I need to get my bumpers, pot metal grill, and mustache bar plated on my 49 Buick. Tell me your experience with the local platers around Minneapolis and St Paul MN area.
The last bumpers I had plated were done by allied plating (almost 30years ago). they are long since out of business. All of the stuff for the futurian and outlaw I did my own polishing and used a plater near where I worked (they did store fixtures etc and didn't do polishing) Any pot metal and aluminum that I needed to plate got sent to AIH custom chrome in Dubuque Iowa, they do fantastic work there
With pot metal the biggest issue is how it seems to corrode from within, this is why many shops won't touch it because of the fill work required prior to plating, most people aren't willing to pay for this level of work. A lot of shops can try to buff out the bad spots but it usually ends up altering the original countour lines.
I had the bumpers on my Cyclone done at North Star Plating which is near you. They did an outstanding job on them and the price was reasonable. I highly recommend them. Jim https://www.northstarplating.com/
A couple of years ago, I had some stuff plated at "North Star Plating" in Brainerd, MN. They were good to deal with, and the price didn't break the bank. They are mainly a place that does a large number of bumpers and use the "Custom Car Stuff" as a fill in, though they do realize that it is a significant part of their business. This means their turn around time is quite slow. I drop my stuff off in November on my way to Florida, and it was ready to be picked up in May when I came back, so that works for me. I would recommend them from my experience. Check out their website. I will mention that pot metal is very expensive where ever you have it done. I wanted to do the trim piece on the light housing on the trunk of my '51 Ford. Mine was not broken or blistered, the chrome was just worn through in a couple of places. The gave me an estimate of $700. Luckily, C&G had a sales on re-pops for $189.95. I took a chance and it was very high quality and fit fine.
I just checked their website, and it says "They no longer do pot metal". It does show nice examples of the automotive work they do, so they are not just doing bumpers. Looks like you're stuck with some place like "Paul's". Prepare to open your wallet WIDE.
Where I work we have stuff there, for months, they keep saying next week which never comes. Know of someone who has stuff at JR's for over a year. He made the mistake of paying in advance.
North Star is the place to go for bumpers. I've had several sets done there with great results. https://www.northstarplating.com They only do bumpers and bumper parts. I've had other parts chromed at Deters in the past, but I'm not sure he does chroming any more - his website indicates they just do polishing now. https://deterscustomfinishing.com I haven't used them but a friend swears by JR's - I don't know if he's had slow turnaround or not.
I sold a guy from Canada the side grilles from a Stude Hawk, he had me send them to North Start plating, they were going to replate them and I guess he'd come down from Candada to get them. Wasn't the first time this guy had sent items to them.
The OP is in Minnesota so delivery/pickup shouldn't be an issue, but I believe for people living elsewhere you can drop off and pick up bumpers at your local LKQ shop and they'll take care of shipping to and from North Star's shop. However, as mentioned they only do bumpers now.
Where did you get this information? Have you looked at their Website lately? Unless something has changed very recently, this is an incorrect statement. Here is a direct quote from their website, taken 30 seconds ago : "Here at North Star, if you need it plated, we can probably plate it. We offer chrome plating for bumpers, trim pieces, and just about any other steel, br***, or zinc/potmetal part you might need." They have added the "pot metal disclaimer" recently, though.
https://www.northstarplating.com/ ATTENTION, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY 11-16-2020 WE WERE INFORMED BY OUR CORPORATE OFFICE THAT OUR COMPANY NORTH STAR PLATING WILL NO LONGER PLATE "NON BUMPER" PARTS, I.E. TRIMS, HOOD ORNAMENTS, POT METAL ETC... PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS CHANGE MEANS THAT WE CAN NO LONGER ACCEPT IN THIS TYPE OF PRODUCT OR BEGIN ANY WORK THAT IS NOW CURRENTLY AT OUR FACILITY STAGED FOR WORKING, BUT HAS YET STARTED THE PLATING PROCESSES. ALL SUCH WORK WILL BE RETURNED UNDONE. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE DISRUPTION THIS WILL CAUSED YOU.
They did - it's on the very first page - you can't miss it. yes - they need to remove previous pictures of that type of work.
I must have had an old copy of their Home Page in cache, as it wasn't there when I looked last night. Nevertheless, the loss of a valuable resource for me.
I will 2nd JR's. They did a great job on all the pot metal on this old girl, and alot of the pot metal was swiss cheese when I brought it in. I brought the bumpers to another shop to save some coin. Within 2 years, the chrome was flaking around the bolt holes on the front bumper.
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