Hi, I would like to know if any one could recomend a good place here in Phoenix to re-chrome some parts, mostly cast stuff, like taillight bezels and trunk handle. I have looked and found a few, but there is some negativ feed back on them . . So i would like to have some one that´s been to a good place before. So come on Guy´s and Doll´s , let me have your 2 cents on this . . I´m only in town for 5 months more . .
Theres only a few places in the nation that will do cast pot metal type stuff. I think one is here in Colorado, Burlington or somewhere out in that area.
I have been using GTI in Tempe AZ TEL= (480) 968-6069 I am very happy with their work and very resonnable and good quality. Frenchy Cell # (602) 723 1047
Metro In Mesa does great work, including pot metal castings. Few things are as annoying as a chrome shop that "only does bumpers". I've been going there for 25+ years. -KK
Ive used Metro many times and have liked their work , BUT, I found out the hard way that IF something goes wrong, they dont stand behind their work. Years ago, my cousin had a deck lid plated on a 69 Mach 1. The car was a total build, so we got everything plated early as we know they arent the quickest. The deck lid was picked up, looked great. Wrapped it up, put it in a closet in a box, a few months later went to unwrap it and the chrome was peeling in several spots. This was in a dry AZ desert home, so save your "moisture got to it" theories. We took it back to them, you could see it hadnt been bolted down or anything, basicly told us to F off. Lost a lot of respect for them after that.
Kerr plating on 43rd ave south of Camelback is the one several of my friends use and are very happy with their work. I will probably get jumped for this, but I have been taking stuff into Papago again (24th street and Washington) in the last couple of years and they are very inexpensive and I have yet to have any problems with their work. There is another company up in way north Phoenix called Fernando's metal Polishing that a couple of friends have used and liked very well.
Ya, I think they have. I took in a few small bits of stuff that I needed quickly a year or so ago that were shall we say less than critical... And they looked great! They have held up well to daily abuse and it was cheaper than anybody else around town. I have since talked to a couple of other guys that have had them do stuff reacently and they were happy as well. Forthose of us downtown they are just too handy.
Have a couple of pieces at GTI now, will let you know how they turned out. Have used Concoures (sp??) over at 21 ave off Mountain View. Always had good luck there. Papago must have changed. They were always the worst in town. Parts rusting, lost parts. They had a room probably 10 feet wide and 20 feet long full of parts that were never returned to customers. They lost one of mine and offered to let me browse to see if I could see anything that I could use. They lost a friends front axle.
I'll throw my two cents in as I've used a couple of these platers lately. Papago did the bumpers for my '60 which were in horrible shape and they came out very good, not perfect but very good. I took a bunch of other stuff there and it came out like crap. Some of it flaked off immediately and it is obvious that they do not triple plate with copper first. I took a lot of it back for a second time around and it got better but some stuff had to go for a third time around and by then the thin parts were worn through and I had to find replacements. Good thing is that they are cheap. Due to the issues with Papago I tried fernandos for my metal polishing. THey did a great job but were a lot more money and they lost my parts! I did get them all back but it's scary thwn they lose stuff! I don't know if I will use either place again...
love this thread. ill be looking for a chrome plater soon , ill have to start saving my money now though.
Any updates to this thread? I'm about to get some stuff chrome plated. Its been like 15 years since I had stuff done and I used Pete's back when he was around. He's been shut down for a long time now.
I'll do a follow up for Papago. It's been about a year since my car has been in the road, it's been washed, driven and most recently last weekend went through the snowstorm in Flagstaff. My rear bumper is now rusting. I'm not impressed. Each little pit in the photo was a place it started to rust. The front bumper has a couple "rings" in it where it looks like thy might have weld filled and it wasn't finished properly. I can polish and wax it and they look "ok" but it shouldn't be rusting with my minimal use.
Thanks for updating this. Seems Papago is still to be avoided. I'm going to give Metro a try unless I hear otherwise. At least they are close. I'll post my experience.
Please do, I have another bumper for a car couch I need to chrome. It's gotta look nice in my living room but can't cost a fortune Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I received my chrome plating back from Metro. Turn around was right at two months. They were extremely easy to deal with and they take their own pictures of everything that you bring in. They individually wrap everything for pickup. The quality of the plating is on par with what I had done from Pete's when he was in business. The pics below show the batch I had done and a comparison between the current plating and the old fire extinguisher I had done at Petes some 10 years or more ago.
2018 UPDATE ON CHROME SHOPS IN PHOENIX AREA: Metro Plating in Mesa is the only Chrome shop still open in the Phoenix area. Their prices reflect that. Papago - closed LA Specialties - closed Kerr West Plating - closed The Chrome Guy - no longer does chrome. Made me laugh. I am now trying several listed in Tucson.
Royal Plating in Tucson has been doing plating for my roadster. Easy to work with, reasonable price, and great quality. Average 2 week turn around. I have only been doing suspension, backing plates, but quality and polishing is great.
The Jalopy Journal
