Hi Mark, I have always used Faith Plating in Santa Clara ...now called Faith Bumper Service. You might have to give them your part(s) and wait a bit for them to schedule a small parts run but their wiork has always been first class for me. Here's a link: http://www.faithbumperservice.com/home.nxg Hope this helps. :harry
Thanks Harry, I have a lot of chrome to do and i am looking for a top quality shop. i will give them a call. Aloha, Mark
If you want high quality, the best place in California is Sherm's in Sacramento. I've tried Faith Bumper, NorCal (destroyed a 250 PF Cabriolet's rear bumper), New Metal Finishing in Fresno, etc. In the end, I always end up having to send the stuff to Sherm's to get it done right. They have three levels of finishes. I've always used the "show" level and have yet to be disappointed. There is a place in Oregon and one in Washington that can match their quality, but then you have to worry about shipping. At least you can drive to Sherm's. Whatever you do, don't use NorCal. At least the other places when the screwed up admitted it and tried to make it right. NorCal just denied they did anything wrong and kept the money. Steve
Check out: Superior Chrome 1616 Pomona Ave San Jose, Ca 95110 408.947.7781 http://www.superiorchromeplating.com/index.asp They have been in business since 1971 and the owner seems very picky. HTH, Tim
I did a lot of research a short while ago. I had previously used Gelardi's in Santa Rosa, and was very happy but I needed something closer to home for some small, very important jobs. I drove down to "interview" Sherms, and I could see the shipping area from the office door. Not a single box was destined for the US. I saw open crates to South Africa, The Netherlands, and Australia with very carefully packed parts inside. I noticed the care of the guys in the shop as they handled various moving, cleaning and racking of parts. I read all of the letters of praise on the wall in the office, so I dropped my parts off. They repaired two broken DeTomaso emblems, very rare, handmade, chrome over brass with brazed on studs. The emblems came out better than I expected, including recreating a broken off stud and a "tail" that had disappeared. Absolutely flawless, for an incredibly reasonable price. I will use them again.
i want to thank everyone for their input, I have narrowed down my choices to Sherms, Industrial Plating (San Carlos) and Superior (Santa Clara). My next step it to visit each shop and decide who to trust my parts with. I want to talk to the person who is going to do the work, not just a front office person who is taking in parts. I will let you know who I end up with. Aloha, Mark
Sherms is in Sac, I have used them and they do a good job. I was in the plating business for 20 years building PC boards and I wouldn't suggest using anyone who plates bumpers. The reason is this. Bumpers have to be done in a extra large bath (which there are few of) and bumpers are often sand blasted to remove the rust and junk, this means that the bumpers and sand will be in that bath, Anytime you have a bath with debris in it you take the chance of the shop plating the debris onto your parts. Small clean bath = small clean parts. Sherm's has good control of their baths, very important. I used Superior about 7 years ago and the price was good , but the control over parts a bit questionable. Not to say the workmanship wasn't good but at that time they really didn't have a good way of keeping tract of your parts. There are a lot of factors that come into play, especially if your part is rusted or needs work prior to the plating process. In these cases the shops have to be proficient at plating copper and filling the voids in your parts, then plating and polishing. Then there is the whole issue of the shop being able to document and track your parts as they go thru the plating process. Make sure you list all parts and have photo's of every part, and the shop signs for them. You get what you pay for in the plating world. Trust no one and , don't ever give them all your parts. process them thru in batches after you build a relationship and trust. Meeting the owners or the shop managers is good also.
Since we are discussing plating, does anyone know of a South Bay shop that does the yellow zinc chromate plating for nuts and bolts? My winter restoration work would look really nice with new-looking hardware.
Hi Brian, Try contacting these: Valley Plating Inc. 491 Perry Ct Santa Clara, Ca 95054 ph: 408.988.5502 or Du All Anodizing Corp. 730 Chestnut Street San Jose, CA 95110 ph: 408.275.6694 I have used Valley Plating with good results. There is (or was) a service in the Palo Alto/Menlo Park area but the name escapes me at the moment. Please let us know what what works out for you. Hope this helps, Tim
