[Chrysler300] Re:rechroming

["Wayne Graefen" <wgraefen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There are three ways there can be a "cheap chrome" shop price.  
The classic way is to skip the first and basic layer of copper thereby saving a step of labor and the cost of the materials.  Many shops do this.  That is why the mantra for car guys has always been to ask for "triple plate" which is copper, nickel and chrome, the three steps necessary to quality plating that will last.  Copper is the slowest of the coatings to break down with time and elements.  Thus without the copper coat you see parts (often bumpers) that start to rust after only a year or so.  Typically shops like this also have employees new to plating that don't know what they are doing and their hourly wages are lower too.
The second way is that a few states have EPA offices that aren't fully up to speed on cracking their legal whips or they are understaffed and can't cover their myriad responsibilities.  Perhaps Florida is one of these.
Third is many shops in southern border states send their plating to Mexico to avoid the US EPA hassle.  They may have a work area doing their own straightening, grinding, buffing and may even have some tanks getting minimal use but the majority of the actual plating work is being done in Mexico.  Often these shops are charging close to retail, transport being a contributing cost.

Many people, even car guys, don't realize that the brilliant reflective surface you are staring at on that part is actually the nickel underneath the chrome.  Chromium is clear and protects the buffed nickel.  This is why some difficult shaped parts may have spots of "nickel shadow" where the chromium did not cover the nickel which oxidizes.  The first "patina" on older chromed parts is actually nickel showing through the thinning chrome.

Any chrome shop is only as good as the current owner's integrity and the employee's skills working there when your part starts the process.  Cheap chrome is never worth the savings because of damage to good original parts that went in, or the need to have them redone by an expensive shop later.

There is a list of recommended chrome shops in the source page of the club web site.   http://simplexco.com/auto/sourcelist/sources.htm

Russia is the dominant source of the chromium deposits on this planet.  Between their raising prices and the EPA raising the bar for the process, there really isn't any more "cheap chrome".

Wayne

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