chrome plating

[jeelanim]

how much would it cost to get a set of rims chrome plated and who would do it?

[sickhonda]

I don't know about the cost, most likely very expensive. Some wheel dealers on the web do offer chrome plating or a local plating shop can do it. Let your fingers do the walking. Check out your local yellow pages for “metal plating” or “anodizing”. In my opinion, stick with wheel dealers, they’ll do a better job.

Listed below are few in mind:

Wheel Creations Plus in Fresno, CA…excellent chrome job, from what I heard but might be too expensive.
Western Chrome (http://www.westernchrome.net)…great for wheel chrome job, also heard.
Discount Tire (swapping your old rims for chrome ones program) might be least expensive route, not sure of quality.

Below is a real clipping about chrome on Porsche (it could be any car in general). I consider this important reading before making any decision.

(Porsche issued a service bulletin recommending against chroming their alloy wheels. I've never read it, but as related to me by a Porsche dealer mechanic it observed that, at least with respect to the chrome plating processes usually used after-market on automotive wheels, there are a couple chemical/physical problems: a) chrome plating is porous (to water), and b) chrome plating has a different index of thermal expansion than the underlying wheel alloy. This sets the car up for moisture penetration and corrosion beneath the chrome layer which *inevitably* causes pealing and flaking. So far we would seem to have "only" a severe cosmetic problem. But that's not true, as I found out...

My particular '86 928, like most 928s, had its wheels chromed at the time of initial delivery. Right before I bought it the PO replaced all four tires. Two of the wheels subsequently but at different times developed mysterious slow leaks, which turned out to be the chrome plating peeling away *at the tire-bead to wheel-rim interface*. I believe this developed at that time because of the disturbance resulting from changing tires. In any case, I finally had to have all four tires removed *again* and a rim carefully scraped. I also am pretty sure that the problem would have recurred with each tire change, if not sooner.

My conclusion from all this is that after-market chroming of alloy wheels is not worth the risk and hassle. If I ever acquired a car that had chromed wheels again I would without further ado have the chrome stripped off and returned either to the factory appearance or have them polished, or get new wheels. I don't want to have to worry about leaks around the bead at 150 mph. IANAM (I am not a metallurgist) but I suspect there are chrome plating processes that would work and be reliable, if expensive. I just don't know how I would verify that myself.)

Not here to talk you out of it, whatever you decide to do, I wish you LUCK!

[sickhonda]

Just one more to add:

Victoria Tire & Wheel (www.victoriatire.com)

They offer "O.E.M. Chrome Exchange". They have extensive inventory of chrome plated O.E.M. wheels to swap with your old wheels. If yours is not available they can chrome plate your own wheels in 7-10 days.