The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop need more advice on plating painted bumper

Can I get an old rusty, pitted, once painted, never chromed, bumper chrome plated? I understand that the polishing step is the key to good chrome plating. Can a chrome shop "polish out" the pits? Is that a big extra expense?

Also see my second post below, please.

There's one way to find out....go to the chrome shop and ask. That old iron is pretty thick and they use a big @ss belt sander across the whole thing.

I just wondered if any "bolters" had experience. My nearest chrome shop is 2 hours away. Could pits be so deep they couldn't get them out, but would plate anyway, and end up with wavy finish? In my experience, these guys go so fast, they never ask any questions. I have had good work, but maybe just lucky most of time so far; all have been replates of a piece that was originally chromed, never tried painted. When I did want them to do better (they ground a flat spot on a nice round bumper, plated all shiny and nice, most all beautiful, but one big 7" X 1" place is now wrong shape), they said if you don't pay, we're keeping the bumper. Puts you in a tough spot if it's a hard to find piece. Not enough competition in the Cincinnat area, I guess. Any advice? Who are good, nice platers in southwest Ohio?

All I have to say about that is ..its to bad some companies are like that, I I was like that I could not sleep at night and be out of Buisness with in the year,,,that being said..the costumer is not allways right..but as an owner of a small buisness you have to be up front and truthfull to your clients.

My experiences on a few rechromed bumpers was bad, there were 2 shops local, both were crappy, one has gone out leaving the worst one still in business somehow. They do poor work(you could see the copper under the chrome all the way across, & of course they tarnished in days) & don't want to redo bad work if you complain. Hearing from others this is a common theme. Paint it.

You sound like your making a blanket statment that all chrome shops do crappy work. I don't know about you but my chrome came out perfect. You gotta find a good shop. I'm very happy with my SHINEY bumper.

There are good ones out there..and I need to find one in the denver area..Anyone ?

There you go, send your stuff to steppenwood's guy in Cali. I was just making a blanket statement that it is common for shops to do crappy work. It is definately the case around here.

The pits aren't polished out. Chrome shops use copper plating as a filler then sand it smooth, replating & resanding until the pits are full. As for finding a "good" chrome shop, I'm still looking. I've tried two and will try a third (Diversified Plating in OKC) next time.

The advice I heard for finding a good chrome shop is to ask the guys at the local Harley shop. So I did, in Tulsa. Their answer - no one here.

I use a shop in Quincy, IL on the advice of a friend who is really into Harleys. They did my grille and it came out great. Quincy is a 400 mile drive, but I think it may be worth it.

That advice is so pathetic, but so true. The great American Iron Horse is dressed out in junk chrome.

My local dealer actually showed me a letter, on HD Corporate letterhead, that specifically stated that they would not honor any chrome defects under warranty in this area, Brevard County, as it is one of the most corrosive environments in the country. Yeah right. I'm sure that every area in the country has a custom letter too. Its a real shame that the high cost ride comes with low cost junk chrome.

I've spent many a dollar having my ride re-chromed piece by piece at the local plating shop. Oh, the local HD dealer also sends their junk there also and then adds the HD mark-up.

Your source offers good advice, as bike parts are generally challenging to plate properly since they come in all shapes and sizes, and require a lot of detail work.

This site offers some good detail on the plating process for anyone interested.

Don

Sounds like you need to shop around for a better bumper, lots of swapmeets and used stuff on ebay. Don't make things ever more difficult for the plater by sending them a turd and expect diamonds.