chrome my stock wheels?

[Guest masonvonritchie]

I was thinking about this... I've polished my wheels to an almost mirror shine a couple times. But they need it pretty often. I know a guy with an H2 that chromed his and they turned out really nice. So I figured, why not do it with my zx rims? I have the 6 spoke rims. Ive never heard anybody having problems with it. Can anybody give me a reason not to do this?

[Savage42]

The better prepped they are, the better they'll turn out and since you've already polished them, you're good to go. I've seen a set of ZX 6 spoke wheels that were chromed and they looked sweet! I'd do it!

[260ZRED]

a couple reasons: you loose ability to buff out scratches. rust can form - just look at any old chrome wheels. chrome itself can be chipped away by debris, rocks etc.

 

last but not least, you're adding weight.

 

if you do polishing right it will stay perfect for maybe a day, at least here in Houston. But take some Mother's and it all comes back. Even a week or a month after you polished them.

 

give us some pics in either case!

[Guest Phil1934]

Several people have used and recommend Zoop's Seal, mix 2 parts and apply and let dry.

[Dead Roman]

Polish them and have them powdercoated with a high gloss clear. You will have a gorgeos highly durable wheel.

 

oh, by the way, im a powdercoater

[frank280zx]

so when you caot the wheel is it more durable than just clearcoat, since with clearcout you seem to get corrsion under the coat layer pretty fast.

Also to answer the queation to chrome or not... i would not but that is because i prefer the look of polished alu it has a blueish gloss i tend to like

[Dead Roman]

so when you caot the wheel is it more durable than just clearcoat' date=' since with clearcout you seem to get corrsion under the coat layer pretty fast.

Also to answer the queation to chrome or not... i would not but that is because i prefer the look of polished alu it has a blueish gloss i tend to like[/quote']

 

yeah with coat its generally about 10 times as durable. plus you can buff out scratches that are a lot deeper. As long as the prep on the metal is done right you arent going to have to re-finish em for ATLEAST 10 years depending on usage(off-road wheels generally see more wear hehe)

[Guest masonvonritchie]

Yea I'm probably not gonna go offroading in my z anytime soon so I don't think I'll have to worry about it. I've heard about that zoop seal stuff but I forgot about it. I might polish my wheels up again and give a shot.

[DaleMX]

Plating aluminum can be tricky. If you just plate to it without anodizing them first the plating will peel. Aluminum forms an oxide when exposed to air and the oxide breaks off easy. So before they can plate to it they have to be anodized, then copper plated (fills in gaps and levels) and polished, then nickle plated, then a quick shot of chrome.

[Guest Magnum Rockwilder]

last but not least' date=' you're adding weight.[/quote']

 

Chrome doesn't add any weight to speak of. I've seen entire sport bikes get every metal piece chromed including the frame and gain <5lbs. The plating is so thin that it doesn't add much.

 

Oh, and I forgot to add that the <5lbs weight gain was most likely from the paint. We send the plastic bodywork out with stock paint and get it back with upwards of 10 coats of paint.