AMD bumpers

If you have a decent core it shouldn't cost a small fortune to chrome a bumper. As far as "show chrome" goes. ANY plater that doesn't triple chrome plate is not selling a quality product period.

Copper, nickel, chrome is the ONLY way to get a quality coating. The base coat of copper is as essential as primer and body work. A good plater will first pound out and straighten the part to be chromed. Then the part will be plated with a thick coating of copper. The copper is then polished to a mirror finish, for large flat pieces the part may actually be block sanded first to get it as flat as possible. This mirror finish, like the underlying bodywork on a paint job, telegraphs through the finished nickel and chrome.

After polishing, the part is degreased and plated with nickel, and then flash plated with chrome. While the part may sit in the nickel bath for 20 minutes it will spend less than a minute in the chrome tank. Most people don't realize that when they look at a chromed part, most of what they are seeing is the underlying nickel.

Chrome plating prices have gone through the roof over the last few years because with increasing water quality laws, (shops can no longer dump their waste down the drain) many smaller shops were forced out of business. With less competition prices naturally rose.

Now with competition for at least some chrome parts from off shore, these job shops should be forced to either raise their quality or lower their prices.

Regards,

Joe Dokes