I know not a lot of places do it. Looking to get an intake an valve covers plated. Who knows a shop that plates aluminum?
Advanced Plating had a severe fire a while back. Call them first to find out status of their reconstruction.
I'll always remember the rather pithy advice given to me by a crusty plater many years ago about chrome-plated aluminum... 'Kid, chrome plated aluminum is like a teen hooker; looks great when fresh, but won't age well...' In the 40+ years since I was told that, it has proved to be pretty accurate.
Steve, I guess it depends on the plater, I have a good friend that builds high end cars, especially Bubble top Chevrolet's and he has every piece of aluminum chrome plated, he has approximately 12 finished cars and the oldest one has been finished probably 35 years ago, there appears to be no wear or peeling on any of the trim. HRP
The problem with this subject is the disparity in expansion rates of the 2 materials. If the items are kept in a constant temp environment, they will last longer than those exposed to constant temp changes.
I'm not a chemical engineer or in the plating business but I would suggest talking to someone that knows all the ins and outs of the business. HRP
That makes sense. Interior aluminum trims that were originally anodized would hold up a lot better than valve covers which will get a lot more/deeper heat cycles. Also, to do valve covers the plater will have to cover the entire inside surface to keep plating off of it, you don't want a bit of unseen chrome on the inside of your cover to peel off and drop into the engine.
I think all anyone needs to do is look at Cragar S/S wheels; the chrome never lasts as long as it "should" on those aluminum spokes. I think the chrome on the steel rims does't last because of the "flexing" involved in a wheel rim. Great concept for wheels, but not a very good way of going about it; now, you can get polished aluminum, one piece Cragar S/S wheels that look almost a good as chrome. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Danny, it's more the part rather than the plater. Sand-cast parts are the worst because of porosity common in those castings, with die-cast running a close second. Non-cast parts will accept plating with much fewer issues. The other big issue is getting the plating into recesses. One functional disadvantage of chrome plating is low cathode efficiency, which results in bad 'throwing power'. This means it leaves a non-uniform coating, with more on edges and less or none in inside corners, recesses, and holes. To overcome this problem the part may be over-plated and ground to size, or auxiliary anodes may be used around the hard-to-plate areas, i.e. 'fixturing' the anodes. Fixturing on one-off parts can get expensive fast... Keeping plating out of areas you don't want it is easy, getting it into areas you do is what's hard. Thin spots in the plating is where corrosion starts, and once it gets under the plating there's no fix for it. Keeping it clean and dry is critical; standing moisture or even high humidity can be bad news. And chrome is actually a porous decorative finish; it's the nickel under it that's actually the anti-corrosion layer. I've got two sets of somewhat-expensive OT aluminum wheels that are going to the scrapper because of failed chrome. Corrosion got under the plating in the thin spots and quickly spread. The cost to have them stripped is nearly the same as buying replacements, and I'd still have to re-polish them...
Browns Plating , was one of the best . I could not afford any so I don’t know if they are in business anymore or not . A buddy of mine sent his to Paul’s Plating , God could not have finished these any nicer himself .
Butch, I agree with you about the spokes. And, there may something to your opinion about rim flexing. But I think the greater issue with chrome on steel rims has to do with the cheapo plating process wherein neither copper nor nickle are used on the steel before the chrome. As @Crazy Steve points out, chrome is porous and it is nickle that is needed for chrome longevity. Compare the long life span of most factory OEM chrome wheels with aftermarket and it is obvious the aftermarket are waaay inferior. Ray
yep, find a good chrome shop that does that type of work - then go there for them to look at what you want plated - this is not a over the phone process to deal with
Any good chrome shop can plate Aluminum. The question is will they. Chrome is a 3 step process. Copper first. That is the "primer", and is what gets the polishing. The better the polish job, the better the finish job looks. Aluminum can't be copper plated, so they go straight to step two, which is the nickel plate. Then the chrome goes on the nickel. Since the copper isn't there to polish, the aluminum surface has to be perfect. Much more grinding and polishing is needed to prep the aluminum. Die cast aluminum is far less porous than sand cast, so it's somewhat easier to achieve a good chrome finish on die cast.
Chrome is going to hold heat in the engine too... There is a guy in the hamb o'dex that polishes aluminum and does nice work.
Really? I didn't think this is how it was done. I had some cast aluminum parts plated by Chromeplaterjosh a decade ago (they still look great). The pieces had some pits, so he had to fill those. You can't solder on aluminum, and I was pretty sure he plated with copper, then added the solder on top of the copper. Then another layer of copper and polish, then nickle and chrome. I may be wrong though, as it was a decade ago.
Chrome don't get you home! Polished aluminum on an engine looks proper. Chrome on an engine is bling. JMHO
Yeah, that's what I remember too. But these days too many platers skip the copper as a 'cost saving' measure, and some even skip the nickel... My experience is the copper 'seals' the parent metal and helps prevent corrosion.
A lot of good (and valid) feedback has been provided. But, another (large) contributor is galvanic corrosion so using copper, nickel and chromium alloys (depending on 2 or 3 step plating) that align as close as possible with each other on the galvanic compatibility grid is critical. There are a lot of variables so just saying "chrome on aluminum" doesn't define the issue. - EM
Way back in the 60's I had a local speed shop import a set of Edelbrock valve covers for my 318 Poly. They were a poor casting and I had trouble keeping them looking good due to porosity and salt build-up so I had them plated (no HAMB or internet to get info in those days) That was a waste of money as the porosity and salt meant the chrome flaked off so now they are painted engine color with the fins and Edelbrock name in aluminium.
A lot of platers over here will strip chrome very cheaply. Nothing expensive involved, just pop it in the tank for a couple of hours. Environmental bollocks might make it more expensive in SoCal I guess Sent from my moto g(6) play using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
What ever happened to a good old fashioned clean cast finish????.... I'm just thinking out loud here.....
Spoke w/Rod L'Italia of Circle Plating years ago. He mentioned micro-cracking as a 'property' of the top, Chrome layer.
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