I'll ditto that, Doug. I lost an irreplaceable 69 GT Mustang gas cap the
same way. The shop thought they were doing a good job by grinding away all
the reliefs cast into the cap. I was heartbroken. It is not a peice that
has ever been reproduced. Again, like in Doug's case, it was very shiney,
but it was no longer original.
I had my TR4 bumpers rechromed for more than reproductions cost, but they
look great. Conversly, I choose to buy reproduction hubcaps, because they
were half the cost of quality rechroming (I got a great bargain on ebay). I
could replace them at least twice for the cost of the chroming.
Moral of the story - ask lots of questions of your chrome plater to ensure
they do it right or don't use them.
paulw
Torrance, CA
1964 TR4
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Hamilton" <douglasehamilton@shaw.ca>
To: <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2002 9:47 PM
Subject: re: chrome
| There are allot of misconceptions out there as far as chrome plating
| goes there is really only 2 types of chrome plating. Hard Chroming is
| used to build up hard bearing surfaces such as on crank shafts, and
| Bright chroming which requires a minimum of a nickel plate followed by a
| chrome plate. Triple or show chrome is a variation of bright chrome
| plating instead of just nickel and chrome, the process involve a strike
| plate of nickel followed by a heavier plate of copper then the part is
| buffed to to show shine, plated with another layer of nickel buffed
| again, and finally finished with the chrome plate. The copper functions
| as a filler coat that is easier to buff perfectly smooth. The difference
| between triple chrome and regular chrome is like the difference between
| some one painting your car from bare metal and shooting it with primer
| and paint with no other prep work or shooting it with epoxy primer, then
| primer surfacer wet sanding it until all the imperfections are gone and
| then putting the finish coat on.
| When shopping for plating shops be aware that the buffing steps are
| where most shops can destroy your parts. A highly recommended( Harley &
| Hot Rod ) plating shop destroyed my door handles and hood scoop molding
| for my 63 Fiat Cabriolet these parts had some pitting on the pot metal
| parts. The shop ground away all the pitting instead of bead blasting the
| pitting so the parts are no longer the original shape, all the detail
| lines are gone, and they don't fit on the car now, but they do have a
| beautiful triple chrome finish. The sad part is only 5,000 of these cars
| where built and of the parts they damaged the only thing I can get a
| repro of is the door handles they are the same as a Ferrari 250 so I
| can't afford the repro parts either.
| Most plating shops can do good work on bumpers and other steel parts but
| if you have any cast parts be very careful who you trst them to get some
| books on the subject(http://www.caswellplating.com/nsindex.htm) so you
| know what to ask before you give them your parts.
|
| Doug Hamilton
| 1960 Triumph TR3A
| 1963 Fiat Cabriolet
|
| >When asking for prices or just general info on rechroming it
| >> should be known
| >> if you are going concours and want triple plating, or a everyday
| >> driver and
| >> just in need of rechrome, makes for a wide range of differing
| >> prices between
| >> the two. just my .000002 "FT"
| >
| >
| >While I agree about the difference in pricing, IMO triple plating is the
| >only way to go. Chrome simply will not stick directly to steel (triple
| >plating consists of copper, nickel, then chrome), trying to take
shortcuts
| >here results in chrome that will start peeling off in just a few years.
| >
| >Also, chrome will not stick to chrome, so if a piece has already been
| >chromed, the only way to rechrome it is to strip off the old chrome.
| >
| >If you're not going to do it right, then just buff up what you have and
keep
| >it waxed or clearcoated.
|
|
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