We are talking about chrome plating... right? Chroming is expensive, no doubt about it. If you can find a place that will do it dirt cheap and the quality is good, go for it. Just about anything can be chrome plated. It goes through several stages before it is chromed. I think it is dipped in copper also. Here is a sample process by a good chroming company.
The preliminary "body work" is done. This involves a series of buffing and polishing phases that prepare the metal to be plated much like body work is done toprepare a car before it gets painted.
The first step is to Copper Plate using 2 different types of copper solution. Cyanide Copper and Acid Copper are used to fill pits and cracks on old parts to achieve unprecedented show chrome quality. Our Plating Technicians use copper to build the parts in thickness and to achieve the highest quality finish.
Some parts require deep metal restoration. The elementscan damage parts enough that they require Silver Solder to repair the pitting. Pitts are filled with Silver Solder before any other process begins.
Your parts are plated with copper again and again untilour technicians are confident that the finish will be absolutely flawless. Nickel is applied. Hexavalent Chrome is applied. All parts go through a rigorous inspection before they are packaged and approved for shipment.