1970442w30post

Has anybody done any powder coating over chrome wheels with a chrome (ish) color?

My non stock wheels are a chrome outer ring with an alloy 5 spoke center. The chrome has started to rust and flake, and the chromer does not seem too interested or feels that rechroming is not a option. I have read that I may be able to seperate the wheels and weld on new chrome outers, but not sure about that......

So I guess my real question is.....how good (or not good) does a chrome (shiny) powdercoat color look over a properly prepared surface such as a wheel rim? I am looking at three colors (chrome around the perimeter, clear over the bead blasted spokes and a satin black in the middle) to keep the stock apperance and save the wheels.

Aceshigh

I have 5 SSIII"s in great condition I'll sell ya.

Never seen a chrome powdercoat in person myself.
I have polished aluminum rims I'm going to powdercoat black in the center , and POR15 clear coat the edge for a lasting shine appearance.

Indy_68_S

I've seen 'chrome' powdercoat that was done on antique bicycle parts like handlebars, springer front, chainguard, etc...

Guy was using the pieces as demos for his shop/process.

Sufaces had been prepped/smoothed well AFAIK. It looked OK. Kinda looked like slightly dulled chrome with a thick clearcoat....

jensenracing77

X2
they call it extreme chrome in the powder coat color. i had an oil tank and motor mounts done on a 4 wheeler in that color. it don't really look like chrome to me. it looks good but not chrome. the other problem is that as it weathers with road grime it will dull a little. i will try to get a picture of the parts for you that i had done.

1970442w30post

Thanks! an actual part versus one of their "under the bright lights" photo shoot photo would help..

jensenracing77

these pictures were taken by the same camera in the same lighting for a comparison. the 4 wheeler parts were powder coated in 2004. they are just a little more dull than they were new but that new shine was gone the first year. the color was the same but just more shiny.

100_0102.jpg?t=1294189252

100_0105.jpg?t=1294189302

100_0106.jpg?t=1294189331

1970442w30post

Thanks!!

Aceshigh

Looks like regular aluminum finish instead of chrome on those parts.

If you want a chrome finish cheap, this is your next best bet.
Spray on Chrome. Then clear coat it with the POR15 stuff.

70Post

If you are instead interested in restoring those cool Motor Wheel Spyders to like-new condition you need to find someone else to do the work.

People regularly have new chrome rims put on those wheels.....you don't have the old outer rims rechromed. I've had it done also. Not a cheap proposition to do but it's regularly done if that is what you are really wanting to do.

1970442w30post

Got a name of a company that you would recommend?

70Post

One place you can try is Stockton Wheel (California). What they basically do is cut away your old outer chrome rim and weld a new one on in its place.

If I can think of some others that do this I'll post or pm you.

Pricing isn't the cheapest thing around....probably at least $150+ or so/wheel and then you have shipping both ways. Also...the time to refinish or do whatever you want to the aluminum centers would be when they are separated from the old rims so it's easy to envision an additional round trip on shipping (at least for the bare centers) to work over the centers.

As an alternative, you can beadblast the aluminum centers with the old chrome rims in place and pretty much get all the surface area clean.

I would do any final paint or finishing steps after the wheels came back from re-*******.

Avoid blasting the aluminum centers with any type of heavy grit sand.....you don't want to change the surface texture of the cast centers which would probably happen if they were blasted by a typical commercial blasting service (they use heavier grit sands and medias....garnet mineral, #4 sand {the light brown stuff}, etc).

Glassbead would clean the surface without changing the texture of the "cast" looking areas. Clearcoating, while possibly protecting the aluminum center, will tend to give the BLASTED areas a "greyish" look instead of the brighter "silvery" look that a freshly glassbeaded cast aluminum piece would have. Also...a portion of the aluminum centers is a smooth polished or machined finish on those wheels so if you blast them you will change the "look" of those areas. Not a problem, however, as you can go back and re-polish those areas with some fine grit sandpaper for the factory look (or even take it further for a highly polished aluminum look).

With re-******* you can get a decent width rim put on them...lots of these Motor Wheel Spyders came with 6" rims which really limits the tire width selection. On top of that you can go from a 14" rim to a 15" rim. Changing rim widths also means you would likely need to specify what offset you want.

70Post

Looking at the pic of your wheel in your first posting....is that the worst one?? Doesn't look like a terrible amount of rust on there.

Have you tried a good "detail" cleaning of the chrome rims?? Meaning, getting them clean first and then using a good chrome polish to brighten up the chrome where its still nice. Then, get in there and really clean around the areas where the rust is. You may find that a lot of what you think is 'rusted areas" is actually rust stained areas of the chrome. You see this alot on old chrome rims. You have the area where the actual spot of rust has broken through but over time with water, etc getting on those spots the still-good chrome next to the rusted spot starts getting stained.

If a lot of that is just staining adjacent to the actual rust spots then you might consider a serious, time consuming cleaning as an alternative.

The old chrome on these wheels was very good stuff.....probably a lot better stuff than what is used today. Sure, you will likely have some scratching and such on the old chrome but if the outer chrome layer is still in decent shape many times it'll come back and look nice and shiney.

I wouldn't use anything too abrasive if you try to clean the rims....the old Dupont chrome polish is great stuff (brown liquid in a bottle). I'd even be wary of using 0000 Steel Wool as it could scratch the chrome if used aggressively.

If you find that the "rusted" areas are actually a lot smaller than they appear after cleaning, you can also pick away any loose rust and try to cover up those rusted spots with a silver or chrome paint.

This is another alternative...and a heck of a lot less $$...mainly your time and effort. If you find the chrome comes back pretty nice then you could consider refinishing the centers with the original rims still in place.

Right now all you are seeing is a dull chrome rim next to a dull aluminum center (with a dull black center "volcano" area).

1970442w30post

I am going back down to the resto shop this weekend.. I will spend some time cleaning on the wheels and see what I come up with!
Thanks

hamm36

Just to beat a dead horse. Here are some parts I had powered coated to look chrome. It was a test to see if it would work. I did not use them.

"Kinda looked like slightly dulled chrome with a thick clearcoat."

70Post

The "chrome" powdercoats seem to look like the Jet Hot coating you see on many headers these days.

Now...there are some new paints out that supposedly can get you VERY CLOSE to the look of chrome but they are very time consuming to use, you'd likely have to strip away some or all of the plating that's currently on the rims, and I suspect these finishes are not cheap at all to buy and use. Some even have their own specially made paint guns and other equipment that must be used.

So...the $$ would rack up QUICKLY and possibly exceed the cost of having new chrome rims put on.

AND THEN---you have the durability problem with any of these new "chrome" paints. A wheel isn't a part that is exposed to easy use or an easy environment.

I'm sure some of the suppliers/sellers would tell you "this stuff's great, it's bulletproof" , etc.....but it's still paint.

As I mentioned before....trying a real good cleaning and chrome polishing is worth your time on at least one wheel. You could take it a step further and pick the worst one, clean it, and then consider trying to restore the center aluminum part. The only downside is your time and whatever it costs to have someone beadblast the center if you don't have access to that equipment.



Of course, then you'll have one wheel that looks a lot different from the others.