Cadmium Plating

[Mulsanne Blue]

Does anyone have a good source for cadmium plating? Looking to have a couple brake boosters and their brackets done. Most on the web are in business for high production. I prefer the softer look over the brighter, shinier yellow zinc.

If this ends up being a dead end, has anyone achieved a close to "cadmium look" with the zinc? I've read that bead blasting prior to plating can soften the shine. Any experiences?

[mockingbird812]

If you are speaking of GM boosters from 60s-70s the plating is gold (zinc dichromate) not cadmium. You can talk to Steve Gregori up front to see if he can provide what you want.


http://www.brakeboosters.com/index.htm

[Markyodb2]

X2 on gregori. had a few done. come out great.

[m22mike]

Originally Posted by mockingbird812

If you are speaking of GM boosters from 60s-70s the plating is gold (zinc dichromate) not cadmium. You can talk to Steve Gregori up front to see if he can provide what you want.


http://www.brakeboosters.com/index.htm

Sam
Just curious, how did you determine they were zinc plated and not cad ?
Mike

[Mulsanne Blue]

0426 from the 1,100 mile 1970 z-28. Cad or zinc?

[Burd]

Booster Dewey in Portland. He did mine. Concours quality.

[mockingbird812]

Originally Posted by m22mike

Sam
Just curious, how did you determine they were zinc plated and not cad ?
Mike

I read Steve’s description.

[70post]

There is a test a plater can do to try and determine what the finish is. I believe it involves using a dab of acid and checking the reaction of the finish. I'm in the "camp" that the original finish was cadmium and not zinc. Both Gregori and Dewey do very nice work but I don't necessarily agree with any statements made regarding the original plating type.

Then again, I've never had the original finish on a booster tested so I could easily be wrong.

I had a buddy that sent his booster off to some place (Chevy related I think) that said they used cad to replate. He ended up having it redone by Steve Gregori. The "cad" guy's work wasn't very good.....probably more of a crappy prep process as the thing looked like it was prepped with a wire wheel before plating. The swirly/scratching was very obvious in the finish. So.....as you probably already know, even some places that make claims about "we only use the original type cad plating" may not be worth the $ if the end result has other problems.

Gregori oversees and/or does the prep work himself (I assume Dewey does as well but don't know for sure). What is fairly critical is the final prep/finish. The makeup of the plating chemicals has a huge effect as well. I have a zinc plater I've used that can produce what almost looks like flash chroming on clear zinc stuff....super shiny and bright. Other zinc platers I've used....not so much....finish varies from a nice looking "satin" sheen on down to very flat and dull/dry (inconsistent and probably b/c of chemical makeup and/or failure to rotate the rack while in the tanks).

If anything, Gregori's finishes are very consistent. It's apparent his plater is consistent in controlling the chemicals and plating process and that Gregori's prep work is also consistent from part to part.

[Kurt S]

I have a letter from Delco that states the plating on a 69 Camaro booster was zinc dichromate.

[Mr70]

Can we see that letter?
Is it a Zone letter or TSB?