brauerbass
Registered
Ive decided to add a little chrome to the hayabusa for a winter project . After checking the board I couldnt decide on a place to send my parts so I did a little checking and found a place called Custom Works which is about a 4 hr. drive from me . After calling them with all the usual questions and CONCERNS I was invited up to take a tour of the shop and meet some of the people that would be processing my parts as well as get the process explained to me , so I decided to take them up on it. Upon arriving I was greeted by the ladies in the front office and did a little checking around in the showroom that had a window looking into the plating area ( never seen so many chrome sportbike parts ). They had the usual hayabusa parts plated that im told are for exchange and They have new parts from suzuki plated and ready for sale . I bought a chain guard that they have made for them and they plate . I did notice a few unusual parts like rear huggers and seat cowls plated . I met the owner and was taken into the plating dept . that is full of 400 gallon tanks filled with all sorts of acids that are bubbling by air pumped into them ( i was looking for a tank of shiny stuff ) they have huge transformer things hooked to them to charge them with electricity. The main tanks were copper , nickle and chrome ( in the tank chrome looks brown ) after being told about the plating process I was taken into the metal prep side and introduced to some of the metal finishers where the parts are stripped of paint , old chrome etc. then they are sanded and polished until smooth then sent to be copper plated and brought back and polished again until they have a mirror finish then they are nickle and chrome plated ( looks like lots of work ) they have people that do the custom plating buffing and they have people that do the production plating where im told they supply chrome to about 140 sportbike shops . I voiced a concern about them loosing my parts and was taken to where they do the inventory and a lady takes a picture of all the parts and puts it with your bill . They were unpacking a box from Osaka , Japan and I was told by the lady that they get parts from all over the world ( heck of a shipping bill) I left a box of parts and will post later how they look but if they look like the parts I saw getting boxed up they should look perfect. I ask about warranty and was told that all parts always have a lifetime warranty and if I ever have any problem with them just send them back for replating. They told me 3 weeks on my parts and normal time is 1-6 weeks depending on the season . Seems they plate plastic using some kinda process they invented , thinking about getting my seat cowl done for the shows this winter. All in all its was worth the drive and I learned alot that hopefully can help someone else . They did give me a neat information packet with some plating questions and answers , price list ,services and things like that that they mail out to anyone that request one so it may be something someone wants to look at if your looking to get chrome work done . The number to the office is (864)439-1944 or they have a website www.customworksplating.com ........hope this helps someone
