The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop To chrome or not to chrome?

I'm not anywhere near doing this yet but should a fellow rechrome all his trim pieces or just get new replacements already done from one of our many vendors?
The trim I have is in very nice shape: door handles, good emblems, windshield trim, door trim, cab inside trim, etc.

Spend the money on all your mechanical, electrical, & hardware needs if you can live with what you've got.

The purist answer would be to re-chrome the original$ on your truck. If you have the money to do that, I don't know why you are asking for opinions. That'd be the way to go. I polished & re-painted my side emblems, because that $300 (reproduction/vendor cost) needed to be spent somewhere else. I will be buying a new hood emblem, but it is last on the priority list for me. If it had a function other than looks, it would be higher on the list.

A very reputable plating firm around here quoted me "about $700-$900" to re-chrome & re-paint my hood emblem and two fender emblems. Expense is a very subjective term; I have been told this price is a reasonable price, and I agree, but that is assuming you have the money to spend on it in the first place.

Brad

edit- I understand your question; maybe call some well-known plating shops- better yet, go to a shop with your parts. Get them to give you a ROM on re-chroming your parts so you understand why there is a reproduction market in the first place. I picked up a little Buick hood figurine from a re-chroming shop for my uncle a couple of years ago. It fit in the palm of my hand. Re-chroming that little thing cost eleven-hundred and fifty dollars ($1150.00)

...I was told not to long ago it depends on the condition of the piece".
I agree but not everyone/all people are "fair, honest and just".
Shop around.

I called 2 different places here in Utah about re-chroming my grille bars. The first came highly recommended but came back at $250-$300 per bar, the other place 75 to 100 per bar. I have no idea if one is that much better than the other or if I would even notice, but $500 for a whole new grille doesn't seem so outrageous now. YMMV

Wow.
I can't believe how extravagant prices can be for rechroming! I might have to invest in some buffing wheels and try to shine these pieces up... Or get some big troughs of acids and chemicals, solutions... Hahaha!! Joking!

Great thread guys!
I'm faced with the same challenges. Fresh paint and 55 year old trim pieces.

My thoughts are paint what can be painted like grills and bumpers and re chrome the HAVE to pieces for two reasons.

1) budget can easily be blown away by other "surprises"
2) shiny bits can be removed and re chromed anytime

I am in the middle of a frame-off restoration and can relate to your question. The cost of chrome refurbishing, as we all know, is way out there. I can only say that it depends on how much you have budgeted for your project and how originally pure you want it to be. I just picked up my bumpers from the chrome shop for a cost of $1200.00. I really had to think about spending that kind of money, however the bumpers had original GM stampings on them and decided re-chrome over re-pops. On the small stuff like door handles, window crank handles and such, I have found the re-pops to be very good quality at a low cost. Some of the re-pop stuff is getting quite good! I will be keeping the originals tucked away in safe keeping should I ever want to have them re-chromed.

Just something to keep in mind in relation to the high cost of these services, almost everything used is very highly regulated and difficult to dispose of at the end of its processing life. These costs are then passed to the customer as expected, chrome pieces from other parts of the world do not incur these same regulatory costs.

Does anyone have any info on what the price would be if the piece was already to chrome in fresh nickel? I.e. you've already nickel plated your piece and it just needs the final chrome process.