The High Cost of Chrome!!-UPDATE

[johnregrus]

I recently shipped the four saddle moldings from a 56 Cadillac Biarritz that I am restoring to a well respected plating shop in Pennsylvania to have them refinished.

I don't think I've ever seen saddle molding cores in better condition. These moldings show only a couple of specks of light pitting on each piece. Three of the moldings are original Cadillac parts and are near pristine condition. They were removed from the car in 1980 by someone who stated the restoration and then they were always stored in heated building as the restoration stalled.

The fourth saddle molding was lost over time and was missing when I purchased the car from an estate. Rather than purchase an overpriced pitted junk molding I found offered for sale I decided to have that rear quarter molding recreated by making a 3D scanned image of the opposite drivers side moulding I already had. I then 3D printed a mirror image of it in plastic to create a mould for the passenger side. This 3D printed plastic molding was then used to sand cast the piece using a zinc/aluminium metal alloy.

I originally had intended to metal print the missing molding by using a 3D metal printer but the saddle moulding is 20" long and I could not find a commercial business in North America with a metal printer capable of printing a part that length. A fellow in the 3D printing business told me a few companies like Boeing and GM do have metal printers capable of doing the job but they do not do outside projects. Apparently there are companies in Germany that can 3D print the part in metal but I didn't pursue that avenue due to the language barrier.

Attached is a photo that shows the four moldings as well as the $3,250.00 quote that the plating shop wants to have these four moldings refinished. The molding in the photo numbered "4" is the molding I had sand cast.

I've also attached a close up photo of the original molding next to the one I had cast. The cast one is the shiny one. The dull one is the original Cadillac molding that was stripped of the chrome so that the 3D scanner could pickup the detail better.

My sticker shock at the price quoted would be an understatement! I would hate to see what pitted moldings would have cost to restore.

Even with deep pockets a 56 Biarritz concours restoration is not a restoration project for someone who may be concerned what the final cost will end up being. 

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Having "been there / done that" you have my sympathy.

Those are the 4 most difficult pieces on the car to do.  They are also the most
expensive.

I had to get mine done twice, since the first attempt by a well known plating
shop was not very good.  One common error is that the shop will polish out all of
the detail on the pieces in an attempt to remove the tiny pits.  This leaves you with
4 rather ugly slabs of chrome with no definition -- the fine grooves / ribs are gone.

With mine each piece needed quite a bit of machine work to get the moldings
back to their original "look".  All of the narrow grooves had to be recut.  Then the
second plating shop put the finishing touches on with a superb plating job.

On the Eldorado's of the era, if you are doing a concourse restoration, you just
have to swallow hard and open your wallet!  When she is all done it will be worth it.
Just understand that it will likely cost you about twice what you originally budgeted!

Mike

[marty55cdv]

  John, I can't imagine what you have spent already to get the missing piece cast and now the chroming cost itself, for that price it better look like jewelry, but if the whole car ends up looking as nice as your 58 I saw in Vegas then I think it will be worth it.   I just bought two bumper ends for my 55 and they were 600.00 each and that was a deal and I have waited ten years to pull that trigger. 

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Chroming isn't cheap, and it is getting dearer all the time.

I had my front and rear bumper bars on my '72 done, and the cost was $5,300.00.

Bruce.

[z3skybolt]

Amazing,

I have the receipts for the chroming done on my 1940 LaSalle by the one who restored it back in 1999. It was beautifully done by PAUL'S CHROME and still looks showroom new. Total for everything was $8,400.00 which I thought was a lot.  In 1970 I had the front and rear bumpers along with the bumper guards and grille on my 1937 Buick re-chromed.  I cannot recall what it cost....but I was a poor boy one year out of college, earning $130.00 per week.  Paid for it without any concern for the cost. So it could not have been very expensive relatively speaking.

Things have changed.

Bob

 

[C Gorgas]

That seems like a large price to pay for the chrome plating and I understand. I just completed the plating on my '41 Cadillac and the whole chrome process cost less than $3000. I did not need the bumpers chromed but all the rest on the car was done including  wheel covers. You may wish to call them and see what is possible...Electroplating of El Paso, TX. When you send them parts they will give an estimate for your approval. Hope this helps folks. Chet 25441

[Steve Passmore]

Its those very fine ribs that push the price up. The man hours involved in polishing each one with out loosing the detail are immense.  Same thing is happening in this country. Heath and safety regulations about what these companies can do with their waste and pollution is costly.  I past times they just flushed it down the drains, now they pay a fortune to have it disposed of.

[chrisntam]

snip.  Same thing is happening in this country.  snip.

What country?

[Steve Passmore]

What country?

UK.

[J. Gomez]

It is like any other type of specialties business in the industry automobile or any other type. Chrome plating shops would charge according to hours, material, labor, etc. plus all of the environmental licenses, disposal fees, etc. etc. so the cost would be higher.

If you buy a new chrome bumper for a new vehicle it would be $XXX as these are mass produce, you take the same bumper to a chrome shop to be re-chrome and the price would jump tenfold. 

Folks are now looking at other alternatives to chrome just because of changes and cost, powder coating, spray-on coatings, wraps and coverings, water transfer, etc. etc. 

Granted these new techniques may not came close to the good old triple chrome plating but they are very close and getting better.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

One of the major headaches with re-chroming is when the parts are stripped.

What looked like a good part, turns out to be a lot of work to get it ready for re-plating.

My front bumper bar centre section looked good, except for a tiny spot, at the flat piece in front of the number plate, but when stripped, it needed a total new section.   The original plating finish did a really good job of hiding the rust, and I would have been tempted to say that the hole could have been filled with weld, but I sure would have lost that bet.

I couldn't believe just how bad this section was, as there was nothing there to retain dirt and the like, and the rest of the bar which had lots of places that could retain reasons to rust were like new.

Plus, the Factory building new cars is dealing with brand new steel, with no imperfections, whereas the re-plater has to apply copious layers of Copper as a base to fill, then polish out all the imperfections, that the actual chroming, the last process is really the cheapest part of the operation.

The" Triple Chrome Plating" that Platers spruik, is actually the correct process for any chrome plating.   Copper the first, Nickel the Second, and the "Chrome" the third.

In simple terms, all the third "Chrome plate" process is, is a clear coat that protects the Nickel, and it is the Nickel that is the Shine, the Chrome just protects the Nickel from dulling.

Some people have the idea that the process is Copper, Nickel, Chrome, Chrome and a last coat of Chrome.   This is not true.

Bruce.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Bruce, it's amazing what a questionable design or lack of proper cleaning can do!

[John Washburn CLC 1067 Sadly deceased.]

Folks,

Thanks goodness this is just a hobby!

The Johnny

[fishnjim]

It's like anything else, you have to shop around and decide what you want; yours redone, replacements, show chrome, or factory finish.    The horror story places are what you have to watch out for.
If it's who I think it is, they are high, probably the top and cater to the open wallet crowd.   They quoted ~2X what the other competent shop I used charged.   Same flawless work too.   But took months.   It's still an expensive endeavor because of the labor and multiple steps.   I guess like contracting, it's also a case of how much work a place has on tap and their cost structure, on what they will quote out.
They don't produce like that today, it's all flash plate and eliminate chrome/weight, so if you want to step back in time, it's the price of admission, but you can't always put an exact price on it.   The debate goes on, whether restoration is cost effective or not, but each one has their own view of how they spend their $$ and what they can afford, think is reasonable.   It apparently comes with a license to complain and generalize, in my opinion, but lessons are learned and relearned every minute.

[7gen]

One thing to consider is not to look for a bargain on something like this. If you are a guy that wants things perfect (and you would not be restoring a 60 year old car to better-than-new perfection if you were not), then if it is not perfect, you'll see the flaw every time you look at the car and your enjoyment will suffer. $3K is not that much in the bigger scheme of things and within a year, you'll won't remember the pain, just the beauty.

Think of how much effort you went to in order to get to this point. Concours restorations are like children. They are expensive but when you look at them, you don't see the price tag, only what they bring to your life.

[Bill Young]

I labored under the delusion that I was going to rechrome the rear bumper on my '72 Eldorado. I was quoted $2,800.00 and after I came to , I said thank you no. I just purchased 2 rear bumper side inserts from a Florida junk yard about an hour away with no pits and passable chrome for $ 60.00 and we are going to live with the Chrome as is.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Just the rear bumper bar on my '72 cost $3,000.00, and the Continental Kit section another $550.00.

The fella said that before he did the final dipping of the bar, he took a couple of Valium to steady himself down.

The larger the piece, the harder to do, because of the actual bulk when doing all the steps involved.

I had him do a '59 T'bird front bar, and after that, he said he would never do another one.   It was huge.

Bruce.

[WTL]

I have to believe that some day technology will provide a close alternative to chrome. 

In the meantime, I have a small patch of Mylar film over a booboo area on my front bumper.  It doesn't stick out too bad, but it's just a placeholder until I can buy a decent used center piece. 

I bought a hood lip cheap, but it had very worn chrome.  I'm thinking it might actually look better if I polish it down to the pot metal.  Maybe then clear coat it.

[wrefakis]

they are perfect very hard to do

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

WOW !  it's impossible to get the pits out of those grooves !!

Nice !!

Mike  #15848