looking for recommendation for Chroming service in NJ

[Pinder]

High everyone. Well my car did not sell on BAT. it got to 84K USD. So now I am going to further work on the items that it is weak on. Such  as chrome. Any recommendations for a Chroming service in NJ? im in Edison NJ

thanks

Pinder

[mdsalemi]

Asbury Park:
https://superchromenj.com/

Quite a gallery. They did the chrome on Tucker #48, the “most awarded Tucker”. The owner of Tucker 48 publishes a newsletter called the Vanderbilt Cup News, he should be pretty easy to get a hold of and speak with about how it was to deal with super chrome.

https://triple-chrome-plating-ron-monte.hub.biz/

No apparent website but a couple of good reviews.

Both worth a call and reference check. I have no experience with any of these guys but you asked for people in New Jersey. Here are two.

If you haven’t had pieces chrome plated before be prepared to be shocked. It’s probably going to be considerably more costly than you’re imagining, and it’s going to take longer as well. It’s very labor-intensive on custom parts.

And yes both of these places specialize in chrome for show cars. If you approach the project with “well that’s so expensive I don’t need show chrome” you’ll probably need an adjustment in your thinking. There aren’t different levels of chrome plating in the custom world and you can’t pick and choose. You can’t ask a custom chrome plater to downgrade his service because you think it’s too expensive.

Another suggestion is to familiarize yourself with the processes. First, do they do any repair if needed? If not you’ll have to sort that out first. Then some platers have different strategies with the number of copper or nickel strikes they do before they plate and finish the chrome. Again, it’s worth a discussion with these guys to see how they do it.

[Pinder]

Thank you for the references. Ive already prepared my self for sticker shock. Ive done some polishing and metal straightening at home and it is an incredibly time intensive process. I can impage the base metal needs to be straightened and conditioned to a high level before chrome.

[Cees Klumper]

Something really changed over the years with cost of chroming. I am always reminded of my only experience having my (used) Yamaha motorcycle parts chromed back in 1977.
I had them chrome:
- both of the wheels' individual spokes
- two side covers
- the side stand (several pieces incl spring)
- front light housing
- two brackets that hold the front light
- air filter housing and side caps
- chain protector (kind of a big piece)
- probably some additional pieces I am forgetting about now.
The platers took two weeks as I recall, and the cost was $25. Everything came out looking perfect and stayed that way for the few years I had that bike. This was in The Netherlands. Maybe wages at that time were just extremely low.

[mdsalemi]

Something really changed over the years with cost of chroming.

Well one thing is it’s 45 years later! What hasn’t changed?

You were using Guilders not Euros, and could change money to and from Marks, Dollars, Francs, Guilders etc at any train station or the thousands of “Wechsels” across the continent. Now every government thinks cash is the root cause of every world Ill through money laundering, and good luck finding a place to change money. A dollar has about 20% of the purchasing power of one in 1977.

I don’t know what the price of chromium was in 1977 but it’s at an all-time high today. Remember you need copper and nickel as well. The chromium and nickel components at least are key ingredients in Stainless Steel.

Taking advantage of a favorable exchange rate when I restored my car more than 20 years ago, the bumpers cost about USD $1,000+ to plate in Canada.

[Mike Hughes]

While on the subject of re-chroming, if your chrome work is not dented or scarred up, I would like to put a plug in for doing a really thorough cleaning and polishing first.

I am in the process of finally finishing the restoration of my '37 M.G. TA and one of the old guys who does engine work at the restoration shop that is helping me put it together handed me a tin of Nevr-Dull Wadding Polish when he saw me struggling to clean up some of the unique-to-this-car 70+ year-old chrome bits that came with the basket case.  Some elbow grease and wadding polish made short work of what had seemed an impossible job.

It can be found on-line from many vendors, so I replaced his tin and got another one for myself.  I have no connection with the product, just thought it might be of interest.

Here is a photo of an M.G. TF grille shell I picked up at a flea market some years ago and worked on for an hour or so before making lunch today to demonstrate before and after.

[mdsalemi]

...handed me a tin of Nevr-Dull Wadding Polish...

I have purchased this kind of product (basically some kind of oily cotton) a couple of times and it works great at cleaning up pitted chrome and otherwise dull metals. It's not too costly either and you can find it at any auto parts store, sometimes with different names but it's basically the same stuff. I use it on bicycles and other household uses besides the Pagoda.

What I would add is also, is  following this up with a real polish with that blue chrome cream metal polish. Thankfully it too isn't that expensive. A little goes a long way--and you'll find it in the same aisle at the store.

There's a bit of elbow grease involved but way less costly than re-chroming.

[Pinder]

this is worth a try. 

For the bumpers and dented outer chrome grill I ordered new ones. But for other parts I can try this.