This is my first parts re-plating experience. Unfortunately, I'm very unsatisfied with the finished product. But, maybe my expectations are a little high. I am quite meticulous, bordering on striving for perfection all too often. But, hey that's me . All too frequently I get reminded that many other people do not take the care and strive for the level of detail that I do.

I'll share a few photos and details of the parts I got back.

-Let me know what you think about the finish.

The first pic is how the parts were presented to me. Bulk packed in dirty boxes. I picked up a few parts and very quickly stated that the parts did not have the appearance that I expected. The owner tried to convince me that they looked like yellow cad/zinc dichromate parts should look. I don't buy the fact that they should look like this. Would appreciate any opinions from those of you that have plating experience.

The parts are dull in many areas. Is this due to sandblasting? And after I got home and looked them over better in good lighting, I can see that they are nicked and scratched all over due to the poor handling. Are nicks and scratches typical? inevitable for this type of plating? Or just due to poor care and handling?

Here is a close up.

another

that looks like sheet.

1 more

a lot of shops have to be told "cosmetic", individually wrap/protect...etc, etc.....

I have to agree, shouldnt they look more like this??

I would have thought you have gotten something looking more like this, I think these were 914rs's pictures;

Damn Scott, you're fast

QUOTE (skline @ May 10 2005, 06:39 PM)

I have to agree, shouldnt they look more like this??

Sorry to say, but your supplier has done a very poor job. The scratches are not acceptable. The plating looks dull and very course. I would ask for a refund and find another supplier.

I thought that you guys would agree -very simply, the parts look like shit!

This experience has made me sick!!! And once I get over being sick about it, I'm prolly gonna be Pissed! I wouldn't be so upset if I didn't pay a premium price and wait twice as long as I should have, all the while being given a snow job from the owner about how great his work was and that he was putting in extra time to make sure that the parts were going to be prepped properly so that they turn out good.

When i dropped off the parts I did talk with the guy about my expectations of the parts. I talked to him about my project and the level of detail that i have put into it. I told him that I wanted great looking parts to match the quality of the other work that I had done.

Many of the parts are non appearance and I can use them with no problem. I may clear coat them just to provide a bit better appearance and corrosion protection.

Brother,

Don't use that stuff, it will just continue to piss you off everytime you see the piece. Take one piece to someone else that does this type of plating. Only one piece. After that piece is done, and it is acceptable, Then discuss with the owner if he can replicate this process. if he can, then do it. But provide the piece he did correctly as a guide. I have been in the same exact situation as you, but it was on parts that no replacements were available. It sucked. I was smoking, and I mean smoking. had to take some time off of work to visit my anger management support group. Best thing is to remind yourself that that guy sucks at his profession and will continue to suck at his profession, whereas you will move on and fix the problem you have. Oh and don't forget the brick through the front window. I like that one.

Erik Madsen

Dude...that looks like shit. Seriously...my dog makes turds that color.

I'd stop payment on that check, or call your credit-card company. I wouldn't be pissed...I'd be downright IRATE.

Looking at those pics makes *ME* sick, I can only imagine what you feel like.

Maybe Craig of Camp914 will see this. He's got the quality connection. The place he uses did amazing work and every single piece was separately sealed in plastic baggies when he got them back. They looked like brand new parts.

The last set of sheetmetal I had I took to a place that Joe Buckle took his to since it came out looking nice. I dropped it off and told them what I wanted and they said about 4 days. I thought, hmmm, Joe's only took 2 days but figured WTF. I got busy working and a week went by. I go to pick them up only to find out they have not even touched them yet. I guess I am a jerk, I got pissed and told them to just give me my parts back and walked out. I did say a few choice words about how they run their business. Anyway, I went to another place which was not far from there and they did it in 3 days for almost half what the other place wanted and they took all the little dings and dents out of the sheetmetal. Outstanding job. They do all my work for me now. There is a wheel polisher right next door too that will polish any thing you want to bring them. Great soure.

By looking at those nicks and scratches I'd bet that the parts were ran througha tumbling device with ceramic media and allowed to bang against each other repeatedly... This is because the lazy bastids don't want to take the time to bead blast them.... The tumbler works well for rough finishing, but not for work like this.

Copy the pics of the parts off this thread and take them with you to the plater... Tell him to make them look the way they should!

QUOTE

Don't use that stuff, it will just continue to piss you off everytime you see the piece.

Thanks, you're right. I'd be pissed/upset every time that I looked at one of the parts.

I'll call the guy tomorrow and see if he is willing to work something out. He did eventually respond with "if you're not happy with the parts, send back any of the ones that are not acceptable and I will redo them"

QUOTE (Doug Leggins @ May 10 2005, 10:49 PM)

QUOTE Don't use that stuff, it will just continue to piss you off everytime you see the piece. Thanks, you're right. I'd be pissed/upset every time that I looked at one of the parts. I'll call the guy tomorrow and see if he is willing to work something out. He did eventually respond with "if you're not happy with the parts, send back any of the ones that are not acceptable and I will redo them"

I'd have just pushed the box back at him. "Here...I'm not happy with these." You'll NEVER get your car the way you want it with those parts. You are going through GREAT pains to make sure your car is 1000% original...why put up with that shit.

I have stuff like that I 'settelled' for, and every time I see them, I get more and more upset. Mine was sone stereo stuff...Paid $5k for a CD player, and one of the LCD numbers was all messed up. It drove me nuts till I sold it.

looks like they were painted with that paint thats supposed to look like cad. Sorry, not to pile-on on ya. Every big project will have some setbacks. Heres a chuckle at my expense: I bring my engine parts to my machinist. So whats he do? Decides to go ahead and break his leg. Closes up shop for 2 months with my parts locked up inside. Another:I bring my 911 to the painter. How long, I ask. 2 months he says. Reminds of that movie the Money Pit. I stop by once a month for the next 6 months. Still not done. About the 7th month I stop by. Wow. No car. Worse - no shop! I ask the shop next door what up? They moved. Great, thanks for telling me. I go to their new location. Their new spray booth wont pass some voc certification. 4 more months until they finally finish. Turned out good though. So anyway, find a place that will do it right and move on. good luck.

QUOTE (Doug Leggins @ May 10 2005, 06:29 PM)

The parts are dull in many areas. Is this due to sandblasting?

The finished parts will only be as good as were provided to the plater, unless you requested some additional surface finishing work by the plater. A sandblast finish will not produce a very good CAD plated finish like I suspect you wanted. That said, the plater should have advised you on the outcome given you spoke to him specifically about the finish. No excuses however for the scratched parts. So, whether you're going to be CAD plating or anodizing, the better the surface, the better the results.

Andy

Just one of the reasons I am so pleased with my CAD plater. Wraps everything.
CCLINPLATEFORONE

looks like the shop is in to industrial plating. look for one that does automotive restoration plating.

my friend has a 55 chev pro-street, and needed to have his bumpers restored.
he had been looking at some of the bargain chomers at the swap meets,and thought he was goin to get a good deal until i showed him one a really good restored bumper, an dwe happened to run into to a plater at the show. he gave us his card and showed us one of the cars that has his work on it.

needless to say my buddie has some bitchin chrom work on his car now.[it's addictive. you can't look at bad plating without seeing how bad it is] .

it turns out, from talking with this plater, that the prep work and finish of the metal before plating is the most important part. just like a paint job.

the parts have to be worked and polished before there plated to have a fine finish. the stuff you got back looked like stuff going back on some industrial equipment.

I'd be super pissed! those look like Dammit! I would take the stuff BACK to the guy and make him do it again until they look like the photos on this thread, or at least get a refund and take them somewhere else!!

Looks bad... looks like they missed the "bright" coat altogether. If you look at the yellow zinc on your pedal assembly you'll see some of the bright coat on there. The nut on the clutch pedal. Granted, pedal assemblies don't generally come out pristine and shinny because often the pans are pitted and the pedals themselves are cast but you should be able to see the rainbow effect of the bright coat on the yellow stuff.

Many of those pieces should not have been media blasted. An acid wash does much better and leaves the metal smoother for final plating. This makes it shinny as well. If they blasted it or blasted it too much it will have a dull finish. It's fine when you're plating cast items like calipers or pedals from pedal assemblies but for front latches (EG) it makes the surface dull.

The sad thing is, I don't know if they can make it look better. If they've media blasted all this stuff then it may be too late.

I have a friend in Michigan that may be able to help you. PM sent

QUOTE (tat2dphreak @ May 11 2005, 05:47 AM)

I'd be super pissed! those look like Dammit! I would take the stuff BACK to the guy and make him do it again until they look like the photos on this thread, or at least get a refund and take them somewhere else!!

Although the plater should have advised his customer of the outcome, he is not to blame........you can't make sh*t into ice cream. A sand blast finish prior to CAD plating will yeild a poor resultant finish just like the ones pictured. I think the unfortunate issue here with all this, is of lack of complete knowlege. As others' have mentioned, different preparation techniques would have produced a more desirable result.

Andy

If you want to do a concours job, then carefully select the parts that get yellow zinc from those with silver zinc. The lower rear latch is not plated, but polished.

QUOTE

Although the plater should have advised his customer of the outcome, he is not to blame........you can't make sh*t into ice cream.

OH YES HE IS!!!

I gave the plater parts that were in pretty damn good original condition. The pick of the litter from 6 or 7 cars that were disassembled. The plater is the dumb ass that did the sand blasting.

Starting to get a bit pissed now about this whole thing

QUOTE (Doug Leggins @ May 11 2005, 11:22 AM)

Starting to get a bit pissed now about this whole thing

GOOD! You SHOULD be pissed. You should be so pissed that he steps back when you scream at him. Little bits of spit should fly from your mouth as you verbally assult him from across his counter...as you THROW the f-ed up parts at him.

*I* am mad about this...but maybe that's just because I'm one Doug to another...

I just talked to the plater. He was just a little less than open and cooperative at first. Then I presented my viewpoint and position including some good points on cost and quality that you folks have shared - (THANKS!!!). He then came around to talking about a resolution -That's a damn good step that I didn't expect from him!. In the end he agreed to re-do the parts at his cost to make me happy. I told him that based on the parts that he already provided, I wasn't sure that he knew what was an acceptable part and was not comfortable giving him the parts back to try again. He suggested that we do a couple of parts for a visual sample that we could agree on. Then redo the entire batch.

I've been dealing with vendors for years (Although based on how this ordeal has gone it's kinda of hard for even me to believe that I've worked successfully with hundreds of suppliers for many years). One thing that i hold VERY HIGH when evaluating a supplier is their ability to resolve a problem. Everybody screws up. The really good vendors know how to effectively resolve a problem when it occurs.

This guy sounds like he'll try to make it right. But I'm not yet sure that I willing to give him another try. IF, that's a big IF, I give this guy a try, will the parts survive another re-plate without harm?

Sorry for the soap opera like post, but you folks are a great sounding board and really are helping me through this mess- Thanks.

I think that I need to spend some time in the sandbox to bring the blood pressure down

QUOTE (CptTripps @ May 11 2005, 08:29 AM)

*I* am mad about this...but maybe that's just because I'm one Doug to another...

For all of you Dougs. My Farside weekly calender has a good cartoon coming up in a few weeks. A postman is looking at a sign on the fenced-in yard which reads "Beware of Doug". Doug is hiding behind a tree waiting for him to enter.

Okay. Back to the topic.

Those parts that you had plated were already blasted. That's why they look like they do now. Short of fine finish sanding all of them, I don't know how thoise parts could now be done properly (or the way you want them).

QUOTE (maf914 @ May 11 2005, 12:05 PM)

QUOTE (CptTripps @ May 11 2005, 08:29 AM) *I* am mad about this...but maybe that's just because I'm one Doug to another... For all of you Dougs. My Farside weekly calender has a good cartoon coming up in a few weeks. A postman is looking at a sign on the fenced-in yard which reads "Beware of Doug". Doug is hiding behind a tree waiting for him to enter. Okay. Back to the topic.

I don't think there is a "Doug" out there that hasn't had that given to them a bazillion times. We had a Curling team that was 4 Dougs. We all wore that shirt...kinda funny.

QUOTE

Short of fine finish sanding all of them, I don't know how thoise parts could now be done properly (or the way you want them).

He said that he would have to polish them to get the smooth iridescent finish.

QUOTE (Doug Leggins @ May 11 2005, 11:33 AM)

QUOTE Short of fine finish sanding all of them, I don't know how thoise parts could now be done properly (or the way you want them). He said that he would have to polish them to get the smooth iridescent finish.

There you go. I'd say give him a chance to make it right. In the end you may get even better than you wanted to begin with.

QUOTE (Doug Leggins @ May 11 2005, 08:22 AM)

QUOTE Although the plater should have advised his customer of the outcome, he is not to blame........you can't make sh*t into ice cream. OH YES HE IS!!! I gave the plater parts that were in pretty damn good original condition. The pick of the litter from 6 or 7 cars that were disassembled. The plater is the dumb ass that did the sand blasting. Starting to get a bit pissed now about this whole thing

Doug,

From your first post, I assumed you had the parts sandblasted BEFORE giving them to the plater; my wrong! In this case, you have a gripe with him.

Andy

QUOTE

He said that he would have to polish them to get the smooth iridescent finish.

He's lying unlesss he's talking about polishing the metal itself and replating. The finish can't be polished to give you the look you're after.

Also, when you go back to sample the few parts, wait. They can be plated in 5-10 minutes. You should be able to "see" the exact outcome and give a verbal "yea-or-nea" right on the spot.

I agree... if they've been blasted then you'll have a hard time getting what you want. He may have to "polish" the metal to the original stamped steel finish and replate them.

Doug
What a sick feeling you must have. I agree with everyone. the plating does not look right. Bxstrs. looks correct. It should have a satin or brighter finish. They probably ruined the finish by sand blasting. My local platers (now out of business) ran mine through a parts washer & scrubbed the parts with brushes to get the grease & debris off the parts. Some of my parts were like yours, but that's because they were in poor condition prior to plating. I sent 3-4 of everything I had & picked through & kept the best ones.

If you have other parts to be anodizied, send me a PM & I will forward a local (Detroit) company who I highly reccommend. Also if you want a chrome plater let me know.

Tom
BTW
Plating, painters & chrome platers can give you ulcers.

For what it is worth, I buff my parts with a fine wire wheel before I send them out for plating. It seems to help. There is a big difference in where you get your stuff plated!