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Is there any kind of cost estimator for chrome plating? Any useful articles on this subject?

Well, when I had the front chrome ie, bumper, entire grill, hood ornament, and the entire back bumper, tail light surrounds, and other misc., parts rechromed on a 1953 Clipper in 2009, in Los Angeles, CA., it came to just under $4000.00 dollars. Cost depends on the damage that must be repaired before they can re-chrome, (pounding out dents, straightening, filling in deep pits, rust removal, polishing, etc.). I took pictures of the individual parts, emailed them to the re-plater and got an "approximate" (his words, not mine) cost. That will give you a ball park figure. Nothing is for sure until the plater has the parts in hand and they have been inspected. Try and deal locally to avoid shipping costs and to insure redress if something is not to your liking. When I am not sure of a re-platers ability, or it's my first time to use them, I take a smaller piece to have it chromed and go from there. Most all rechroming consists of 3 separate coast of metal........base of copper, layer of nickle, layer of chrome.

So, proper metal preparation, no dings, pits, flaws, then polished and prepared to coat. In my opinion, I'm not sure if those advertising "triple chrome", or "concourse quality chrome", etc., are hyping the quality of their work and perhaps overcharging for their service. So, that having been said, have a clear understanding of what you want, talk in depth to the vendor, get recommendations from fellow enthusiasts, take a small part to validate their work, take out a small loan and spend the rest of your time polishing that chrome to preserve it. I have never done any chrome or prep work. If somebody notices an error in my statement please let me know and I'll make the changes. Hope this helps.

Steve Fisher
Packardguy53
Old cars are my passion

You are the guide. Call local plater,describe part and condition and ask for a quote. Better yet, remove part or drive car to plater for a visual inspection then get quote. Alternative would be send a photo and description asking for a quote via e-mail or pony express!!

And on V8 pot metal grill front & side pieces be prepared for the phone call telling you they removed the old plating and discovered the start of some stress cracking. They can plate again but won't guarantee the piece won't crack more. Do you want to find a better piece or have them try to repair or reinforce it at extra cost and again with no guarantee of success.

Way to go Howard,(HH) now Pat's (patgreen) going to go buy some silver paint and forget the chrome altogether.

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What can I say. The boy scouts have it right in their motto though--been there. I swear that Conner avenue used the pot metal grill pieces to pull and align or hold the fenders and front end together on many of those cars.

Dear Pat:

Chrome plating is like artwork. There is a lot of so called art that is junk. I think your best bet is to go to car shows and look for what you like then ask who did the chrome and how much it cost.

Sending sample parts as mentioned is also a good idea. I haven't run into anybody in old cars that is nasty enough to give referral to a bad plating shop.

Chrome plating is also regional due to enviromental considerations.

At one time I was looking to doing chrome substitutes. There are a lot of people who simply can't afford all this high dollar chrome. But as usual everybody thought I was a nut so I put the idea away in a box.

I recently saw a re-run of a "My Classic Car" show where they were visiting Jay Leno's garage. Jay was showing some new ways to restore and maintain old vehicles using recently developed technology. One of the scenes showed him talking about a way to duplicate chrome plating with a liquid that is poured over the item. It looked like chrome from the way it was shown. Something to consider.

(o[]o)

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I did some research on that spray on "chrome" Basically it's a silver nitrate solution then washed with sodium hydroxide leaving just the silver. From what I hear it's not overly durable and turns a gold color when the needed top coat is applied. Also the equipment and materials are quite expensive.

Spent some time on the web last few days and did discover some price sheets, which were interesting.... None (that I saw) had any Packard specifics....

Be interesting to know who actually does the work and who is just brokering it......

What I should be asking (probably) is who offers the best value, since I am not headed for pebble beach.

Most outfits claim perfection or better; I'm more interested in a very good job that's reasonable....