wicked1
Member
So true. But now that I've thrown my tantrum I'm ready to just get it fixed and go on!I'm sorry for how customer service treated you, that was definitely uncalled for, but unfortunately jimizee028 is correct...I know it sucks.
Nothing Important Just Venting!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter wicked1
- Start date
Mickeetwo
Guru
Thats the attitude I was looking for
Space Coast in Melbourne Fl. does wheels, they re did Skids front wheel looks great! They have done several Sissy Bars for me as well.
jimizee028
TRUE COLORS COLLISION
Browns dont do rims......
Nukeranger
Nukeranger
:2thumbs:Thanks for the info.
wicked1
Member
Getting some pics up today. So you all can see how horrible it is.
Big Dog Mastiff
Steve
Sorry to hear about your situation but i think we've all experienced something like this at one time or another with customer service. The question I keep asking myself about all the chrome peeling off is what is the common factor? I'm sure there were several different companies chroming various parts so it can't all be faulty chrome application, just my 2 cents. How and where do you store the bike, inside/outside, high humidity, high tempature swings, etc.? What types of cleaners and polish do you use? Anyone you don't like have access to your bike?
MARV
Well-Known Member
I'd like to know where to get the cleaner that removes decent chrome.
Area 51 maybe?
wicked1
Member
Thanks for your 2 cents. This was the first time that I ever had to deal with a situation like this. With the chrome and the service. So I'm a new at it! No one has access to any of the bikes. They are all kept in a heated and cooled pole barn. I am the only one how rides and cleans all the bikes. And I use S100 cleaners. I use it on the 4 other bikes with great results. I keep it covered. The other bikes I don't cover. The temp is about the same all the time. I don't know...driving myself nuts trying to figure it out. So tomorrow I'm riding it to the shop to start the process of stripping it down and getting it re-chromed. If you have any ideas about what could have happened let me know. I don't wanna do this again!
Brew
Troop Supporter
Mikie is correct! Browns plating is currently doing wheels, I have an email from them stating that they are once again in the wheel business...:2thumbs:
Nukeranger
Nukeranger
Oh, thank goodness. That's good news about Browns plating.
TapioK
Well-Known Member
This is not my wisdom but from an article. After seeing more Big Dog chrome around I think they just cut bit too many corners to save money in chroming. Now we are paying for it.
"Peeling chrome?
If your chrome plating is peeling, this is virtually always a manufacturing defect due to insufficient adhesion of the plating to the substrate. Although exposure conditions can certainly harm chrome, and discolor it or make it pit, they won't make it peel! It can be very difficult for a plating shop to get good adhesion on some things (most commonly on alloy wheels because they are not pure aluminum), but if they can't do it they shouldn't sell it. If your parts have peeling chrome, you should complain and not be deterred by nonsense about chemicals in your garage, how frequently you wash the wheels, etc. We'll say it again, we're that sure: peeling chrome is virtually always a manufacturing defect.
Decorative Chrome Plating
Decorative chrome plating is sometimes called nickel-chrome plating because it always involves electroplating nickel onto the object before plating the chrome (it sometimes also involves electroplating copper onto the object before the nickel, too). The nickel plating provides the smoothness, much of the corrosion resistance, and most of the reflectivity. The chrome plating is exceptionally thin, measured in millionths of an inch rather than in thousandths.
When you look at a decorative chrome plated surface, such as a chrome plated wheel or truck bumper, most of what you are seeing is actually the effects of the nickel plating. The chrome adds a bluish cast (compared to the somewhat yellowish cast of nickel), protects the nickel against tarnish, minimizes scratching, and symbiotically contributes to corrosion resistance. But the point is, without the brilliant leveled nickel undercoating, you would not have a reflective, decorative surface.
By the way, there is no such thing as "decrotif chrome plating". That is just a misspelling of 'decorative'.
Buzzwords: "Show chrome", "Triple Chrome Plating", "Double Nickel-Chrome"
"Show chrome" probably means chrome that is good enough to be on a winning entry in a car show. Although most OEMs rely on the "self-leveling" property of nickel plating to give sufficient reflectivity to roughly polished steel, chrome-lovers believe that the key to "show chrome" is to copper plate the item first and then buff the copper to a full luster before starting the nickel plating.
Whether you start with bare steel or buffed copper, at least two layers of plating follow -- a layer of nickel and a layer of chrome. But high quality plating requires either very thick nickel or a minimum of two layers of nickel.
Salespeople are always looking for advantage, and they will use any good-sounding terms they can get away with! There are no laws that define what triple chrome plating actually means, so salespeople will be prone to call their service "triple chrome plating" if there are a total of 3 layers of any kind of plating, or "quadruple chrome plating" if there are 4. So those terms mean little.
By the way, tri-chrome is not an abbreviation for triple chrome, and hex chrome does not mean six layers. But more on that later . . .
The most important issue for durable chrome plating for outdoor exposure such as on a vehicle is that it should have at least two layers of nickel plating before the chrome: namely semi-bright nickel followed by bright nickel. The reason for this involves galvanic corrosion issues. The bright nickel is anodic to the semi-bright nickel, and sacrificially protects it, spreading the corrosion forces laterally instead of allowing them to penetrate through to the steel. OEMs demand very close control of this factor, and there is a test (the Chrysler developed STEP test) which large shops run daily to insure the right potentials. Careful control of this issue is probably the principal reason that today's chrome plating greatly outlasts the chrome plating of earlier times. If a restoration shop offers only single layer nickel plating, they must apply it really really heavy if corrosion resistance is to be guaranteed.
Experts argue whether copper plating provides any additional corrosion resistance at all, but with or without copper plating, chrome on top of a single thin layer of nickel will not hold up to the severe exposure of a vehicle! Industry professionals call the two layers of nickel "duplex nickel plating", and that would be a much better term to use than "triple chrome" and such.
Restoration Work
Chrome plating is hardly a matter of dipping an article into a tank, it is a long involved process that often starts with tedious polishing and buffing, then cleaning and acid dipping, zincating (if the part is aluminum), and copper plating. For top reflectivity "Show Chrome", this will be followed by buffing of the copper for perfect smoothness, cleaning and acid dipping again, and plating more copper, then two or three different types of nickel plating, all before the chrome plating is done. Rinsing is required between every step.
When an item needs "rechroming", understand what is really involved: stripping the chrome, stripping the nickel (and the copper if applicable), then polishing out all of the scratches and blemishes (they can't be plated over and any scratches will show after plating), then plating with copper and "mush buffing" to squash copper into any tiny pits, then starting the whole process described above.
Unfortunately, simply replating an old piece may cost several times what a replacement would cost. It's the old story of labor cost. The new item requires far less prep work, and an operator or machine can handle dozens of identical parts at the same time whereas a mix of old parts cannot be processed simultaneously, but must be processed one item at a time. If a plater has to spend a whole day on your parts, don't expect it to cost less than what a plumber or mechanic would charge you for a day of their time."
TapioK
Well-Known Member
In case you are interested to read more… Finishing: Anodizing, Plating, Powder Coating, & Surface Finishing
DemonK9
Active Member
Fuck it! No really.... Fuck it! I don't even wash my bike anymore. I run this fucker into the dirt, fix it and run it to hell again, I love my bike, I understand it's bullshit. Roll your sleeves up tear that fucker down, fix it, an ride that bitch like a borrowed rented Russian whore!
It's only you standing there, your friends ran in the house, do you bitch down or beat that car load of fuckers down.... you'll do just fine! Hell your the shit already you own a Bigdog! Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
It's only you standing there, your friends ran in the house, do you bitch down or beat that car load of fuckers down....
you'll do just fine! Hell your the shit already you own a Bigdog! Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
PaulHart
Well-Known Member
May be time to consider some powder coating. Truly make that bike your own.
Sumax - Demand the Best!
Sumax - Demand the Best!