How do companies go about making the chrome and black pearl emblems out of the stock ones?? It cant be nearly as expensive as the markup they have...

 

ask paul wall

 

seriously

 

Economies of Scale; i.e. the more you make of something, the cheaper it is. A few thousand badges are expensive to manufacture, market, and distribute. Plus, the market is willing to bear the cost, so why shouldn't they charge as much as they do?

 

how many people really buy these? i've asked for pictures a lot and only seen 3 car's with them there is just no point in charging way over double actually 3x the price, but that isn't the question I ask, I ask how to do it on your own

 

ttt

 

ttt

 

Chrome-plating is an electro-plating process (gold plating works in a similar manner). I would first check with local powdercoating/industrial coating shops in your area, as they deal with this type of work often.

If you can't find any coatings shop, take the emblems to your local Harley Davidson store, and they will most certainly know of a local company that can do it, or they'll be able to send out your emblems for you. They should be able to do varying shades, or traditional chrome.

This isn't a DIY type of job. Hope this helps.

 

ahhh thanks for the info, is stuff like this expensive to get done?

 

It's completely dependent on the shop you take it to. The good thing about taking it to a bike shop, is that they usually send out small pieces (exhaust pipes, covers etc) for their customers all the time, so they'll be able to handle a small order like yours and send it along with one of their other orders.

I would estimate that having all of your emblems done would probably run about 1/2-3/4 the cost of buying all brand new chrome/black chrome ones. The savings won't be earth shattering.

 

Not entirely true as electroplating is only one method for chroming of parts.
Another method is a vacuum process... most commonly used for plating of plastic parts... check out CV Vacuum Platers -- I had some plastic parts on my old G35 plated using this company.

 

My Fairlady Z Emblem From the Rear....Is Not chrome as the stock "350 Z" Emblem. Are all Of them that way or are there other ones that is chrome like the stock 350 z emblem?