posted 11-18-2005 07:38 PM         

No doubt your grill looks GREAT!!.....but for me, there's no way your grill is chromed three times better than the cost of what it cost to chrome my grill. My grill was chromed at Custom Coatings in Florida. Also..my grill IS "properly coated", and it looks great and it has held up great.

Hope I'm not sending too much of a mixed message. But..as always, we welcome vendors who provide quality Products and wish you well. I'm SURE there will be a market for this quality product.

[B]

quote:

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Originally posted by obi-wan:
In approx. 3 weeks(I hope) I will have my first properly chromed original grille. .... These are show chromed!!

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Personally, my factory original grille was "properly chromed" as well, by Custom Coatings in Florida over 6 years ago! My car has appeared in numerous "shows" which would therefore qualify this as a "show chrome" finish in my opinion.

Perhaps you didn't intend on "slighting" those that were "pioneers" in getting factory grilles chromed, for far less money too, I might add, or didn't mean to imply that ours are inferior in either quality or looks ... but that is how it came across to me at least.

I am quite pleased with the look of my grille, and others that have seen it are too.

posted 11-18-2005 11:57 PM         

The root cause of the problem getting the grill chromed is not getting the chrome on it as much as the prep work to get it ready to chrome and making a jig to get the plating to flow correctly. Making sure thru each process coat the grill is polished smooth.

DC did not chrome the grills from the factory as they could not get the chrome plating that would satisfy them.

Custom Coatings did my 1st one ($300)and it looked good in the cra and most everyone that seen it wanted one.

My understanding of the problem is they sold the business, then the problems began to get them done.

I then went to Advanced Plating ( I'm thinking they were $695), Scott had a grill there when I stopped by and they were having problems but thought they had it worked out and after seeing my chrome grill in the car did one for me and finished Scotts.

JD got one done and was not happy with it and they said after a few more grills NO MORE PROWLER GRILLS. Mine was nicer than the Custom Coating but they didn't get the top done like it should but the rest looked great.

So one more plater that decided not to chrome the Prowler grill.

Then NORB stepped up and said he would try and get the stock grill plated. He thought he had a grill lined up to work with but ended up not getting it. I had an extra silver grill and offered it to him to work with.

This grill was sanded smooth on the bottom of the fins and plated to show quality. Norbs 1st thought on the cost was in the $700 range I think, but after the prep time and the cost to plate it I think it was something like $1,200 exchange.

But due to the cost and the fact NORB needed to turn many more than orders coming in I'm not sure anyone other than mine and Scott got one from him.

Now as you can see each one of my grills got more expensive. Was I happy with each one, Yes, to a degree.

Ed Monahan has my Custom coating, Dave Mills has my Advance Plating and I have the one Norb had done for me. I'm done trying to help out the other owners get a chrome grill since everyone wanted better quality than was out there or a better price.

Scott is right on the prep time to get the grill ready to plate. Pay him, pay the plater or do it yourself, have you got 20 hours to do fine detail work to prep it and what if you screw up? How many hours did he spend to get it down to that?

Now for those that want a QUALITY PIECE and want a CHROME GRILL try and find a place to do it for less and you will have several Prowler owners wanting their number.

I LOVE ALL MY CHROME GRILLS.

Good Luck Scott

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Larry & Sue Mayes

posted 11-19-2005 03:00 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by ed monahan:
Obi-wan, Congratulations, you offended Ray and Chromer in one post! lol

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LOL,, Everyone has different levels of what they consider "acceptable", that's where the difference lies. Everyone with chrome grills (got rid of mine a long time ago), should look under the fins, and on the vertical fins. That's the difference between show quality and run of the mill chrome work.

quote:

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Originally posted by jd2ksilver:
LOL,, Everyone has different levels of what they consider "acceptable", ... That's the difference between show quality and run of the mill chrome work.

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There are lots of people it seems with more money than brains in this big round world ... and even a good handful that will even go so far as to lay on their backs to justify spending that money needlessly on something that can hardly be seen ... Custom Coatings, in their day, did a fantastic job on my "run of the mill chrome work" and again ... at $300.00 is a 1/4 of this "option" as I would NOT have a chrome grille at this price, couldn't afford it. No offense to Obi-wan ... but as Halicat said ... this really SHOULD be in classifieds, no?

posted 11-19-2005 09:50 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by Ray:
There are lots of people it seems with more money than brains in this big round world ... and even a good handful that will even go so far as to lay on their backs to justify spending that money needlessly on something that can hardly be seen ... Custom Coatings, in their day, did a fantastic job on my "run of the mill chrome work" and again ... at $300.00 is a 1/4 of this "option" as I would NOT have a chrome grille at this price, couldn't afford it. No offense to Obi-wan ... but as Halicat said ... this really SHOULD be in classifieds, no?

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Your on the boarder of pissing me off Ray. You have been on the edge for awhile now. You want to over? Or will be the same meek exit from you when you tried to stir the pot up with Mike K on the vendor post?

I have had BOTH grills, from BOTH vendors. Both promised show quality work. (know what that is?) Both were inferior IMO. I didn't have to lay on my back to see the difference.

Stay with what you have, no one will know the difference.

It's the little details that make the difference between what is done right, and what is "run of the mill".

I have much more brains then money, maybe a higher level of what is "acceptable", but much more brains than money.

posted 11-19-2005 09:54 PM         

Speed cost son, how fast do you want to go?

Holds true for;
Quality cost, how good do you want it to look?

posted 11-19-2005 10:12 PM         

If you walk up to chrome grill, (that has been at least polished). The top fins reflect what the bottom of the fins look like. (get it, like a mirror).

So, if the bottom of the fins are not finished, that is what you see.

Like a mirror, get it?? no need to lay on your back.

Does not even take a lot of brains to figure that one out, does it?

Ok, I'm done for now, except this.

I have not see Scott's current grill, we live about 2 miles from each other. Nor will I have another chrome grill. But I do know this has been a obsession with Scott to get a high quality grill out. All of his final products are very high standard. Most of my car's hardware has been dressed out by his stainless, polished, or chrome bolts, nut covers, caps.

posted 11-19-2005 10:16 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by 1buddyc:
Easy, Big Guy....

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Ok Buddy, for you I will, .

thanks

BTW all my pics from Curtis's daughter Amanda's wedding didn't turn out that great in the lighted room.
It was great to see you again, and such a good time at the wedding. Curtis and Kathy were beaming, along with the bride and groom.

not here... people are less likely to be critical there,

It was posted in Discussion and that's what you got.....DISCUSSION.....!

maybe DC doesn't patrol this forum section as much as the classified section searching for their pound of flesh...