Jake Moomey from the Grand Rapids area has that bright green 54 Chevy that is in current issues of World of Rods and Street Rodder. He had his back bumper and some other parts painted with Cosmic Chrome. Essex Customs did the work. I've seen the car a few times and the parts look pretty good. Some of the pieces look like old chrome, not the highest shine but pretty hard to tell it's not real chrome. Might cost a bit but I'd bet it wouldn't cost $5000.
Google Essex Customs they have a web site and are in the Grand Rapids area.
Red

 

Jakes car is the one I saw with the very impressive paint finish on the chrome. I'm sure I can do that too. It's a little "softer" appearance than chrome, which would actually look good on a truck. My hood ornament may well be beyond saving, it's seriously pitted, so I know that was a big factor in the online quote.

Brian