Old style cragar ss vs the new style ss

[Resurrected69ss]

Whitetop was the name of the place Bolton classic wheels? I called a place in California and they recommended me to him he does hexevalant chroming.

[whitetop]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Resurrected69ss</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Whitetop was the name of the place Bolton classic wheels? I called a place in California and they recommended me to him he does hexevalant chroming. </div></div>

That was not the name but it could have changed a name..the place I sent my wheels they did chrome plating on wheels I think mostly from manufacturers.
I will try to find the info.

[Salvatore]

You are the man Dave. Start writing the book!

[TheNovaMan]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: whitetop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I would suspect Cragar is having their chrome done offshore and the wheels are welded together in the US.</div></div> In 2006, Cragar started casting their aluminum centers and wheels &quot;offshore&quot; but welding the centers into the rims in the USA. However, they are now switching back to all made in USA (if the scuttlebutt I've heard is correct).


I called Stockton Wheel Service (Stockton, CA) in early 2010 about re-chroming a pair of Cragars, and IIRC they were still using the hexavalent chroming process at that time. That was almost 5 years ago, so they may have switched to trivalent by now.

When you re-chrome a Cragar, do you have to cut the center out of the rim shell before chroming?

[whitetop]

I tried to find the name of the co that did the hexevalent but could not find it..though they may have a new name.. From google it appears hexavalent has all but been banned in CA. I have the co's name at home somewhere. Yes you have to cut out the center and after chroming have it welded back together.

I had mine lathed out by a competant shop and then had the steel on the spokes built up by weld and then machined back down for a tight fit but not too tight-slightly snug. make sure you have the chroming co cover the steel tabs or the two pieces will never go back together and they can't make the chrome on the rim to thick. on one wheel I had to grind down the chrome on the backside of the steel rim to make it fit but you would never see this once on the car.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: TheNovaMan</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: whitetop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I would suspect Cragar is having their chrome done offshore and the wheels are welded together in the US.</div></div> In 2006, Cragar started casting their aluminum centers and wheels &quot;offshore&quot; but welding the centers into the rims in the USA. However, they are now switching back to all made in USA (if the scuttlebutt I've heard is correct).


I called Stockton Wheel Service (Stockton, CA) in early 2010 about re-chroming a pair of Cragars, and IIRC they were still using the hexavalent chroming process at that time. That was almost 5 years ago, so they may have switched to trivalent by now.

When you re-chrome a Cragar, do you have to cut the center out of the rim shell before chroming? </div></div>

[whitetop]

Here is the co that did these in hexevalant:
Impressions Plating &amp; Polishing
1223 N. Batavia St
Orange CA 92867
714-639-1371

They replated the wheels I had done by Pauls. I think it was $250-275 per wheel but all they did was strip off the chrome but kept Pauls underlying copper and nickel so not much buffing or prep work. I liked their work but by the cap they buffed the nickel down a tad too much and the copper was slightly showing through ..maybe a 1/4 x 1/4 area so no biggie.



Again NOTHING wrong with Pauls..I have had many items done by him.outstanding work but it is not Cragar chrome. Pauls shipped the wheels to me and as soon as I opened the box my heart sank because of the brownish tint.

[TheNovaMan]

Not knowing was killing me, so I called Stockton Wheel. When they re-chrome a Cragar, they cut the center out of the rim shell, send both pieces out for re-chroming, and then weld the center back into the original rim shell. I'm not sure how they avoid destroying the rim shell, but they claim they can reuse the original. It turns out that's a very good thing, because they can't get 15x4 rim shells anymore. I asked the man if he knew whether the chrome shop they use does hexavalent or trivalent, and he did not know. Right now, it runs about $325/wheel to have them do it. That sounds suspiciously inexpensive to me.

I also called Advanced Plating. They don't do wheels, but they do use hexavalent chromium in their baths [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[whitetop]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: TheNovaMan</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> but they claim they can reuse the original. It turns out that's a very good thing, because they can't get 15x4 rim shells anymore. </div></div>

My original were used. Again after lathing the wheels apart some of the steel tab is going to be gone so you have to have a welder build back the steel tab and machine or lathe it down to specs as it would have been before Cragar welded them together originally

[whitetop]

The wheels I had redone are a 100 times better than original Cragar quality. One wheel had the tire valve 3/4 across the opening between the spokes-not lined up properly and several places had poor casting quality( small air pockets in the aluminum) or indented bevels, gouge marks that were originally just plated over from the original Cragar plate job and Pauls fixed that up.

70's Cragar wheel quality was horrendous.

[BillD]

[quote=TheNovaMan]Not knowing was killing me, so I called Stockton Wheel. When they re-chrome a Cragar, they cut the center out of the rim shell, send both pieces out for re-chroming, and then weld the center back into the original rim shell. I'm not sure how they avoid destroying the rim shell, but they claim they can reuse the original. It turns out that's a very good thing, because they can't get 15x4 rim shells anymore. I asked the man if he knew whether the chrome shop they use does hexavalent or trivalent, and he did not know. Right now, it runs about $325/wheel to have them do it. That sounds suspiciously inexpensive to me.

I have had several pairs of Cragars done by Stockton and have been happy with the result. I do not know the type of chrome that was used but could post a photo of the replated wheels later if anyone is interested. I know the rims were taken apart before chroming as I was warned that they could break prior to starting the process.