I am restoring a 57 Roadmaster 4 dr ht. I had all of the bumper chrome done by a guy in Toledeo. He is unable to do pot metal, can't repair pits. Does anyone know of a good east coast chrome shop that will not take my first child. I would like it to look nice but I don't need show as this will be a driver. I am about three months from complete so I need to get on this. Thanks, Tom
There is no such thing as a good chrome shop who will not charge an arm and a leg. This is a very expensive process in terms of manhours to do the buffing and the cost of the plating chemicals and disposal. I have been using Highline Plating in Cuba, Mo for the plating on my 57 Roadmaster. www.highlineplating.com They do very good work and their prices are probably below average. I have a friend who swears by Quality Pot Metal Works in Lakeland, Florida. www.chromeplus.com They specialize in pot metal and he says their work is dynamite. It's like my daddy used to say, "You wants to play the game, you pays your money!"
Thanks for the reply professor. I know its expensive, I have had most of chrome done. My problem is that I had a quote at Carlise for redoing the chrome taillights and the guy wanted $500 per side. Does that seem like a reasonable amount? I have no idea about potmetal repair. Since I want to get all of the potmetal pieces, hood orn, trunk lifts, qtr window frames etc. done looks like a couple grand.
The $500 per side for the taillight housings seems a little strong. I sent mine off to Custom Plating Specialists in Brillion, Wisconsin. They quoted me $350 per side. I sent them some stuff back in October and it is still not done. I've called several times, but they say they are working on it. I plan to give them until the first of next month and be more stern when I talk to them. They originally quoted me a 4 week turn around time. If I were you, I'd try the place in Florida I mentioned. You can send them an Email with a picture attached and they can give you a reasonable estimate. So far I've been very satisfied with the place in Cuba, Missouri. If you give them a call and tell them that Ted Becker referred you to them, they will treat you fairly. They are high on potmetal, but their steel work is very reasonable compared with other places. I am guessing that I will have $10,000 in chrome work on my Roadmaster convertible. It will only get more and more expensive as the EPA slowing is working their way through the US chrome shops and shutting them down. Your government looking out for your best interests -- or maybe not!
:grin: An acquaintance here in Western New York has a very nice looking 1957 2 door (could be a Skylark ?) Roadmaster. I asked him a year ago about pot metal replating - my bumpers are good from maybe 50 feet - and he said the really high cost of pot metal replating is the manhours that need to be spent "drilling out" the pits, then applying some "metal epoxy" filler prior to plating. He claimed to have had worse metal than mine - and that he personally did all the chrome removal, reapplying, and pit drilling - and spent $3,500 to have all chrome redone, and all aluminum buffed. I haven't his name - and have seen him only at car shows a few times. That sort of makes sense - if manhours are the problem. I don't know if I can drill pits - I am physically disabled, hands and feet don't "work well". But, to save thousands of dollars, I can borrow a friend's 20 -something sons. My brain thinks I would need a bench bolted down vise setup, with a few homemade wood and carpet clamp down jigs to handle different pieces of metal to drill and fill the pits. :Smarty: Rip Rohring :Comp:
Check this guy out <TABLE id=contactInfo><TBODY><TR><TD class=iData _no_widget="true">Write an email don@polishedtreasures.com </TD></TR></TBODY><TBODY><TR><TD class=line_sepa></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> He my headlight trim for my 55 Century which were pitted pretty bad. He's in Maryland and I was very pleased. He quoted $580 for my rear bumper. He charged around 125 for each bezzle mostly because of the pitting....... All in all I was pleased
As long as you are satisfied with the work, that is the most important. Good chrome shops are hard to find. I do, however, think that $580 for a rear bumper is a bit on the strong side. Highline Plating did my front bumper for $350 and the rear for $425. Their work was just beautiful.
With all due respect to you, I think your suggestion is not reasonable. I have heard of drilling out pits and filling them, but I've never known anyone who actually did it. It sounds reasonable, but the holes have to be filled with a melted metal. There is no epoxy or JB Weld that will fill in a hole and be platable after that. There are lots of silver solders and similar materials that can be welded on pot metal and aluminum using a propane torch. I've seen it demonstrated at car shows, but I've been unable to be successful on my own. If you can get in touch with the fellow you mentioned, I'd very much like to talk to him to see how he did it. By the way, the Skylark name was used in 53 and 54 and did not come back until 64 with the decked out Buick Special. I think the word you mean is Riviera. That was an advertising term that Buick used on their hardtops.
"By the way, the Skylark name was used in 53 and 54 and did not come back until 64 with the decked out Buick Special" Close...but I've owned a '63 Skylark.
