Graves Plating in Alabama does outstanding work and expensive, but they may have closed shop?
Graves Plating closed down about a year ago.
I think most of the chrome platers I used over the years--the bulk of them during the initial restoration including Graves, one in Canada, and others in Michigan have closed. (Everything on my car was re-chromed except the little fresh air vent louvers.) That's the bad news.
The good news is that the need has not gone away and there are still plenty of shops around the country that can help you.
As an FYI while CA leads the nation in environmental laws, there's a lot on the books about plating and it applies nationwide due to EPA regulations, not state. The rules apply to the toxic chemical, the effluent/waste, and the air. So, everyone must be in some compliance in the USA.
One USED to be able to go across the border to Tijuana and get, well, a "Tijuana Chrome Job" but remember you get what you pay for, usually at least. I don't know if this is still done--you may know better than me. I do know that there are still places that do this, I just don't know if many Americans in SoCal drive across the border with car parts to be plated.
BTW in terms of pricing, over 25 years ago chroming everything was probably a $15-$20K job. In 2021, just the rechroming of the parts for my hard top was over $2K. It's never been inexpensive.
You need to stop emailing the shops and call them instead. That was true then and probably still true today based on the lack of response. My suggestion once you narrow down a few promising places is don't say, "I'm not looking for a show chrome job" thinking you can save money. Most shops have a certain quality standard. Let them explain their process and see if it fits your need and budget. Learn about the processes: do they do a copper strike? How much cleaning? Single or double strike of nickel? There's a lot to it...
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