am I being too picky?

Hi all,

need an opinion on something here. Basically I need to know if I'm being too picky or if i have a legitimate complaint. A couple months ago I sent some pot metal parts for my '55 coupe to a fairly well known chrome shop to be replated. Cost was not really an object; finding a plater that would be willing to work with my parts was. One was a very large parking light housing that had a chip broken out of it - it was the best that I could find. The other was a somewhat pitted but mostly good taillight housing.

I received the parts today - they are very nice and shiny, however, the taillight housing's backside seems to have little to no plating on it at all, and what there is is white, powdery, bubbling and flaking. The parking light housing is also quite nice looking, however, there are some obvious "waves" in the formerly flat surfaces where it looks like someone was grinding out pits by hand and didn't do that artistic a job. Also, around the light lens, the contours are a little "off." Finally, the actual repair of the chip is a little "off" as well, although that's not such a big deal as it's hidden behind the bumper. The backside of this shows a couple large bubbles as well, although they do not appear to be loose and overall it looks like a much better job than the taillight housing.

Don't get me wrong, the parts will go on my car as it's "only a driver." However, if I were a concours weenie, I would consider these parts unacceptable. Based on the copy on their web site and print ads I expected a little better. I think I got an "OK" price, but now I have a parking light housing that probably cannot ever be restored to perfect now...

Do you all think I'm being overly critical here? Esp. in the case of the taillight housing, I feel like I have to "fix" the chrome shop's work before I put it on the car so it doesn't corrode away to nothing. There's really nothing to be done with the parking light housing at this point, and I gave all but one of my other cores away at a swap meet because I thought this was a done deal.

If I have any chrome work that I want done in the future, does anyone have a recommendation for a good chrome shop that is willing and able to deal with pitted and broken pot metal? This shop that I'm discussing was the only one that was willing to deal with my parts, and I called all the ones recommended by people I knew.

thanks,

nate

PS - before you ask, the shop was NOT Forrester's or Librandi's - neither wanted to touch my parking light housing, and I appreciate that. I've never dealt with Librandi's but the few pieces Jerry has done for me came out OK.

PPS - I have NO luck with getting potmetal chromed it seems... the last pieces I had done - at a different shop - were a battle to get finished, and apparently according to the buyer of the car (I'd already sold the car by the time I got the parts back!) they got the curvature wrong, so they need to be reworked anyway!

Reply to
Nate Nagel
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Reply to
Pat Drnec

Fer cryin' out loud Nate... POR15 the backside of the parts and jam 'em on... Fix the hundred other things hangin' you up and drive the damned thing... Please think about this... If you never finish the stupid car, you'll never drive it, enjoy it, or develop memories from it. You obsess the details until you paralyze yourself. Ya know.... If you own any Stude long enough (and actually drive it ), you'll end up having to re-do your own work anyways.... So why get stuck before you ever start out on the journey... And.... Asking for guidance here is like putting yourself inside the 'whack-a-mole' machine... Jeff (and leaving a roll of quarters on top) Rice

"Nate Nagel" wrote...

Reply to
Jeff Rice

Christianson plating in Vernon Ca. does concours quality work, priced accordingly. They repair cracked or pitted pot metal. They are the only ones I found who could do 55 tailight housing right and actually get chrome into the corners. There is usually a four month or so wait for your parts.

Reply to
Alex Magdaleno

Duz a bear crap inna woods?

JT

Pat Drnec wrote:

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

Of course you are too picky. That is why you are still single Who would want to pay for a perfect polish & plating job on the back side? Usually, I can't afford to plate the side that shows! Many platers paint the back sides so material is not wasted there, & I have never had any complaints about how the back sides look. The plating work I do usually looks decent on back side, but I would encourage anyone having plating work done to bead blast their items on back side prior to taking to plater if that is an anal issue with you. Then, let them know that you want chrome there so they will know to do and charge you accordingly. Most of our work here comes out without waves & ripples, and I fix cracks & missing chunks. However, I would warn anyone with thin, heavily pitted parts not to expect absolute perfection. Feel free to contact me about having high quality chrome work done. I am more reasonable than other top quality platers, but the process is not cheap or fast for show quality work. See some of my plated items currently on ebay: All are nicely plated on back side, but were not polished. I was saving them for the Intl meet, but decided to run them since I bought the Hawk this week and am going to auctions.

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Reply to
Barry

I certainly do not expect perfection in non-visible areas; however, the taillight apparently has plated-over corrosion so bad that the piece rattles when you shake it! I'm not complaining about visual issues behind a lens, on the backside, etc - the "waves" that I'm referring to are on the side of the parking light housing and the area surrounding the lens, if you have a mental image of a '55 parking light housing those are very visible.

I was not aware that you did plating, I may be in touch. The more I think about it I may just sell this PL housing as the one that I already have on the car is better looking, although it has the usual chunk broken out of the side.

nate

auctions.http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid350243&site=0&ver=LC...

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Reply to
N8N

auctions.http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid350243&site=0&ver=LC......>

I've had very little chrome work done. What little I've had done I wan't happy with. Pits were still visible. These were potmetal pieces and some of the shops won't even touch pot metal for this very reason, the customer is unhappy with the results and the shop has to put too much labor into it to make it presentable. Most everyone I talk to has problems getting the pieces back when promised and most are not happy with the results. I think that the best a person can do is get several referals from people and or actually get to look at some of the shops work befor committing to having it done. I can see already that having chrom redone is by far the most agrevating part of the old car hobby.

Reply to
rustynutgarage

am I being too picky? Yes. If you want a nice finished part, then you have to have a fairly nice part to start with.

Reply to
Jerry Forrester

I don't, they do. I looked up the spelling. It's Christensen plating works

323-585-8730 Two 55 housings was $300 They were in pretty good shape to start with. One had a few nicks or corroded spots to repair. If they have lot of pits the price go up rapidly.

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Reply to
Alex Magdaleno

Russ What did you think of the grill shells that Fred got back from Royal in Tucson ? I thought they looked great but was kind of expensive. That's were Ill take mine when I save up enough money.

Reply to
Jerry Kaiser

Broken chunks can be replaced. BH

auctions.http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid350243&site=0&ver=LC...

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Reply to
Barry

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