Can anyone tell me what it might cost to get my grill re-chromed here in florida? Its a 52 chevy styeline. Its in pretty good shape other than 2 holes the size of a quarter and alittle pitting in a few spots. I figured someone here has had to go thru this already. I tried to search for a new grill but cant find one for less then 1000 bucks.
All i can say is be very careful who you choose to re-chrome your stuff.. references.. look at their work.. be very clear with them that you want your original stuff back... and dont do Bumper Boyz.. good luck search re-chrome..or chrome shops..and see what you find
Id rather stay localy if possible. Dont really trust sending it out and getting it busted up by shippers.
I had two merc bumpers rechromed last year, $400 each. They are long, and were not in rough shape. I'd assume $300-500.
Plating is expensive. There are lots of platers in FL. Start here: http://www.spacecoast-plating.com/ Visit the shop to see facility. Get names of customers who have used them. Ask what process they are using hexavalent or trivalent chrome. Mark your piece and take photos of what you take there. Talk to guys in amotorcycle shop re: plater they use. Do your homework.
A '52 Chevy grille is a much more complex piece than a Mercury bumper, with a lot of sections that have to come apart. 5 teeth, two parking light housings, and three horizontal bars. I'm guessing the cost of chroming is going to be more like $800-$1000 depending on condition and what shop you choose. If the grille has two quarter sized holes in it (probably in the parking light housings, that's quite common) then those pieces need to be replaced, either with solid originals or if repops are made. Don't spend a fortune having a plating shop fixing big holes like that, it'll always be more than the cost of replacement. I wouldn't count on a big complex piece like that grille to be cheap to plate either. It's all in the prep work, and that grille will need a ton of it, even if it's a nice core. Anyone willing to do the work cheap isn't going to put the amount of prep into it that's necessary to make it look nice. If you don't want to spend big bucks on a rechrome, you might consider looking for a nice used one on places like eBay, and then resell your core to recoup some of the money.
Thanks for all the adviced. I might just try to find a new one. Anyone know of any places that sell reproduction grills? Ive found 2 sites but they where pricey. The teeth on my grill are perfect but need rechromed so i just need the grill.
Just don't and I mean DON'T let Bumper Boys touch it!!!! Keep it local and ask some of your buddies about a good shop. Good, ain't cheap!
just did one a few years back. complete grille and extra teeth 850.00 to 100.00 is about right---out of sight, but the norm nowdays
If you can find a new one for 1000 in perfect shape, do it. I wouldn't be surprised to pay more than 1000-1500 for that whole grill assembly. It's almost always cheaper to replace than repair. And that's not even counting the time you save
I guess I was thinking about the '55 Desoto grille I have here, I can't imagine being quote $1000 to rechrome it, I could see $550-600 but maybe I am way off.
Yup way off, those teeth on the Desoto are going to be expensive, my buddy just got his done and the teeth alone were $160.00 a piece! and it was nice, its because its cast!!!
Give it your best guess and add about 100% Seriously its going to be high. If you just go into any old chrome shop and throw it on the counter and say chrome it you will probably be unhappy. I had a chrome shop give me a price on my speaker grill cover for my 49 Ford of $85 and thats a quality chrome shop. My guess would be $800 to $1000 on your grill.
From link above: "olddaddy 12-19-2006, 10:08 AM I searched for months looking for a local shop in Florida to do my 50 Plymouth wagon parts. I couldn't find anyone I could afford. I ended up sending all my small stuff to Custom Metal Finishing in Indiana, 866-489-4089. They did all my interior handles, dash trim, exterior trim, exterior handles, parking lights, hood ornament, headlight and tailight bezels, radio grille,Plymouth letters etc, steel and pot metal, 3 large boxes of stuff for under # grand. A great job, well packed and returned in reasonable time. They don't do bumpers so I sent mine to Tri-City in Elizabethtown Tennessee, they have a web-site. $225 each on the bumpers, and $65 each for the guards. Well packed and reasonable time frame." Holy crap, nice link. Apparently our shop has been mentioned long before I was a member here. Small world. Although we have been doing bumpers for years now. Never expected that.
I couldn't have said it better myself. The only time it's worth paying to have massive repair done like that is on rare, unreproduced parts. Actually about 7-ish years ago, we somehow ended up with a ratty, but solid complete 52 Chevy front grill assembly. We rechromed all the brightwork, and stripped and repainted the supports, reassembled it with S.S. fasteners, and used it as a display at shows. I think we put $1,200-1,500 on it or something like that. No takers for a long time. I don't remember what happened to it. It likely got sold cheap to get rid of it after realizing we couldn't make our money back on it, and it was difficult to haul around safely. It was a thing of beauty.
Maybe i'll just fix the holes and paint it body color for now and leave the teeth chrome for the time being. Cant really afford to spend a grand on the grill right now.
About 4 years ago we used a place somewhere in Indiana called J&P Plating. They actually stripped a really bad job that an outfit in St Paul had done on our '38 Ford pickup grille. Then plated it and sent it back. We get nothing but compliments on their work and when they shipped it back they were careful to package it right. Stripping, some repairs, plating and shipping to MN was a couple thousand bucks and worth every penny of it. If you can replace and get the quality you want then it's cheaper than repair. If your part is rare then you're gonna pay if you want quality.
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