Rechroming +2 front and rear lights

[john.p.clegg]

Jono

Have you left any mazak to be plated?

John
P.S.

Just left my rear bumper to be re-plated in Failsworth Manchester...estimate ?150.00 and 10 days....

[jono]

Hi John,

I am drip feeding parts on an as needed basis so no Mazak left just yet. I did show them a + 2 front light and they quoted ?70 + VAT, so no doubt more for a rear light.

I will be interested to know how your rear bumper turns out as at that price it doesn't sound silly.

Jono

[john.p.clegg]

Jono


Well there lies the problem,no doubt it will be nice and shiny when fitted....but three years down the line?

John

[JJDraper]

I got my +2 brightwork, less the lights done at Brighthouse Metal Finishers in Peterborough (UK), used by Spyder and several other professionals. Knowledgeable, likeable, fastidious, slow and a tad expensive (but can't argue with the finish). As to how long the finish will last, I will let you know in three years! The car will be in use all year round and is not garaged. Lights were deemed to be OK, with a little light(!) pitting, which doesn't seem to have got worse over the last 9 years. It seems that when monkey metal goes bad, it really goes, but if it is just lightly pitted it survives well enough. Luck of the draw. I remember a tale that the castings used in dinky/corgi model cars went through a really bad phase of rapid ageing and going very brittle. This was traced to the habit of the foundry workers of flicking their ciggie ash and butts into the pots of molten metal. May be an urban myth, but the metalurgy of Mazak is pretty hit and miss...

Jeremy

[jono]

Just got back my door frames and spinners from Derby Plating - absolutely stunning

The depth of finish is simply superb, I am qwuite staggered at how good it is, certainly better than when new I would expect.

Expensive but worth it

[john.p.clegg]

Jono

Got my bumper back last week,I'm gutted,some ba**ard polisher has ground off the bottom lip,don't ask me why? ,it now looks shiny but looks like the replacements-no lip!!!

If no satisfaction I'll be forced to name them...
More later..

John

[Craig Elliott]

John - I suspect you already have in an earlier post......?? C

[seaandmoor]

Ok, day of revelation for me tomorrow when I go to Derby Plating to collect my front and rear lights.
This is an eight hour round trip but as the Post Office have lost ?1000 of electronic ignition equipment and courier has smashed ?650 rack with both wriggling out of the insurance I paid, I only deliver and collect by hand from now on!
Don't let it happen to you!

I'm told the process involves polishing off the old finish, removing and filling the holes followed by plating with copper, then nickel and finally chrome and buffed to a mirror finish.

I just hope that I'm happy with the end result and that it's durable. As for the ?440, there is quite a high cost in the purchase of the chemicals and also in the disposal of the spent by products of the chroming process... I'll have to try and think of it as ?44 over the next 10 years which doesn't seem unreasonable.

As a comparison I've also taken some parts to another company for re-chroming by the same process and pick those up tomorrow aswell.

Will report back on both of them next week.
Regards, Seaandmoor

[andyelan]

Hi Everyone

Based on various recommendations (thanks Jono) I took my rear bumper bar to Derby Plating yesterday. They appear to have a lot of work on at the moment so it won't be done till mid February but I'll report on what sort of a job they've done when I get it back.

Andy

[Jason1]

Hi Everyone

Based on various recommendations (thanks Jono) I took my rear bumper bar to Derby Plating yesterday. They appear to have a lot of work on at the moment so it won't be done till mid February but I'll report on what sort of a job they've done when I get it back.

Andy

Hi Andy

Did they give you an idea of how much a rear bumper is to re-plate?
I have pondered about buying an original rear bumper, but am scared by the re-plating costs.

Jason

[andyelan]

Hi Jason

?360+VAT. It's a lot of money but I'm lucky as it's the only item on the car which needs plating so I can afford to splash out a bit. Somthing I was pleased about was that when they quoted they took the price from a book they have which specifically lists the Elan Plus 2 bumpers. To me that shows they know the job and are not just pulling figures out of thin air.

One thing I did note was that the rear bumper is around ?120 more than the front. This they say this is becaues it's much more difficult to polish due to the thin metal and the lip running around the bottom edge. John might find that comment interesting

Regards
andy

[john.p.clegg]

Andy

I hope you're not taking the p*ss,otherwise I do find it most interesting..

John

[andyelan]

Hi John

I don't take the p*ss

I've got one shot to get this done right which is why I'm prepaired to spend this amount of money. Based on your unfortunate experiance I've specifically stressed that the lip around the lower edege of the bumper must be maintained, but time will tell if they've taken notice to what I've said. I only have the one bumper so if they muck it up, then I'm stuffed.

Regards
Andy

[Robbie693]

My chrome was done by Derby Plating (albeit 18 odd years ago ) and it appears they did a good job. It all looks as it should and there is little deterioration to the finish, just a couple of blisters on the top of the rear bumper.

Not commissioned by myself I should add. Hope this reassures.

Robbie

[john.p.clegg]

Andy

Glad to be of service - re. letting them know about the lip.....I just have to wait till the New Year to see what is going to happen about mine..

John