Criticism of D.I.Yers

Hello all;

I would like to respond to this last posting.

Well,
I think we have all gone to the Caswell web site by now, $655.00 to do nuts and bolts, THAT'S A DEAL, I can get large bumpers show quality chromed for a little more than that!

-Yes, but how many small parts will your plater do for the same money? Besides that isn't the price of an entry level kit.

$6000.00 for a 16 Gal. kit! That's not even large enough to do a radiator shell!

-No-one suggested that they wanted this for doing large parts. All that you would need to do is go from the bucket to a large plastic tray if you wanted to do something bigger. With the right information, and materials, you could probably construct a plating outfit any size that you want without having to deal with this company

I stick with my plater, lets see;

They send a truck to pick up my bumpers,
I don't have to do squat.

-Lets see them come around when you want to have some pot metal trim parts redone.

They straighten out the dents, fill the rust holes,
I do my books, have a brew.They remove the old chrome, O YEA that's something I wanna do, imagine the toxic chemicals that takes! They polish and fill, sweat and strain
I sit in my a/c'ed office.

-As I have said before this is your prerogative. No one is stopping you from going to the plating shop and paying $40 h/r to have them do the work.

They plate, and plate, and plate again,
you know till it looks like chrome that a customer would pay for, and if they screw it up, THEY EAT THE COST,
I continue to drink, I mean, work on other things.

-What happens if they destroy or loose a rare or unreplaceble trim part? What does their guarantee mean then? They can eat the cost but you are still out a part.

They bring me back BETTER THAT NEW beautiful LARGE front and rear 50's era bumpers,
with an invoice of under a GRAND!
Here's where I gotta do some WORK --- I WRITE THE CHECK! GLADLY
Ron's .02

Ron, you are comparing apples and oranges. These kits were never designed for doing bumpers and I don't recall anyone here claiming that was what they wanted it for. It is erroneous to compare the replating of a steel bumper with that of a pot metal trim part. A small trim part can take almost as much time as a bumper in order to do it properly. They are also much easier to ruin and much harder to find if they do. I can't think of a way for the plating guys to destroy something heavy and thick like a bumper, and even if they do they are relatively easy to find.

Compare that to a trim part, made from a zinc alloy, where if they hold it in one spot too long the edges will disappear, if they overheat it will melt. Any Chrome shop can do a bumper, its on the basis of how they handle the more delicate parts that most people judge their workmanship.
I for one could care less how people redo their chrome, or whether they use the Caswell system or not, as long as it gets the job done. What I don't care for is arm chair quarterbacks telling someone else that something isn't worth doing because they themselves can't be bothered. For you maybe it doesn't make any sense, but for someone that has a great number of small parts to replate perhaps it does. Some of us can't afford to cut a check every time we need a job done.

Best Regards

Arran Foster

1954 Imperial Newport

In a message dated 05/30/02 10:14:56 PM Central Daylight Time, aprtay@xxxxxxx writes:

I agree with Arran on this one. I do ALL of the work on my own cars. I would
rather spend the money on the right equipment to do it myself than risk
paying someone else to do something that I would not be happy with.
Personally I love to restore cars, every bit of them. I have been known to
spend days on a job that would only cost $100 to have done. But theres one
thing that I know that the guy that farms out his work doesn't. I know that
every little peice is done to perfection, and if I don't like it later then
I will just redo it. I guess I am just a perfectionist. I am very interested
in this chrome thread, 67's as we all know are nothing but chrome, so I
stand to save a lot of money and headache.
Brian