"Recycle" them. Sell them on ebay, buy some better ones, maybe even in new condition. You can get brand new Gold Plated caps for less than it would cost to have them chrome plated.
I just watched the FAST process and damn that looks good ! I am curious to see would well it holds up and the cost . Anyone use this process yet ? RetroJim
Well I hit one with the buffer last night. All I had handy was some mothers mag polish and they seems to brighten up quite a bit. I think a good wet sand and buff and I'm in business. As far as the bad grade ss comment, The non-magnetic stuff has about a 99% accept rate with piercing as where the magnetic stuff is something more like 60%. I always used 316L Implant grade Surgical stainless. I just assumed the magnetic was a low grade because of relection. But I guess you learn something new everyday.
I thought chrome was chrome? or black chrome or variations of chrome. "We can chrome anything in any color!"
That spray-on chrome just doesn't look deep like real chrome does. It reminds me of chromed plastic parts than come in a model kit.
Nothing to do with these hubcaps, but 57 Chevy hubcaps were stainless with a thin, what I've heard referred to as Chrome Flashing. When you polish one you can buff through the flashing fairly easy. The flashing can be stripped by a chrome shop. Advance Plating told me about 35-40 dollar range a set, then you can buff the hell out of them.
Yes, it can be done in colors, which is how this bike was done, and can't really be achieved with regular paint.
Check out these guys. My car club did a tour there. They do really nice work and those two pieces might not be as expensive as you think. JR Custom Plating in Forest Lake, MN http://jrcustomplating.com/
If they were plated steel or brass in that shape, I would charge $100-150 each. (I have done some mid-sixties GTO caps that were chromed brass.) To repolish them to a mirror instead of the "brushed" original finish, $50 each.
Boy you guys are sure hard on your chrome plater. At least you got the SS hubcaps straightened out. Spray on "Chrome" is not chrome. No part of it is CHROME. It's just PAINT!! It will chip & scratch just like paint, because that's what it is. Edelbrocks "endura shine" is vacuum metalized over powdercoat with an acrylic top coat. It's tougher, still not chrome. The toughest thing you cant get is the brass or gold finish on new plumbing fixtures. It's lifetime guarrenteed. It's vacuum deposited titanium. O.K. now about the bullets that didn't plate on the inside. When you emerse the part in the plating tank & charge it with D.C. current it acts like a magnet. Imagine a horseshoe magnet when it is drawn over iron filings. The filings stick to the ends (poles) and not in the recess. Same with plating. Because a recess is a low current area the plating is very thin. The back of a bumper bullet that is not prepped will likely not plate at all. I'll get off my rant with one last note. Items are polished before they are plated. If you have to buff chrome after plating it is likely because you had to pour the juice to it to cover a recess and in the process you get too much plating on a high current area. This will turn the chrome a grey-white that can be carefully buffed off.
Two hub caps if they are ding & dent free even if stainless would be 150.00ea for show quality copper,nickel ,chrome. If polish only 50 ea.
The Jalopy Journal
