The grill on my 60 has seen better days with the center tooth being broken and the rest being moderately pitted. I need some help in making the decision whether to replace the damaged tooth and re-plate the rest or to just buy a new matched set. Any comments on quality and correctness of repro teeth on the market would be appreciated
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Re: C1 grill teeth
John,
I replaced the grille teeth on my '58 about two years ago. I bought them from C.C. they are re-plated G.M. parts, not repro's for about $150 with hardware, I think you can have decent units re-plated cheaper than buying from C.C. (hindsight being 20 - 20 here).
I have the seven center teeth left over which need plating, the two outside units are broken. E-mail me direct if you are interested.
Let us know how you fare. -
Re: C1 grill teeth
Mark, I appreciate the info and the offer of your center tooth but after contacting 5 different chrome shops this afternoon and being advised to purchase new teeth by all 5 I guess that is the direction to take. Most said that even without the pitting issue that they could not re-plate them for less than the cost of new. Is this what other people are finding?Comment
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Re: C1 grill teeth
John, After working many years in a plating shop I can attest to the rumors that they have ruined many a precious part. First as you've experienced their expensive. Second many polishers remove far to much metal when trying to remove pits resulting in sharp edges changing shape. Often crisp lines such as on grill teeth become rounded, these look shiny but are obviously not correct. If however, you do have a irreplaceable part there are procedures such as copper plating first and then silver soldering in the pits that work quite satisfactorily prior to the actual plating process. Myself I used repo teeth over a replated bar on my 60 and was quite satisfied. Regards LarryComment
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Re: C1 grill teeth
One thing that I recall about some repo grill teeth is that the front edge was not a sharp as it should have been. The same thing occurred with an original set of grill teeth that had been replated. In both cases, a minor deduction was made during the judging of those cars.
If you decide on the repo teeth, compare the sharpness of the teeth with an original tooth. Run your finger along the forward edge of an original, never replated tooth, then do the same with one of the repo teeth. It should feel about the same. If not, then it really isn't a good repo.
If memory serves, the NCRS judging manual actually indicates to check the sharpness of the edge, and states that repo teeth may have less detail than an original. The key here is "does it appear to be original?" Of course, if judging / originality is not an issue for you, no problem. The repo teeth that I saw looked very nice, just not quite "right".Comment
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