Chrome plating

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

Can anyone recommend a good chrome plating company that they have experience of? The chesegrater grill and split bumpers on my lowlight are going to need rechroming as the plating is mostly worn away.

I expect this is going to be pretty expensive, has anyone got a rough idea of what is reasonable to pay?

Cheers
Dave

[kennatt]

if you find a reasonably priced one let us know because after 7months my boot and bonnet after market hinges have started to show signs of pitting. It seems that the only way to get good chroming is to use the original brass base , not the crap that we are being fed,and have the originals re plated. Just waiting for my front and rear bumper blades to start,about 5 months old now.Also watching all the other chrome bits that I replaced. Haven't got round to looking at the warrante situation . NOT YET

[IaininTenbury]

Derby Plating come recommended by many people in the old car world, though I've never used them. I've used Prestige Plating, near Barnsley in the past. The sunvisor trims I had done have started rusting, though they have been outside for ten years with little attention, so I suppose thats pretty good really!
I'd certainly use original stuff and have it plated if possible. Some of the repro items around these days are very iffy. My record is headlamp rims that lasted less than 6 months

[motherofgod]

Hi David,

The grill is not chromed, I've just cleaned mine, stainless steel cleaner and it came up brilliant, photo's will be comin soon!

James

[IaininTenbury]

Sounds unusual! Mines chrome for sure, because the plating has worn off and you can see the brass underneath. Look forward to seeing the pics.

Regarding prices, I've not had any done for a while yet, but a rear 1/4 bumper for a Marina van cost me about £30 about 3 years ago. I'd guess lowlight bumper 'halves' would be similar. No idea about a grill, as I'd imagine it to be a long winded job to polish up and prep...

[LouiseM]

There's a chrome cheesegrater grill for sale on e-bay at the moment which looks to be in pretty good condition:


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MORRIS-MINOR-CHRO ... dZViewItem

[Robins]

I had all mine done on my van by 'Doug Taylor' he was recomended to me. Cost a fortune and with in a year it was starting to peal off and go pitted! you have been warned. Re-chroming is not something I would have done again, it's just not got the strength anymore due to weak chemicals I suppose. You could send it to America, they chrome everything over there, and it's nice stuff aswell.

[motherofgod]

This is what mine looks like,
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b240/ ... /grill.jpg

James

[neiltomlinson]

hi all for my experience the parts must be very clean & totaly rust free if not the plating will flake off etc

.old zinc [[monkey metal ]] is very hard to get good adhesion you are better off to buy new & have these replated
..
for the best results ask the plater to copper plate the items first eg zinc brass steel alum the more copper you put on the better for protection in the weather neil

[Robins]

Just to extend and clarify what happened in my experiance after neils view. I had all my original chrome parts ( that were on the van from new) replated as they were not that bad and thought they would be better than new repo stuff. I was told they would all be acid dipped, then thoroughly cleaned, polished, then double coppered, nickled, and then chromed. They did look real nice when I picked them up. But when you take in to consideration my van is allways kept under cover, doesn't go out in 'weather' and only did about 300 miles anyway over the year. There is not a single part that doesn't have pits in. It's the grill surround (the ali ring) that is flaking. The puzzling bit is the flakes don't have a copper colour on the back, so was it just very poor workmanship missing some stages. That is the very reason I do everything myself if I can.

[alex_holden]

I just gave Fenchurch a wash and noticed some of the new chrome parts are pitting already. They've only been on the road six months.

[aupickup]

i seriuosly beleive we have an issue of goods not suited for the purpose

[dunketh]

My chrome is pitted like crazy. Thing is, its got to a point where it doesnt seem to get any worse and is fine at a distance.
The chrome coating only serves to 'look nice' so at replacement prices it'll proably never get replaced.
Why, if new parts are so rubbish, are they still so expensive?
£50 odd pound for a light base? No thanks, I've got a mortgage to pay!

[Johnno]

MMMMMMMMMMMM,mines painted and has been for years.Should it be chrome?Its a "52 mm.

[jackkelleher]

All those kind of trim parts are chromed... Unless I'm very much mistaken that applies back to '52.
I have new hinges, and they went west after maybe three months, probably precipitated by a week or rain when we went on holiday and forgot the garage the old girl
Is it possible to rechrome the bonnet mascot? On mine the "M" bit seems removable, so I suppose it is- but then, is it still possible somewhere to get the "M" re-enameled? I have about four bonnet mascots spare, on two of them the enamel is very badly chipped but the chromework good, on the others there isn't any enamel as they're new. But they look no good without red around the M!

[alex_holden]

I have new hinges, and they went west after maybe three months, probably precipitated by a week or rain when we went on holiday and forgot the garage the old girl

Good quality chrome really should last much longer than three months outside.

[neiltomlinson]

[quote]Good quality chrome really should last much longer than three months outside.

yes you are right it does we rechrome old parts for old bentleys .rolls-royce the rads etc these come in to use in a bad state some parts have hole in them these are repaired then put hours & hours off copper these last for years we do new parts for aston martin & bentley these are new parts in alum we put on 12--24 hours copper first this is very important it don't just give it protection in the weather it also fills in any holes which you get in some metals eg alum zinc etc if you only put on nickel this will not last long at all

just to make a point some of you know i did the chrome on marmite this was all old parts which i redid this has been out side in all weathers snow rain etc for the past 3 years still looks like new neil

so what i say its the prep that makes the difference with any thing painting cars chrome parts etc

[Robins]

Very interesting Neil. So it's not quality of fluids I suppose you call them, but how long each peice is in the tank then? or more importantly how long it's in the copper.
Trouble is when paying someone else to do something all you can do is trust they will do the job they say they will.
Why does Doug Taylor advertise 'double copper' before the nickle and chrome instead of just doing it properly like you do and leave it in the tank for longer? what does he achieve? I wouldn't have minded paying double if it was going to actually last 30 years like the original stuff.
It's very disheartening to build a vehicle like my van and within a year go to a show and the first thing people look at is pealing chrome, not the shiney paint or the hard work thats been put in to building the car, but the one thing I trusted someone else to do.
Does the company you work for Neil, take on work from individuals like us of just companys?

[IaininTenbury]

I have new hinges, and they went west after maybe three months, probably precipitated by a week or rain when we went on holiday and forgot the garage the old girl

Good quality chrome really should last much longer than three months outside.

I've got a new record A new side light unit that was fitted on a car for the NEC show in November is now rusting on the chrome bezel 2 months later! Yes it's lived outside but even so... I'll be replacing them both with good secondhand ones, working on the theory that if its lasted 40 years, it'll be ok for a few more.

[Orkney]

Thats pretty poor,, reckon it would last a week here then