Clearcoat problem: Please Help!!!

[Limit]

My rims look like crap! I bought them somebody must have used a chrome polish on them by mistake or did something wrong. I've got 7 pictures to try and show you what they look like.

What's the most cost effective way to fix this? I don't want new rims, at least I can't really afford them right now. Is there a way to make them look better without taking them off the car/tire?

I appreciate all the help guys, this is biggest flaw and I always get comments like, "You've got to clean those rims"

[dave6666]

That looks like damage to the clear coat from a caustic wheel cleaner. Doubt there's an answer you want to hear. My opinion is they either need stripping and re-clearing, or stripping and polishing to be left bare. Maybe someone else will have a happier reply.

[Hisserman]

Check this other link that is running about clearcoat:

wheel clear coat

Your clearcoat is "clearly" damaged. The link above contains yet another link that tells you how you can strip the clearcoat yourself and then polish the wheels up. Takes a little elbow grease, but certainly a job you can do yourself. Good luck.

[99 R/T 10]

Looks like you have the 96 GTS wheels, I would suggest chroming, but that weakens them even more than they already are. Best to just re-polish them.

[Purdue_Boiler_Viper]

Originally Posted by 99 R/T 10

Looks like you have the 96 GTS wheels, I would suggest chroming, but that weakens them even more than they already are. Best to just re-polish them.

I'm curious. What is the mechanism by which the wheels will be weaker by chroming them?

[99 R/T 10]

Since the 96 wheels are cast, the 97-98 wheels are forged, I believe it due to the casting(weld in the ceter of the rim) that makes them weaker. It's been a while and many cases of people that had failures on the old board that were posted. Might want to search the archives for the info.

[SuperSaiks]

It definalty looks like someone sprayed sometype of cleaner degreaser on the wheels , you can see the spray dots etc. Just take your wheels to a wheel repair shop and either have them repolish your wheels and clear coat them or get them chromed.

[Purdue_Boiler_Viper]

Originally Posted by 99 R/T 10

Since the 96 wheels are cast, the 97-98 wheels are forged, I believe it due to the casting(weld in the ceter of the rim) that makes them weaker. It's been a while and many cases of people that had failures on the old board that were posted. Might want to search the archives for the info.

I took a look at some of the older threads on this. Anyone know if the cast wheels are two piece wheels? If so, I could see where there might be an issue if there was any rewelding done as part of the chroming process.

I also looked at some other forums on this subject. There are a lot of statements about chroming causing weakening. I’m skeptical that chroming good wheels with a good process weakens them to any significant extent.

The ways a wheel would be changed would be by thermal means, chemical means, or galvanic coupling causing corrosion. A poor chroming process could cause any of these, but if done correctly, I would think that the chromed wheels would not be compromised, unless the wheel itself was of poor quality to start with (e.g. porous cast).

I took a look at Calchrome, and they first remove any old finish (paint), then etch the aluminum surface, then plate with copper, then plate with Bright Nickel, then chrome. The nickel is probably done so that you are not plating chrome to copper, which would be a worse couple than chrome to nickel, leading to corrosion. In other words, the copper to nickel couple is not bad, and the nickel to chrome couple is not bad, so overall galvanic corrosion would not be a problem.

The etch would remove a little aluminum, but hardly enough to cause a significant weakening. The wheel will be heated through the various steps, but no doubt not even close to the temperature required to anneal the metal or cause any other metallurgical changes.

So, my bottom line would be to check with whoever is doing the chroming, and make sure they do a quality process like Calchrome. The only process step that would make me nervous is if part of the process requires any significant thermal event, like welding.