Zinc plating vs replacing

[DMCNY]

I'm curious about having some of the misc. parts on my car re-zinc plated vs replacing them.

Has anyone done this and done a price comparision, and have you found someone who does the re-plating?

I know a few of the parts are no longer avalible from DMC thats why I'm leaning towards the replating vs replacement. Is it more economical to replate the obsolete parts and just buy the avalible replacements?

[Mark D]

Re-plating is usually a lot cheaper than replacing. Take off all the parts you want plated and find a local shop to do them all at once. Should only cost 30-40 bucks for misc brackets and hardware. Possibly less if you do the prep work (degreasing and bead blasting) ahead of time and all they need to do is plate the parts. Professional Plating is the local place I use here in WI, but there are similar places all over the country.

If you're looking to keep the yellow zinc looking yellow and not oxidize spray the freshly plated parts with a light layer of clear coat and give the paint a day or so to cure before installing.

[DMCNY]

Re-plating is usually a lot cheaper than replacing. Take off all the parts you want plated and find a local shop to do them all at once. Should only cost 30-40 bucks for misc brackets and hardware. Possibly less if you do the prep work (degreasing and bead blasting) ahead of time and all they need to do is plate the parts. Professional Plating is the local place I use here in WI, but there are similar places all over the country.

If you're looking to keep the yellow zinc looking yellow and not oxidize spray the freshly plated parts with a light layer of clear coat and give the paint a day or so to cure before installing.

$30-$40 bucks?!?! WoW! Thats dirt cheap! I thought it would be a lot more than that.

I tried doing a search for anyone local who does it, but came up dry. I guess I'll have to expand my search.

Another question I forgot to ask: Is it best to have all the parts sandblasted beforehand, or is that something best left to the replating co.?

Edit: "Possibly less if you do the prep work (degreasing and bead blasting) ahead of time and all they need to do is plate the parts."
I reread and saw this after.

[David T]

Check on Eastwood. They sell all kinds of stuff for refinishing including tumblers to clean them up. You can also buy kits to do plating. Try Caswell for that. Even if you buy new parts you may not get the look you are expecting. Doing it yourself you can control the appearance of the finished product.
David Teitelbaum

[DMCMW Dave]

The platers will be well-versed in metal cleaning. I find it's best to let them do it.

Also - zinc is natively a silver color. If you ask for "yellow zinc" it's a second stage treatment. Sometime in the past year the EPA changed regulations on what can be used for the yellow color (apparently it was something that isn't "environmentally friendly"). Some platers just stopped doing it, but if they use the new formula the yellow color is different than it used to be. To my eye it's more yellow than gold. And a bit more fragile, unfortunately.

I'm starting to find that hardware (nuts, bolts etc.) is getting harder to find in the gold color.

[tgraham]

Has anyone done this and done a price comparision, and have you found someone who does the re-plating?

I suspect that you'll find re-plating used-but-good parts is going to be a LOT cheaper than buying new parts... however, if you're doing the prep work, you'll spend a lot of time prepping the parts. So, the question becomes: how much is your time worth? :) I also had a hard time finding someone who would A) do yellow zinc plating and B) do it in a small batch. Regular/silver zinc is no problem, but the yellow chromate is harder to come by.

I've gone through re-plating the vast majority of the yellow zinc bits on my cars. Usually the parts are so filthy when removed, I scrub on them in the degreaser, then glass bead blast them myself. The plater will chemically dip them too. Do what Dave suggests and see what they'd charge to take care of that. Unless you like to do things the hard way (like I always seem to end up doing)...

I've taken a few boxes with a whole DeLorean's worth of plated parts and each time got out just under $100. Maybe this is because I did the lion's share of the prep work? I don't know. This was also a cash operation with no receipt needed. According to my plater of choice, the iron bits (brake calipers) have to go down a separate line from the steel bits (everything else), which doubles the cost.

IMO, plating is the way to go! It looks great, lasts a long time, and it's the original treatment.

I've never been able to find a good source for M7 yellow zinc fasteners... I was admiring some wall bins full of new M7 hex bolts in the DMCH shop area last weekend, though those could have been from Belfast!

Travis

[DMCNY]

Thank you for all the tips and advise guys.

I've tried searching for quite a few hours for someone local who could do the plating for me and keep coming up empty.

Would any of you be willing to let me send the parts I want replated and have them done? I can pay you for your time of coarse.

I don't want to do every part on the car but would like to do a few. Right now I'm working on doing the front end but would like to have a few of the rear brackets redone as well. I'm not planning on going and doing the full shot with calipers and everything.

Here's the list of parts I'd like to have done.

Lower raditator brackets
All horn brackets
Front brake dust shields
Steering rack mounting brackets
All muffler brackets
Throttle spool bracket

I can also sandblast all the parts if it will make it better. I've actually already sandblasted one of the lower rad brackets and one dust shield.

If you can, work up a total price for everything and I can send out.

Thanks again!

[Mark D]

If you're going to have to send parts out I'd recommend just sending them right to the platers. Here's the place I've used in the past.

http://www.proplating.com/finishes-barrel.php

They do everything in big batches so it shouldn't cost you any more to just have a few parts done than if you were getting them done as part of someone else's batch.

They do hex-free yellow zinc as well as e-coating, powder coating, etc. I work for an OEM fire truck manufacturer and we use them as well at work.

[DMCNY]

If you're going to have to send parts out I'd recommend just sending them right to the platers. Here's the place I've used in the past.

http://www.proplating.com/finishes-barrel.php

They do everything in big batches so it shouldn't cost you any more to just have a few parts done than if you were getting them done as part of someone else's batch.

They do hex-free yellow zinc as well as e-coating, powder coating, etc. I work for an OEM fire truck manufacturer and we use them as well at work.

mjdehlin, I emailed them last night and they told me they don't do off the street work. They only do work for businesses.

[Mark D]

Well WTF, that doesn't make any sense at all. Did you email sales? customer service?

When I dealt with them a couple of years ago I mentioned the company I work for, but I made it clear that it was non-work related parts that I was sending them.

The website also clearly says "no job is to big or small". I'd give them a call and see if you can find someone who knows what the deal is.

On the website they list prices for powder coating exhaust parts, rims, fenders, frames, and all sorts of other parts that your everyday auto enthusiast would want redone.
http://www.proplating.com/specialty-coatings-prices.php

Maybe they have different policies with their zinc plating line?

I'm curious to call them too and see what's up since in the future I've got a few more parts I was going to have zinc plated.

[DMCNY]

Well WTF, that doesn't make any sense at all. Did you email sales? customer service?

When I dealt with them a couple of years ago I mentioned the company I work for, but I made it clear that it was non-work related parts that I was sending them.

The website also clearly says "no job is to big or small". I'd give them a call and see if you can find someone who knows what the deal is.

On the website they list prices for powder coating exhaust parts, rims, fenders, frames, and all sorts of other parts that your everyday auto enthusiast would want redone.
http://www.proplating.com/specialty-coatings-prices.php

Maybe they have different policies with their zinc plating line?

I'm curious to call them too and see what's up since in the future I've got a few more parts I was going to have zinc plated.

I emailed under thier contact page: "planning/quotes"

[email protected]; [email protected]

I exchanged a couple of emails with Matt Schwoerer. I didn't save the emails as I deleted them as soon as he said they don't do off the street.

I asked about having a few automotive brackets re-zinc plated yellow. He emailed back to send over the blueprints. I told him I don't have blueprints they are just a few brackets that need re-plating. Thats when he replied they don't do off the street work.

I guess the economy is getting better when people turn down $$?

[DMCMW Dave]

If you are not in a huge hurry you can send them here. We have a local plater that we use and I've done a couple of mail-order plating jobs. The reason I mention being in a hurry is that the less stuff I take in at one time the more it costs. We just got a batch back so it might be a while. Depending on how much you have it still might be worth it to run them alone (i.e. don't just send in an alternator bracket and want it done by itself).

[DMCNY]

If you are not in a huge hurry you can send them here. We have a local plater that we use and I've done a couple of mail-order plating jobs. The reason I mention being in a hurry is that the less stuff I take in at one time the more it costs. We just got a batch back so it might be a while. Depending on how much you have it still might be worth it to run them alone (i.e. don't just send in an alternator bracket and want it done by itself).

Dave, that sounds great! Thank you!

I'll have several pieces to have done, so I'll get the rest of them off this weekend and get them boxed up and sent out to you. I also need to order a few parts from you as well so this should work out good.

Thanks again!

[DMCNY]

There was a package on my door step today when I got home from work... :)

http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=6784&d=1321127016

Thank you so much again, Julee and Dave Swingle @ DMCMW!!!

These came out beautiful!!! Great communication and SUPER fast turn around on these.

Could ask for better folks to do business with!

[Mark D]

Those look great! :thumbup:\

Dave & Julee FTW!

I'm going to be re-plating all of my brake calipers and all the misc. mounting hardware and brackets... was the price good on having all of your parts done?

I'd rather go through DMCMW if it makes sense to. Can the platers do really small parts like all the little pins and spring holders found in the parking brakes? I'm kind of afraid to send all that stuff in a big pile and have pieces missing when it comes back.

EDIT:

Also, did you send in the parts as-is or did you sand blast everything first?

[Ozzie]

Another DMCMW plating testimonial.

This was on the old site, so let me take this opportunity to repost it. Dave plated some DeLorean and Supra parts in March 2011 for me, and they turned out great (see pic). Very reasonable cost and turnaround, with great results.

http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=6809&d=1321212185

[DMCMW Dave]

Dave & Julee FTW!
Can the platers do really small parts like all the little pins and spring holders found in the parking brakes? I'm kind of afraid to send all that stuff in a big pile and have pieces missing when it comes back.

EDIT:

Also, did you send in the parts as-is or did you sand blast everything first?

No need to sandblast or clean, the plater does all that. Small parts get tumbled rather than blasted. If the parts are very pitted they will come back looking pitted, this can't solve cancerous rust!

It is nice if you degrease everything.

We do brake calipers all the time, but they are heavy to ship in and out. We send in boxes of hardware (everything off the engine mostly) and they rarely lose anything, although quite honestly I don't count small parts. The only thing that seems to have a problem is the small metal brake line on the front or rear brakes. There is an original coating on them that does not always seem to come off and they come back about half plated. A second trip through fixes it.

The problem sending small parts in here is that if I have to separate it from my stuff it costs more. Not a big deal with parts like brake calipers but if you send in a bag of hardware we'll have issues, or I'll be running it as a separate job and it will cost more.

I've had them plate everything down to the hitch pins on brakes and it all comes out good.

You have a choice of yellow or white (silver). On the car most everything plated is yellow except for the throttle springs, which I get done in white if possible but not always. Here are some samples of what it looks like.

Cost is hard to predict, it's generally based on how much I can fit in a bucket. Generally a boxful like you see here runs $25-$50 + shipping. If they have to do a lot of manual blasting it will be more. Timing is also variable, if you send in a few items and wait for my next trip it might be weeks. If you want a special run where I have to make an extra trip, it is faster but I'll charge more. This is definitely more of a courtesy item for me than a high-profit process.

6811 6812 6813 6814 6815 6816 6817

[DMCNY]

This is definitely more of a courtesy item for me than a high-profit process.



...and it's greatly appreciated Dave. :)

[Mark D]

Dave thanks for the detailed response with all the info. I've been sandblasting all the individual parts as I go so I've got about half of my calipers and parking brakes torn down and cleaned. It's no problem for me to clean the rest of the parts as I go... that way the platers can just do their normal prep cleaning/wash without having to manually bead blast anything.

I'll probably have enough parts to justify doing a separate run. There are a lot of small pieces too that wouldn't be possible to sort through when it all comes back.

When I'm ready to ship everything I'll just shoot you an email or call your shop. I'll probably be a while yet as I tear everything down. Thanks again!