Scott (Scoot),
If you take some time and
visit a place that rechromes automotive parts like bumpers, you'll understand why a request for "good but not great" (my words) is not realistic policy to adapt. I used three different chrome platers in my restoration, and one of them was local. I spent some time with them, saw their work, saw their equipment and employees and got an appreciation for the entire process by watching it being done. This was at
B&L Plating in Warren MI.
http://www.blplating.com They seem to be focused today on prototype plating for auto show cars and mock ups, but at the time I went to them, their web page and shop was full of parts from hot rods and other kinds of personally owned (as opposed to company owned) vehicles. B&L was the original production plater for the massive chrome bumpers on Freightliner semi trucks prior to Freightliner setting up their own plating line in Tennessee. B&L did most of my interior chrome, and odds and ends neglected until the last minute.
There is a false rumor--totally false--that you can't do chrome (or cadmium or whatever) plating in California due to environmental regulations. Nonsense. In 2 minutes time I found these guys--how many can you find if you put your mind to it? I also found a couple w/o websites.
http://www.stevesplating.com/ihttp://www.californiaplating.com/http://www.verneschromeplating.com/When it comes to rechroming a bumper, a bumper is a bumper is a bumper. It doesn't matter if it comes from a 1968 Mercedes, a 1965 Jaguar, or a 1957 Chevy. It is mostly the size and condition that matter. Most of these places LOVE to show before/after photos and many have showrooms, too. It would be nice--and perfect for people trying to do elaborate things on limited budgets, if the entire decorative and restoration chrome business (that's what we are talking about) could categorize "quality", correlate that quality with "price", and put it on a menu scale of 1 to 10, with "10" being a Graves, and "1" being the guys in the garage in Mexico. Go and see how the process is done, talk to the people that do the plating and you'll see why that this is impossible. If you check 3, 4 places for chrome prices you'll probably find that they are ALL more than you want to spend. Some tend to assign this to the category of "rip-off" or overcharging, but it is more accurately unrealisitic expectations. "Bad" chrome is expensive. "Good" chrome even more so.
Most places that do chrome plating have a certain quality standard based upon the equipment they have; the personnel they have to do the work; and their reputation. You can't ask Bumper Boyz (just as an example) to "upgrade" their service to produce a bumper that will win at Pebble Beach. Conversely, you can't ask Graves Plating in Alabama
http://www.gravesplating.com/ to downgrade their quality to simply accomodate one's pricing needs.
There's another place in Warren, MI, that does chrome but actually specializes in the
restoration of pot-metal castings http://www.fini-finish.com/ This place was a hoot. The guy who owned it must have had many years of dealing with what became, to him, stupid and inane questions, such as "Why does it cost so much?" and "How do you do it?" and "Can I do this----" and whatever. So, the guy PAINTED
huge signs
ALL over the outside of his building, with these "FAQ'S" about chrome plating and pot metal restoration. All you had to do to have your questions answered was walk around the building and read! Me? I read all this stuff and went around the corner to B&L.
At the time I did my bumpers, the Canadian dollar was low, the US dollar high, and thus the exchange rate favorable. It still cost over USD $1,000 to repair and rechrome ALL the bumper parts, and that was
ten years ago. I don't actually know who did the plating, but I hauled the bumper parts across the river to Windsor, ON, and took them to this hole in the wall shop called
International Bumper Exchange, and this older Italian guy repaired the bumpers by hand using mallets, hammers, and a rubber table. He preceded the repair by removing the chrome in a barrel of acid. When he did his work, he sent the bumpers out to a place either in London or Toronto and they did the rechroming. Took about 3-4 weeks. My chrome is very nice on the bumpers, but is probably a step down from what I would have received at Graves or B&L. I did not specify any thickness or anything--I assumed they knew what they were doing and they did come through. Bumpers were repaired perfectly--all the little dents and dings were gone. I believe it would have been at least $1,400 or more at Graves at that time.
bpossel gave you his experience with the bumpers from K&K. I bet that Tim or Cheryl at K&K would even discuss technical issues on them if you so chose.
I believe their repro bumper parts (two parts front, two parts back) are about $250 each. Do the math, make some calls, and you'll see that it is unlikely you will be able to have your bumpers replated in a comparable quality for that. Had such bumpers been available at that price, 10 years ago, I probably would have elected to buy them instead of rechrome mine. But, the only source was OEM and they were a bit more costly. In fact that little stainless steel strip that covers the joint between the front bumpers was about USD $100 at that time. K&K makes a repro for half that today. The OEM is now about $130.
Scoot/Scott--this is
not my first posting on plating. Every part on my car that had a chrome plating (or a cadmium plating) was either replated or replaced. The restoration took some time and not all decisions were made at the same time, thus the use of different vendors. Graves was the choice of the restorer; I had a lot of plating done at Graves, and at B&L. Both were excellent. You will need to send material out for a quote, however--but let me make it clear that these are simply two vendors. There are dozens more all around the country that have a lot of experience and a lot of satisfied customers.
I bet Dan Caron (Dr. Benz) could speak to chrome plating in the London/Toronto area, too. But there are enough places in your own backyard and enough demand in SoCal that you can have good work done locally. I turned it into a fun excercise, and I'm sure you can too.
