Having alloys chromed

[classicsl]

I have a later r107 SL with the 15 hole alloys. Seen some US versions with the chromed finish. They look pretty smart, wondered if anyone knows how much this is likely to cost to have them finished in chrome, and the sort of place that would make a good job of it, thanks

 

[Howard]

Would look very B-L-I-N-G !! i reckon

only problem would be our damp climate, this might affect the finish after a while, pitting etc . salt on the roads in the winter.

I'm not suggesting you would, but if you kerbed a wheel and took the plate off , then the elements would get under it pretty quick and then it would look poo !! i would imagine having a wheel re-chromed after a kerb incident would be a bit more expensive than a skim and spray !

Sorry to sound pessimistic..... perhaps have a set of chromes for the summer and normal alloys for the winter ?

 

[Ian B Walker]

Hmmm thinking out loud here. Alloy, chrome? I am wondering if you are meaning highly polished, as from my recollection you cant chrome alloy (yes I know, someone is going to prove me wrong). Even so they would be hard to keep clean in our weather,

 

[pammy]

What wheels are you looking to chrome - perhaps a piccy would generate opinion on whether they would look right - if you want that of course

I'm not sure you can chrome alloy either - but I do think the right chrome wheels would look good on that car as it's an older one anyway. Looking after chrome is a nightmare - but if you have the will then go for it.

 

[jaymanek]

The polished versions in the US do look good, but woulnt last 2 mins in the UK.

 

[classicsl]

ok sorry, seems like i got confused between polished and chrome but from your replies it seems it wouldnt be too practical in our climate, thanks for responses

 

[fuzzer]

spinners have the same problems with salt getting to the bearings on the spinner.

 

[Webby]

Where did fishing come into this discussion?

 

[philimayfield]

I had a VW Golf Gti 25th. Anniversary Edition from new a couple of years ago. It came with 18" very highly polished and lacquered alloy wheels as standard. After just one winter they started to become very milky under the lacquer. The whole set were replaced under warranty without question and I subsequently learnt that this was a common problem.

Phil

 

[sportyreptile]

That highly polished effect is called Diamond Cut, looks very bling but not very practicle.

The standard painted finish looks much better on referbished/new wheels.

 

[classicsl]

by the time i get around to having this done the effect of global warming will have truly kicked in, the polar ice caps will have melted, holland and belguim will be no longer with us, and birmingham will be constantly at 35 degrees with palm trees, therefore the bling polished alloys will be perfect!!...not that i am not an organised person of course!!

 

[Chrono]

Alloy wheels can be chromed. Chrome plated alloys are an option on Chrysler PT Cruisers so they must have some ability to withstand the UK climate and road salting, etc. I imagine that kerbing would be bad news by damaging the chrome plate and allowing corrosive elements to get underneath. This is less of an issue on older cars like 107s because the tyres are higher profile and so kerbing isn't so easy. I would suspect that finding someone to chrome them over here would be more challenging and time consuming than importing them ready chromed. You can then recoup some of the cost by selling your existing rims. There are plenty of adverts in American car mags like Road & Track, or try Google - here's one for starters: http://www.aaarims.com/specials/mercedes.shtml

Chris

 

[Will]

Alloy wheels can be chrome plated - there are a few specialists in the UK who can do this. I happened to stumble upon this one the other day whilst looking for an unrelated item on ebay!
Chrome Alloy Plating

Other than the PT cruisers, some Ford Mondeos had chrome alloy wheels!

I can't see why chrome plating would be much worse than the typical laquered machined finish that seems to plague many modern wheels (eg AMG!)

HTH,

Cheers,

Will