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The wiper towers on my '38 are crazed. I will eventually have to replace or replate them. Do I have to remove all the old plating to get back to good metal for replating? Do most replating shops do all the work for you? Is it cheaper to do some of the work yourself and if so, what type of work and what tools are required? How much would it cost for complete repair and replating of two wiper towers, ballpark? Are there other options to repair crazing, it's pretty severe, that don't involve replating?

This is an area of restoration I haven't explored to much, thanks for your help.

Brian

Yes, all of the plating must be removed first and a quality chrome shop will do all of the work for you. The thing to do is to find a quality chrome shop (they are getting fewer and fewer) that does triple plating (copper, nickel, chrome) and check with them about their prices since plating costs are all over the map. Also, another thing to be aware of is if your parts are pot metal. If so, they take a different process for plating and the majority of plating shops don't do pot metal. Master Plating in San Diego, California is one shop that does it all and they specialize in antique cars and they also do a fantastic job. You might want to check with them to get an idea of what you are looking at price wise. They advertise in Hemmings Motor News.

Excellent seminar on plating Speedline! You about covered it all and that will be a great help to "bigbth". Don't forget the middle process during plating and that's nickel! Quality plating shops (and you are right, there are a very few around) use triple plating; copper as the base coat, then nickel and then chrome over the nickel. Our local plating shop only uses the two-step process, nickel and chrome and usually the chrome is already peeled off before you even get the part home! In that shop you have to specify 25 MPH chrome or 50 MPH chrome! ha ha!

Quality of the work is the bottom line. Again, in our local plating shop (which is the only one around in a 250 mile radius) they have an acid tank to strip the old chrome off, but they have no way of removing the nickel since they did away with that process (Why? Beats me!), so to remove the old nickel plating they either blast it off, grind it off or polish it off. On valuable, hard to get car parts this process is definitely a no no!! As you can imagine, they ruin a lot of parts that can't be replaced! :confused: :( :rolleyes: :eek:

Yep, that sounds the same as the plating shop near me. That shop has been in business since 1966 and from day one they have always said that "you don't need copper to do a good plating job" and they have never used it since they opened the shop! That was a major mistake on their part because they have limited themselves to what they can do without copper. With the two-step process that they use (nickel and chrome) the finished product has a yellow cast to it instead of a blue cast like it should. Also, since they don't use copper that shop is famous for their chrome peeling off either immediately or very soon after the job is completed. And, I have seen them tell lots of customers to get another part because they can't restore theirs, when in fact, other chrome shops would kill to have a part that nice to work with!

They hire minimum wage employees that half the time don't so up for work, or, if they do, they are drunk. I was in the shop one day when this dude brings in a $12,000 Rolls Royce stainless steel radiator mascot to have polished and I couldn't believe it. After the customer left I convinced the owner of the plating shop to send it out to a professional polisher so that the radiator mascot wouldn't get destroyed.

Because of the dilapidated conditions of the shop and because of DEQ requirements, the shop no longer does zink, cadmium, or other types of plating. Just nickel and chrome only, and they can't strip the old nickel either! :confused:

Did you guys just come back from the plate shop?? It looks like you have been waiting for this question for a couple of years!! Thanks to both of you, I was hoping you would say "buy some Brite creme fron XYZ co. for $4, spread it on and tomorrow they will look brand new!". Guess that was wishful thinking. JYD you were the first person I talked to when I started this disaster over 4 years ago so I suppose it is sort of appropriate that your still there down the stretch.

I know of a shop in the area I just need to set aside some time to get over there and talk to them about their methods and all the little things I need replated.

Thanks again guys,
Brian

Hey Bigbth! Glad that I'm still around to help you, and old Junkyard Dogs, while they do live a long life, just get smarter and meaner while they go along! ha ha!

One thing that I have learned over the years is that you never ever take anything of value to your local plating shop. That is if you don't want it either lost or destroyed, because both are going to occur on a regular basis. And, if they don't do triple plating that is another reason to stay away. Without copper, they can't do a quality repair/restoration job on your parts so that the parts will look like new. My local plating shop grinds the hell out of everything and then plates it with nickel and chrome. That's fine if ya want the finish on your parts to look like the Pacific Ocean!

One other thing that I have learned also, and that is that you never take your early Chevy engine, with the poured babbit mains and rods, to your local machine shop either. Same problems, just a different shop on a different day! ha ha! For both your plating needs and engine rebuiilding needs there are very qualified shops around the country that does that type of work......find them!

HEY JUNKYARD DOG, I HAVE BEEN TO YOUR PLACE AND WITH THOSE ROADS YOU CAN NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE 25 MILES PER HOUR. HA HA ?? UP HERE IN SEATTLE AT THE CHROME PLACE I TOOK MY PARTS TO HAVE PLATED,IT TURNED OUT TO BE A NIGHTMARE. SEVERAL OF MY SMALL PARTS WERE HUNG ON COATWIRE AND THEN DIPPED IN A SOLUTION TO BE STRIPPED, BUT GUESS WHAT ?????? THE DUDE HAD TO TAKE A EXTRA LONG SMOKE BREAKAND WHEN HE FINALLY WENT BACK TO TAKE MY PARTS OUT OF THE TANK, MOST OF THE PARTS WERE EATEN AWAY AND RUINED.THE OWNER APOLOGIZED AND WENT ON TO SAY IF YOU FIND OTHER PARTS TO REPLACE THE BAD ONES, HE WOULD GIVE ME A DISCOUNT ON THE PLATING. THIS IS ONLY ONE OF THE STORIES ABOUT THE PLATER I WENT TO.