The Finishing Touch chrome platers-anybody tried them?
sandman
motorcycle parts, located at 5580 Northwest Hwy? If so, I'd appreciate
any feedback either way. Currently frustrated with Courtesy in Villa
Park and looking for some place better. The communication issue is too
big with them- they aren't able to leave original details and finishes
on vintage parts, polishing off letters and numbers that devalue my
parts. Vintage 1970's parts are returned so over done that they look
like they belong on some chopper, even though I specifically asked
them not polish off original details. Not the first time, but it will
be the last. While there, I noticed some poor sod just left off an
original 19" Brit bike rim for re-chroming, a really cool nice
original part with DUNLOP Made in England and the size stamped on it
in big letters and numbers. Boy, is he going to be so pissed off when
he sees what they do to it!
And don't you dare recommend Griffin to me. He doesn't want or need
any more business, is the message I received when I tried him as a
trial test for five minor peices. Quoted 3-4 weeks turnaround time
("we're slow right now, your timing is good before the winter rush"),
4 months later and parts only partially completed, and I received no
communication at all from them, to boot. I picked them parts up anyway
so I could get on with my work. Fail.
There's also Sun Polishing and Plating in far western IL, I tried them
successfully a while back, but I really need to speak face to face in
the same language with the people actually doing the work, so my parts
aren't done incorrectly/devalued. Help!
Bill
I have seen some of their work and it was quite good. The detail work
was superior ie: I have seen a Triumph twin engine tag, Red on embossed
chrome tag, they did not polish away the detail.
Glenn Shriver
Yes.
They are the most expensive chrome plater I have ever not used.
I took a handful of parts to them.
Luckily they called later with an estimate--of over $600!
They explained that they only do 'show chrome'.
I didn't need show chrome.
I went back and got my stuff back--un-touched.
They actually did me a favor. I decided to powder-coat much of it, as that was factory original finish anyway. I was looking for a less flashy look anyway.
I think the bike came out looking better in the end.
I like Griffin Plating much better.
They have a sign in their shop, "We Don't Do Show Chrome."
Years ago, Griffin used to do all of Finishing Touch's chrome for them.
FT did the prep and so forth, and Griffin did the plating.
Now FT does it all.
I don't know--you might want show chrome.
Be sure and get an estimate before they start.
Otherwise, you might get an unpleasant shock.
just one man's opinion,
UG.
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Daren
wonderful job, yes it expensive, high quality chrome is expensive as
Glenn has already noted, you get what you pay for when it comes to
chrome. They do all of the chrome for Jay Leno's personal collection,
which includeds cars that there may only be one remaining example of
in the world. I highly recommend them if you are wanting high quality
chrome.
Beer Jordan
We have discussed plating companies before. There was a place (on
Fullerton I think) that got good reviews from a few VinMoto folks, and
not so good from others.
Winter is upon us and I for one would like one finished bike by spring/
summer.
I'm almost ready to get some plating done too. I just called Berteau-
Lowell and spoke with a guy named Jim who promptly told me he wasn't
interested in working on any old motorcycle parts at all, regardless
of what part it was.
There are lots of others in IL if you do a quick search on Google.
But in my wild imagination, I think that someone in the VinMoto
community should be able to step forward and actually suggest to the
group who does a good job.
It may be something that is actually not possible. I think a lot of
us would want a company that simply removes the rust, smooths out the
surfaces to an acceptable level and puts down new copper nickel and
chrome, just as thick as the original part received, and at a price
that doesn't make us want to spit.
I've only taken stuff to Courtesy in the past and yes they are very
expensive and they do "over-do" things. For instance, they told me
that they ONLY do show chrome. I figured "okay so that means it will
be shinier than new, oh well". But what that actually meant was that
all parts including bolts such as fork top bolts will go in as 23mm
and come back shiny and beautifully chromed but at some weird non-
exact size between 23 and 25mmm, for instance. Linkages that went in
rusty and included sharp right angles such as DLS front brake
linkages, would come back brilliantly chromed, but no longer has any
sharp edges and will not look original. I assume this is because they
grind away so much material and then build it back up with a lot of
copper nickel etc, that they can't guarantee the finished size to be
anything like it was originally. This may also be the case with
stampings on rims, fenders and what not.
So I too would appreciate some good advice as to which chrome plating
company does a good job of simply bringing the parts back to something
close to original spec, not over chromed or over done. Yamaha did a
terrible job of chroming back in the 50s and 60s...just enough to make
it shiny in the showroom floor, and a few years later that thin chrome
would just peel off. NOS parts on eBay would be no better.
Once or twice I've heard that at times Honda and Yamaha actually
skipped steps, for instance no (or extrememly minimal) undercoating
and then just a light coating of chrome, which led to this common
issue. I thought it HAD to have copper and nickel for the chrome to
even adhere...from what I have read. But maybe the Japanese back then
had figured out a way to eliminate those costly unnecessary first two
steps. Personally, I want something at least one step better than
that.
This may be a good topic to have in a links section. Also, any advice
for a good nickel and zinc plating company would be most helpful and
appreciated.
Cheers!
Beer Jordan
Bryan O'Shaughnessy
| ...the "oversizing" thing happened to the bumper and bolts for my brother's AMX. Came back from Courtesy and we couldn't get the bumpers to bolt up. had to grind off some of the chrome on the bolts and file the square holes in the bumper to get it mounted. Fortunately, none of this work shows, so no big problem, but I can't imagine what a pain it is for parts like linkages, where you need to move an adjusting nut/bolt. ---Bryan O --- On Thu, 1/28/10, Beer Jordan <polis...@yahoo.com> wrote: |
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Ash Hoffman
sandman
discussion- as you can tell, I'm very disappointed and frustrated with
Courtesy's results yet again. Seems as though I'm not the only one. I
can't afford to have any more vintage parts devalued by their work and
have to find somebody else that understands vintage originality and
cares. And you're correct, they're certainly not shy about asking top
dollar for what they do to your stuff- for example, how's $75 sound to
rechrome an RD400 handlebar that was pretty good to begin with? I
noticed the shop owner is now driving a brand new Ford F150 Harley
Davidson Edition- that's a top of the line $50,000 truck. Must be
nice. I now have to sell my rims at a loss and try again with yet
another set. I keep thinking how cool those original British Dunlop
rims were that they're doing next, and how they're going to have all
originality polished out of them like mine were. They'll be chopper
parts soon. Also, I'm grateful for the feedback on Finishing Touch, it
seems clear they're for the Pebble Beach Duesenburg crowd, not us
bikers. The search continues and I'll report back if I find a decent
place.