The outfit I work for recently bought a chrome shop - Industrial Plating and Grinding of Sheridan, Wyoming. They do hydraulic cylinder rods - up to 20+ feet long. This is not decorative work. However ......plating the stressed suspension components of an automobile crosses over the line between shiney bumpers ..... and the hard parts that have fatigue loads etc. 

I asked their tech guy about hydrogen embrittlement - this is the same term (and problem) as is used with welding (with wet electrodes). For items under 30 Rc (thirty points Rockwell "C" scale) - this is slightly greater than the strength of an SAE Grade 5 bolt - they recommended the part be baked. The parts must go into the oven within 4 hours of plating and stay there for four hours after they soak to 375° F. When I asked about the necessity of the four hour window, they didn't have any real answer - just that it was standard practice. For hardend parts like aircraft grade AISI 4340 (300M) the temp didn't change - but the time went up to 24 hours.