I have a few friends who visit people in Mexico fairly often. Did some trading & had some credit coming, so I suggested having a GMC rocker done. Because I had no guarantee I'd even get it back, I picked one with a few wrinkles & some pitting. It took a year before I saw the guy again, but it was worth the wait - he returned with a beautiful, absolutely flawless rocker cover. Funny story about cheap chrome ... '56 Plymouth Suburban - one of the few cars I've had complete body & paint done. Got front seat & door panels covered as well, so I sent all the w/s & door garnish rails down to Idaho Bumper & Chrome. Drove to Boise to visit "T" Willy & turn into driveway. He walks out of the shop & starts toward the car ... "Chubbuck do your window frames ?" I ask how he could tell. "I could see the grinder marks from the road"' ...
Forgot, about 15 years ago I built a 29 highboy roadster for a customer. He wanted every piece that could be unbolted chromed. I finally ended up at a family run operation, Precision Plating in Quincy Ill. They did an excellent job. I have no idea if they're still in business. They were down by the river but I heard they built a new facility on high ground? At the time they were very reasonable. I do remember my Suburban was packed from the front seats to the back with parts.
One last thing on chrome. Driver quality parts can be found. A good alternative if you are not making a show car and will be leaving it out. Also finding sets of NOS like posted above. Might not be perfect. But does have a certain original look you cannot pay for.
The die cast pieces are a game changer as not every chrome shop would do them back in the day and you had to take them to places that would. The local to me shop that did my bumper and grill in 1981 was another of those that got shut down by the environmental clean up issues. I'm not sure what the cleanup on that cost. The owners were life time friends of my dad and uncle.
You might save some labor cost by doing the prep work yourself. I welded gouges, then ground and filed my Ford axle & 3" tube rear bumper until they were straight, then sanded them down to #400 grit. It's dirty tedious work. I took them to Waynes plating in Fredericksburg, VA, where they were triple plated (copper, nickel, chrome). The results were very good- but not flawless- for a pretty reasonable price. Sanded to #400: Chromed:
The OP couldn’t have picked a more costly material to chrome. Die cast is not done by every shop. And proper restoration of pits in die cast is a special skill that many don’t do.
Just got these back from S and H Plating, Madison Tennessee. 5 weeks and 1500 bucks. WAY better than I expected for the money. -Abone.
When you posted that pic on your build thread I was tempted to ask you how much they cost then decided that was rude and didn't. Reason for the query was I had similar items done for my 32-5 window and they cost A$1650. The 32 bits would be smaller than yours though. Also wondered why you went interstate. Same shop did the grille for the wife's 33-5 window for A$1210 which I thought was OK. Unfortunately the boss of this shop is over 70 and has the shop on the market and that is not good as it's his skill and job ethics which determine the finished job.
Okay so next question, has anybody done or used the chrome color powder coating? I know a lot of the new cars the chrome trim around the windows if you look at it real close it is actually kind of lightly foggy and it is because it is some sort of powder coating. Has anybody used this type of stuff and had decent results I mean obviously a 59 Cadillac Eldo Biarritz you wouldn't be paying it justice by faking the funk by powder coating but on a cheap seats car like a 1949 Plymouth more door the bumpers are always rusted and car isn't worth re-chroming the bumpers even if it can be made to look kind of cool so would/could powder coating be an option? Does anyone have any Chrome powder coated parts they can show off some pictures too?
I have used a spray chroming process a few times. The powder coat chrome in my opinion is not nearly reflective enough and does not legitimately mimic chrome. I had Coat of Chrome do all of my interior garnish moldings in my 61 Olds. It is a paint process, more like mirroring really, and then clear coated. It is highly reflective and will p*** for chrome at face value, especially on smaller parts. That said, naturally it does have some texture to it and to a trained eye will clearly look different that real chrome. It is subject to all of the same problems that paint will have. It can fade and chip, and for those reasons, even Don at Coat of Chrome will tell you his process is not a replacement for electroplating. But it certainly has it's place, since his turnaround is quicker and the process cheaper than plating. Here's the garnish moldings. And for reference, I also just had the grill and headlight bezels plated by Mara's in Newark, NJ. I tried to metal finish them the best I could in 400 grit, and the bezels were virtually flawless but were aluminum. They took 6 weeks to finish and the 7 bars and 2 bezels were $900. The bars are very nice and they did a great job buffing them and not showing any sand scratches, but they're not what I would call "flawless". Show quality? Yes. Ridler/AMBR quality? No.
The plastic on new cars is not powder coated it is chromed. There are processes available to chrome plate plastic.
Both @Bandit Billy and @NealinCA have a handle on it with the volume they do. They can’t price but they certainly get good results from their platers.
I am restoring some plastic license plate lights, they are “ Chromed” on the inside, the housing itself is clear. I found this product that I am considering trying, they have a clear coat to go over it, it also needs a deep black undercoat to make it reflect like chrome. There are many videos out there that show results. Might be worth a try on the air cleaners. https://spazstix.com/products/szx10009-ultimate-mirror-chrome-aerosol
Got the early estimates back, all are between $300 and $350 for each scoop. Most of you guys were right on in your estimates.
If you look closely it isn't chromed anymore, most of them look kind of foggy when you get up on top of it, I am familiar with chromed plastic it actually looks really good until the plastic shrinks and the Chrome starts wrinkling but that is a different subject. I used to have a little Nissan hardbody with that exact issue so it has always stuck in my head. The car that sticks out in my head with the cloudy chrome was my buddy got a rental car a few years ago I think it was a Chevy Malibu or a Chevy Impala and it looked really nice from 15 or 20 ft away then when you got up on it I remember the Chrome didn't look right but it was still pretty shiny just not as good as chrome. I just ***umed it was powder coating because I had been reading about it probably back in 2015 that it looked pretty good and I was hoping somebody would have some first-hand experience with chrome color powder coating, I know Eastwood sells the powder as do a few other places but I've personally never seen it where I know for sure it is powder coating.
I found their page. Like I said it looks cloudy but it looks presentable. I don't think I'd want it on a coupe DeVille Cadillac bumper but I could see it being used on a backing plate underneath a hot rod Or perhaps even on a front or rear axle ***embly https://www.eastwood.com/hotcoat-po...ickedid=629946432901&wickedsource=google&wv=4
That was an example or picture I was hoping to see. I wanted to do a bunch of the garnish molding in my model a pickup and I would say the fake Chrome looks good enough. Honestly it looks real good.
I've mentioned before about my buddy sending his tube axle to a high end plating place near Cleveland, Ohio. This axle was fully prepped, ready for plating. It was going to cost between $2000.00 and $2500.00. He ended up sending it to a place in NJ. With shipping, it was less than $800.00, and he is very pleased.
Everyone that pointed out that these scoops are die cast are correct as that is a whole different animal than re-plating steel. You are not just looking for a good chrome shop, you are looking for a good chrome shop that can strip, fill pock marks and plate die cast.
can't remember the name, a small shop on Beauman rd. between Tidwell and Berry did a lot of Harley parts for me. Call around to the low rider shops to see who does their plating
Seems chrome plating has more & more become a wealthy individuals game, I've a (6) pc. 55 Nomad fender & door trim in need of plating & the word is a reputable shop has quoted a friend's job to run in the neighborhood of $5,000. Yes, that is a (3) zero figure, but knowing the labor & process to grind pot metal zits that are in reality pits below the surface & the multiple copper fill required it shouldn't surprise us. I'm wondering if NealinCa could provide some insight as he is a regular visitor to a chrome shop with his 32 project.
That's why I decided to stay with paint on what chrome my car had. It had already been painted black, but I'm making the change to a metallic silver with a clear coat. It turns out looking a lot like powder coat. It compliments the stainless trim that is unmolested.
The Jalopy Journal
