Contempl;ating getting some, but I hear only horror stories about chrome wheels, cant really be bothered to change wheels everytime they salt the roads tbh.
Contempl;ating getting some, but I hear only horror stories about chrome wheels, cant really be bothered to change wheels everytime they salt the roads tbh.
The stock chrome rims will not hold up in the salt. They say its best to polish them and wipe them off every week. It will prolong the process. In the end it will ruin them. Your best bet is to keep the rims you have and put snow tires on them. Buy a nice set of chrome rims with nice summer tires and rotate them every season.
I had chrome wheels on my old pickup and although I cleaned them pretty much everyday through winter the chrome still started to fall off, I wouldn't recommend getting them in this country, they do look good but you would only get a few years out of them before they looked crap.
My opinion on Chrome wheels and the British climate differs from the main and apologies as I don't want to 'teach people to suck eggs' but.... these are my thoughts...
Although lacquered painted/powder coated finishes seem to be less prone to failure there is no reason that a quality wheel with a quality finish will not hold up in our climate if one is prepared to devote the same attention to their maintanance as bodywork etc. which in allot of cases doesn't happen. Other than poor paints/lacquers and/or poor application and curing during the finishing of wheels the biggest reasons that wheel finishes will deterioate/fail is poor maintenance or not using appropriate cleaners and waxes/sealants. Most will adequatley protect their car paintwork with a wax or sealant and wash regularily, but less thoroughly clean and treat their wheels. Two 'demons' for wheel finishes are brake dust and chips. Brake dust which is shed in the main from rotors is obviously extremely hot and whilst it cools before hitting the rims it is still hot enough to cause pitting, which in turn gets under the finish and allows moisture to enter and start peeling. A preventative measure is to use a heat resistant sealant such as GTechniq C5 Wheel Armour or Nanolex Premium Wheel Seal followed by regular applications of a wax or sealant such as AF Mint Rims (wax) or FK 1000P (sealant). Yes these products are a tad dearer than 'off the shelf' stuff but they last much longer and importantly... work. Another cause of deteriorating finishes is failure to repair a chip or scuff, for example most would very quickly repair any stone chip to their car bodywork as it could lead to more damage to the paintwork, but how many would do the same for the wheels? any untreated damage to the finish of the wheels will have the same effect i.e. allow the ingress of the elements.
Personally I'm also not a lover of the chemicals used in high street car washes or those used by some 'corner hand car washes'. In most cases to speed up cleaning they pre spray highly concentrated APC's or 'bug removers' which can strip waxes/sealants and if not thoroughly cleaned off I believe causes much of the damage people see on grilles etc. I also am not fussed with Acidic wheel cleaners since if you treat your wheels you'd never need to use it.
Soooooo... my 'five pennies worth' is if you're prepared to devote the time to them and spend a few pennies on decent cleaners and waxes/sealants along with selecting quality wheels to begin with they should last as well as any other finish.
When selecting wheels, check the small print of the maunufacturers warrenty program. When we were researching wheels to add to our shop we spoke to many suppliers and manufacturers but very few offer full 12 month warranties for the wheel finishes and in fact some actually state that the wheels should not be used during winter conditions and if their use during (to recollection) October and February was suspected any warranty or claim under would be void. The wheel manufacturers/suppliers we selected all offer a 12 month warranty on wheel finishes with no winter months 'cop out'.
If it was a true "hard chrome" electroplate....I don't think it corrosion would be nearly as bad would it? I have some firearms hard chromed, and the stuff is practically indestructible. No rust, no scratches, no nothing!
My opinion on Chrome wheels and the British climate differs from the main and apologies as I don't want to 'teach people to suck eggs' but.... these are my thoughts...
Although lacquered painted/powder coated finishes seem to be less prone to failure there is no reason that a quality wheel with a quality finish will not hold up in our climate if one is prepared to devote the same attention to their maintanance as bodywork etc. which in allot of cases doesn't happen. Other than poor paints/lacquers and/or poor application and curing during the finishing of wheels the biggest reasons that wheel finishes will deterioate/fail is poor maintenance or not using appropriate cleaners and waxes/sealants. Most will adequatley protect their car paintwork with a wax or sealant and wash regularily, but less thoroughly clean and treat their wheels. Two 'demons' for wheel finishes are brake dust and chips. Brake dust which is shed in the main from rotors is obviously extremely hot and whilst it cools before hitting the rims it is still hot enough to cause pitting, which in turn gets under the finish and allows moisture to enter and start peeling. A preventative measure is to use a heat resistant sealant such as GTechniq C5 Wheel Armour or Nanolex Premium Wheel Seal followed by regular applications of a wax or sealant such as AF Mint Rims (wax) or FK 1000P (sealant). Yes these products are a tad dearer than 'off the shelf' stuff but they last much longer and importantly... work. Another cause of deteriorating finishes is failure to repair a chip or scuff, for example most would very quickly repair any stone chip to their car bodywork as it could lead to more damage to the paintwork, but how many would do the same for the wheels? any untreated damage to the finish of the wheels will have the same effect i.e. allow the ingress of the elements.
Personally I'm also not a lover of the chemicals used in high street car washes or those used by some 'corner hand car washes'. In most cases to speed up cleaning they pre spray highly concentrated APC's or 'bug removers' which can strip waxes/sealants and if not thoroughly cleaned off I believe causes much of the damage people see on grilles etc. I also am not fussed with Acidic wheel cleaners since if you treat your wheels you'd never need to use it.
Soooooo... my 'five pennies worth' is if you're prepared to devote the time to them and spend a few pennies on decent cleaners and waxes/sealants along with selecting quality wheels to begin with they should last as well as any other finish.
When selecting wheels, check the small print of the maunufacturers warrenty program. When we were researching wheels to add to our shop we spoke to many suppliers and manufacturers but very few offer full 12 month warranties for the wheel finishes and in fact some actually state that the wheels should not be used during winter conditions and if their use during (to recollection) October and February was suspected any warranty or claim under would be void. The wheel manufacturers/suppliers we selected all offer a 12 month warranty on wheel finishes with no winter months 'cop out'.
Rant over.... lol
Your right, the wheels shouldn't have a problem with winter salt but even though mine were quite expensive (2.5k) DeCorsa wheels the chrome still failed, you say use wax but it was the inside of the spokes that failed and led to corrosion of the inner rim. I used Poor Boys wax on the wheels but its quite hard to get every part without removing the wheels every few weeks which is not really practical in winter.
Unless you've had chrome wheels its easy to say how you would look after them but its not that easy in practice if you use your car everyday, unless you want to be outside cleaning them every night.
I still say, if your using your car through winter stick with powder coating.
i think you will find you can hard chrome steel but not alloy. you need to bronze that first so the chrome has something to stick to. thats where the issue comes with wheels as thats what breaks away.
buy stainless if you can
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22" Vossen 5" lips
Rolled arches
Corsa catback
AFE11 CAI
Diablo Predator
T Stat mod
QTP cut outs
King springs
Your right, the wheels shouldn't have a problem with winter salt but even though mine were quite expensive (2.5k) DeCorsa wheels the chrome still failed, you say use wax but it was the inside of the spokes that failed and led to corrosion of the inner rim. I used Poor Boys wax on the wheels but its quite hard to get every part without removing the wheels every few weeks which is not really practical in winter.
Unless you've had chrome wheels its easy to say how you would look after them but its not that easy in practice if you use your car everyday, unless you want to be outside cleaning them every night.
I still say, if your using your car through winter stick with powder coating.
Appreciate what you're saying about maintenance Rob and that where your Corsa wheels finish failed would be nigh on impossible to stop, just trying to make the point as you have made that meticulous maintenance is required, and that particular wheel finishes such as chrome shouldn't be blanket 'no go' areas. It's more a question of how many miles a car does in naff conditions when the roads are salted. If you do a fair few, then no, Chrome Wheels are probably not right, but if you do fewer miles (like mine) then with proper care they should hold up.
I've had 2 sets of chrome wheels. The first I ran for 5 years straight & cleaned them every week and protected with wax. After 5 years the backs pitted completely and there was some corrosion on the fronts. These were good quality Lexani wheels. My mistakes with them were not cleaning the wheel backs and running them in the winter.
I've had my Asanti's (as in my avatar) for 2 years, wash them once a week with car shampoo and take them off for winter. I initially used Begoms Chrome polish and used wax to seal them but now I have GTechniq C5 on them. The backs get cleaned when they are off for winter.These are holding up much better and have no signs of corrosion.
My advice would be to only go with chrome if you have the time to take care of them, use a specialist wheel sealant, only use car shampoo to clean them and nothing harsher than a wool wash mitt or a set of wheel woolies, and don't use them in the winter due to all the salt on the road. If you have to use a wheel cleaner on them at any point then use a non-acidic one like Autobrite Very Cherry or something like Iron-X. Never get them cleaned at a hand wash or car wash. I also ensured that the dealer never cleans them either.
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