5 thousand ! Holy shit, it should be second to none, the plater should jerk you off & shove his tongue in your ear when your writing the check.
well its been a few years since I started this thread and I ended up taking my caddy headlight rings to Astro plating. Astro had them 2.5 months, they had to re-plate them 3 times and they still have bubbles in them. they lost one of my stock 53 chevy headlight rings and refused to reimburse me for it. I even took pictures of all the parts I dropped off, including the ring they lost, nothing. I will never go there again. I will not even talk about bumper boyz, do a search, no love for them here.
Wow I paid 800 bucks for front and back bumpers and the trim around my 54 Buick grill in San Antonio.
Here in Indianapolis, we have a shop that I think just about everybody goes to. I took my T-Bucket by his shop last summer for him to look at and give me ball park price on rechroming the 9" rear axel housing. After he looked at it and told me he had to strip all the old chrome off frist then rechrome it and the price would be around $3,500 +/- a hundred or two. I only gave $4,000.00 for the Bucket.
In SoCal I use Commercial metal polish in Buena Park, they do all the prep here then ship it to mexico (where theres no EPA BS) for the actual plating. I've had good luck for years with them. The only worry is if its a rare part it may not come back?
I thought I was getting raked over the coals for paying $350ea. for my front and rear bumpers on my "70" cutlass. The problem in Cali is the eco-hippies, here in Detroit they just dump the chemicals into the drinking water.
On a smaller scale, I sent a pair of DeSoto Hemi plug wire covers home with my buddy from Utah. He took them to the plater he uses (in Salt Lake City, I think) and I had them back in 2 weeks, nice chrome, $35.00 for the pair. I know larger parts dont lend themselves well to shipping, but for smaller parts, I know what Im going to do from now on..
check aerospace defense coatings, see if they still nickel plate, they do all our cad work for the plant.
its true the past few years prices here in socal have gone up. If you want pm me i have a few good places that do pot metal locally
Chrome plating prices have escalated over the years, to be sure. The cost of disposal, materials, labor, etc. have all contributed. I can appreciate all of that, but the huge fluctuation in pricing is what, makes me skeptical. And, my personal experience hasn't been just about the dollars, sometimes you feel like you are going to see the "soup guy" on Seinfeld (can you say "no soup for you"?). Don't always feel confident if you will ever see your part again, not to mention the time factor.
Hey bud, don't think I was knocking them (three years ago btw). I'll be the first to vouch for the quality and friendliness of Verne's. They even gave me a pair of t-shirts in addition to these bitchin business cards, which have gotten slightly less bitchin since I carry them in my wallet for five years.
Don't forget the knee pads and vaseline.... All kidding aside, Advanced did my intake and carbs. It wasn't cheap, but they look like pieces of jewelry and the tri power functions like a fine tuned swiss watch. With chrome plating, you will never get all three, (good, fast and cheap). You normally only get one.
If it is not too late, you might want to reconsider having your bumpers replated.... Last summer we bought a brand new rear wagon bumper for the 55 gasser. 845.00 complete shipped to my door. 3 pc bumper, with two guards, light kit and hardware. The chrome was as nice as any I have ever seen. I was really worried paying that much for a brand new chrome plated bumper site unseen, but really, the plating is as nice as any I've seen.
If you want to do it at home you can look into this. Anyone have any experience with Caswell products? http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/triple.htm
I didnt think you were knockin them at all. They are way to expensive but I keep trying to find a way to get stuff done there.
Not to keep re-hashing this old post, but I had the same jolt of reality hit me. Given a quote of $5500 to do the die cast grill and 10 3x4"x24" long pieces of stamped steel trim for the hood of my '47 Diamond T. Not happening. Thanks to some very helpful guys here on the HAMB, I was able to find a beautiful stainless grill, some of the longer trim pieces for the hood, and I'm making the rest from aluminum bar stock myself. I'll save about $5,000 bucks too.
I used a chrome shop in the heights, Houston, and they did a great job. Got my axel, wishbones. brake caliper brackets, spindles,8 small brackets for my coilovers done for 810 dollars. Best 810 I ever spent
… well to clarify things IMO, Trivalent chrome process which is really a batch dye job looks like chrome paint to me, the real chrome look is and always will be the Hexavalent process.
BornBuick, You know nothing about chrome. The batch dye you mentioned is "chromate conversion coating" used on zinc plated parts to increase their corrosion resistance. Trivalent chrome is done like any good custom plating; polish, copper plate, nickel plate and chrome. Trivalent is non hazardous so more shops are using it. Jon Wright uses trivalent and I've seen his work on the '32 B400 that won the Riddler a couple of years ago. The car and the chrome is flawless.
I can attest to the cost of chrome, even down here it is NOT cheap!! A few years ago I had the grill, bumpers / over-riders, fender spears etc and everything else done for my 46 Olds. Had to sell the ex wife to cover the costs.
"Had to sell the ex wife to cover the costs" Really, you can do that ????? Hmmmmmmmm.........................
When I built my convertible, I had some done by Advanced Plating, and Pauls Chrome Plating, both did an excellent job, very expensive though. Most of the parts were die cast which raises the cost because of fixing bubbles in the parts
Seven years after this thread was started Chrome Plating hasn't gotten any cheaper,it's a lot more expensive. I have used several company's listed and each one has done exactly what they promised but I have to say that Steve at Advanced Plating has done a better job on the severely pitted pot metal I sent him. HRP
This guy does great work on Chrome and especially Pot metal repair and the parts fit correct when they come back. A little pricey on some stuff but mostly very reasonable especially for the quality http://www.iversonautomotive.com/
Sheeez. Yep, chrome conversations get worse and worse. I had every bolt and nut on a car chromed/cad'ed/zinc'd/black phosphated in 1991 for 600 bucks.......while last year I had two NOS Ford chrome bumpers done for $700 each......and no.....they weren't yards and yards of '50's metal.....I'm talking 1970 muscle car bumpers......a literal zit on a Caddy bumper. I about crapped myself. I went with the closest/most economical......and am hoping they stand up to ten or fifteen years of garage queening.
The original comment was made in 2010. I'm not sure who Al used, but Astro Plating has done good work for me before. That being said I don't know if they are still in business. A few places in San Antonio have closed down over the past few years.
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