I have had no luck finding a plating service in my area that is willing to take on small jobs like bumpers and radiator shroud. Is it cheaper to have these parts replated or go with new ?

I don't know where you can find good repro plated shrouds at all. Bumpers that I have seen offered are stainless, not plated. You might have to look outside your immediate area to find a good plater, particularly one with automotive restoration experience. You can always use a service like Fastenall to get your stuff there and back. I am fortunate to have a guy 60 miles away from me who does excellent work for a reasonable buck if you're willing to wait a little bit. Nice thing is he is an collector car enthusiast and knows his stuff with bright nickel plating.

PM sent for a plater here in NC

Brent Terry has a Model A & T restoration shop in Elizabethton, not far from you. He probably would know of someone who offers nickel plating. 423-335-1436

Gary
Small plating shop in Warren Michigan. Nice guys who do excellent work. Not cheap, but great work and they do it timely.

Try Victor Pirrami
21353 Edom
Warren, Mi
586 773 4366

www.blplating.com

Gary, Kenneth had a shroud plated at Knox Custom Chrome and I had numerous small parts nickel plated, it takes them a long time but they do good work and they are expensive 546-3144.

Rick

Ask for testimonials from satisfied customers. I failed to do that and it cost me. One outfit lost my parts and another did a totally incompetent job. I'm not the only one who has been burned by picking the wrong plater.

I've used this company for both motorcycle an car plating. They aren't cheap, but they do excellent work. http://gravesplating.com/

Another is Qual Krom in Erie, PA. I've worked with them personally, and with Bob Orr, the owner, for more than 25 years. Over the years they have added other facilities and are now pretty much a full restoration shop. A testament to their work is the fact that they have very recently been entrusted with the plating and restoration of a '29 Duesenberg J.

Qual Krom Great Lakes Plant
4725 Iroquois Ave.
Erie, PA 16511

The problem with finding a chrome plater is the technology used. Good old chrome as we know it is called hex chrome and is now a known carcinogen so most of the hex chrome shops have dropped the hex chrome from their offerings.

The alternative technology that is still a heavy metal but at least manageable from a safety standpoint is called trivalent chrome. Those left have mostly converted to it, but the street price is usually on the order of 4-6 times what old chrome cost.

Hex implies 6, and it’s the atoms and molecules changing to 6 and back that makes old chrome taboo. “Tri” never phase changes to a hex chain in process.

Now you know.....

I’ll add to R.V.A’s comments per QualKrom in Erie, PA. Had my ’26 radiator shell nickel plated. They did an outstanding job with the plating and cosmetic work on the shell. Was done within the estimated time frame.

QualKrom in Erie, has done both chrome and Nickel for us. The work is flawless, the price is fair, and the time frame is what they say. Great People.

Just a couple of ideas when you send or deliver parts to a plater.

Take a picture of what you are giving them and give them a copy and keep one for y0urself. Identify the parts, quantity etc. I once had a plater who was a nice guy, but his polisher mixed my coca cola machine parts with somebody else's old radio parts (or something like that) I received 10 parts back, but 4 of them were somebody else's. The other guy had the same situation. Fortunately we were able to talk by phone and sort the mess out.
Not a question of anybody stealing or cheating, just a mistake that was corrected.

Also like any other type of finishing, prep work including polishing, buffing, cleaning and racking are critical to getting a good job.

I have used Hartford Chrome Plating in Hartford, CT. They do mail order, and the quality of their work is excellent. They also do Nickel plating. I had them do the headlight rings on my '27 when I simply could not find accurate repros.

Many years ago we found a plater that did a lot of work for Harley Davidson as their main customer. They would take on about any small job to fill in between orders if you weren't in a hurry. You might be able to find a shop like that. Dave

Try certronics. In raleigh

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