Nickel plating in the west

[Lastminuteracin]

Can anyone recommend a nickel plater in the western US? Im in Ca and our epa makes it tough to do business here. Need my roll hoop and rear suspension rockers we done.

[David Ferguson]

There are several plating companies in Fresno, CA. Here is one I found. No personal experience, but I would look around that area, and go visit them.

http://www.commercialelectroplating.com/index.html

[stonebridge20]

Hold onto your wallet.

Nickel plating prices have skyrocketed in the past year.

[john f]

Hold onto your wallet.

Nickel plating prices have skyrocketed in the past year.

What hasn't ?

john f

[SteveG]

Hold onto your wallet.

Nickel plating prices have skyrocketed in the past year.

Nickel is used in EV batteries, demand is quite high right now.

[stonebridge20]

What hasn't ?

john f

True on the price escalation of everything but I was absolutely floored when I got my last plating order back a couple of weeks ago.

I've got a Chevron B45 that I need to get going on a restoration and damn near half of the whole car is nickel plated. I'm dreading the bill on that plating job.

[Rick Kirchner]

Vern's in Gardena is the gold standard. Still a bunch of places in LA.

What most people don't understand is the majority of the cost is in the polishing. You can lightly bead blast, then follow by hand sanding to about 500 grit, and then take it to your plater. It won't look like show chrome on a lowrider, but it will be plenty good for anything other than a museum restoration of a Penske chassis.

You can also look into electroless nickel - more durable, but I'm not sure if you can weld thru it. I had my pedals, shift linkage, ARB's and a bunch of other small parts done in electroless by a company in Indy. Shipping was not much.