Wheel re-chroming/refinishing etc.

Santa Gertrudis

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Dec 12, 2006
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Are there places that will refinish wheels or even re-chrome them if needed? Mine have had a hard life and need some hard core ass cleaning. They arent in bad physical shape or anything, just been neglected a little. I just really dont know what kind of place to trust with my wheels with you know? Anyway, thanks guys!
 
Plenty of places will re do them but be prepared to pay. Rechroming isnt as simple as just dipping them and sending them out the door. They need to be completely redone. Stripped, buffed, polished, and redipped. You may be better off just buying new wheels. I know my dad paid $250 per wheel and waited 13 months!
I can tell you from personal experience to stay away from a company called Nu-Chrome. My dad sent them the original set of Magnum 500's from his 69 Boss Mustang. They did a poor job buffing and polishing the wheel before redipping so the chrome isn't smooth and shiny. They are all full of sanding marks, and in the deep recess of the wheel, they are full of surface rust that wasn't there when he sent them in.
On one wheel they didn't even bother to remove the balance weight, they chromed right over it!
He sent out a good but used, original, set of wheels, and got back a useless pile of crap that have no place on any car, let alone a show car.

1. Compare the cost of newbies against the cost of re-doing yours and figure that your old wheels will still have some resale value to someone.
2. Find a shop that will guarantee their work 100%
IMO this is the most important. There are good jobs and their are bad jobs. You don't want scratched or pitted wheels sent back to you with a milky, dull, finish
3. Be prepared to wait a while, even the bad shops in my area are booked far in advance, the good shops will probably be a good long wait.

This is just my opinion based on what I have personally seen
 
I think what I might do is take them off and take em to a detail shop and let them work on em a little before I do anything else. I didnt realize the complexity of it.
 
This is what I plan on doing. The problem I have is its a white truck. Still not 100% sure if I like a black wheel on a white truck. My chrome is all pitted. I have a neighbor that owns a powder coating bussiness. All I need to do is have them sand blasted.
 
I think what I might do is take them off and take em to a detail shop and let them work on em a little before I do anything else. I didnt realize the complexity of it.

yea thats not a bad idea...find a well known detail shop and see if they can work their magic
 
I think what I might do is take them off and take em to a detail shop and let them work on em a little before I do anything else. I didnt realize the complexity of it.

That would be the most cost effective option, I'm sure they can hide the smaller blemishes but once chrome gets pitted and scratched there is very little you can do.
Get a Mothers Powerball mini and some kind of chrome polish and see what you can do yourself. After purchasing the powerball, all it costs is your time.
 
The small scratches really dont bother me that much. I drive my truck everyday no matter what. Its truly my daily driver. I expect some small scratches after 60k+ miles on em. I have a very small amout of surface rust going on though in some of the spots that are hard to clean. That and some hard core water spots and so on. Thats what I want to go away.
 
There are some refinishing kits that you can buy from Eastwood industries. This was what I was planning to do with mine
 
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