Does anyone else have a chrome wheel problem?

[Eli (NJ)]

My second set of wheels is the original Mercedes 8 hole 16" that were chromed a while back and have started to peel. Is there a DIY for this or back to the Chromer?

Does someone have a spare chrome wheel I could buy?

Thanks,
Eli.

[Strife]

I've been thinking about a set.

How old are your wheels?

Do you drive the car everyday or only in the summer.

In the rain?

Do you clean brake pad dust off of them a lot?

Thanks for your input!

[hifeverz]

Any aluminum wheel that gets chrome plated will eventually peel. The reason is the expansion rates (due to temperature extremes on wheels) of aluminum vs. chromium are different, and therefore, with this constant expansion/contraction of these unsimilar metals, the bond between eventually fails and resulting ugliness occurs. The only remedy is to have the defective wheel stripped of the old chrome (usually a minimum of $100) and re-chromed again.

I have NO desire to ever buy chromed wheels unless I plan on keeping the car or the wheels for just a couple of years . . . that's the typical lifespan of (exposed to the weather and minimally maintained) chrome wheels.

I do have a set of 17" x 8" AMGs (silver painted) for sale. Check the link below.

http://home.att.net/~ztemp51/wsb/media/174342/site1096.JPG

Thanks,
Hz

[G-Benz]

All three of my MBs have chrome rims...they have survived our brutal Texas winters for nearly a decade (for the older vehicles)

Seriously though, I have not experienced any issues with flaking chrome on the OEM wheels, even though there have been a couple of curb rash incidents.

The W124 has aftermarket 8-holers with some peeling issues...again, due to serious curb rash by the PO. I epoxied the area where the chrome had been damaged to prevent further flaking and haven't had any problems since.

I will admit that I clean the rims every night, brake dust and all. It's a pain, but I like them clean!

[spinedoc]

I've got chromed 18" AMG 5-spoke wheels and I have had absolutely no problems with peeling in 2 years. Although they are starting to pit quite a bit at the centers due to my impatience and taking the car out in early spring before all the salt and sand are cleared away.

[Strife]

I just had 5 15-holer 15" wheels chromed by CICC Co (chromeyourwheels.com). I had gauged what I've read, that chrome can peel if not maintained extremely well, it may weaken the wheel, etc. But I really like the look of these particular wheels chromed. I've read enough about iffy (and sometimes heavy) aftermarket wheels so that I shopped and carefully collected five OEM spares. My other wheels that came with the car, well, I'll probably buy a powder coat setup next year and do myself for my "future daily driver". I found a company that actually sells a specific "mercedes wheel powder coat".

CICC's website is Corvette/US oriented but the person I spoke to was instantly familiar with my wheels. Of course, the shipping to and from CICC was brutal, but the chroming price they ask seems to be significantly lower than anyone else's. Price was my prime consideration.

CICC states a 5 business day turn around, and it was longer than that, a consideration if you don't want your car on wire milk cartons for a while. I did not see an "exchange" program mentioned on the website.

Anyway, I got them back, and was overall extremely pleased. Each entire wheel was cleaned up and chromed, but with only the front high-polished. The "holes" in the 15-holers were chromed, but not polished; I'm not sure if this is "standard fare" but it might explain the price difference (can't ignore 35% cheaper...). Because these get dirty so quickly and the dullness doesn't really detract from the total picture, I can't complain. You know how bad these vents are to keep clean, now think about metal polishing them.

The wheels that I sent were in extremely good condition with no curb rash; however, I think a scratch may have been hidden under the paint on the face of one wheel, which is barely visible in a certain light as a dull streak. This wound up to be the spare. In reality, I'm being a little picky.

I liberally coated them with wax, and had a place I know to be careful mount them and put weights on (on the back and/or with adhesive). I'm a real nut about careless tire installation, after having several hundreds of dollars of wheels scratched/dented/marred (and in one case, hammered in front of me). If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, and be very familiar with those who are doing the things (like mounting) that you can't do. This fact must drive the guys in suits examining their damaged 1000 dollar SL500 wheels crazy, but it's true.

I used my Taurus parts-chaser to schlep the wheels/tires back and forth, and hand installed/torqued them. Pneumatic/mechanical bolt installation is NOT permissible on chromed wheels. I don't think it should be permissible on ANY wheel...

I have chrome (aftermarket) bolts, but I'm using the old (cleaned-up) bolts and plastic caps, which look at least as good. I use the late 90's black and chrome Mercedes-Benz logo centers, which I like.

After installation, the wheels look great! I don't use my car in the rain unless it's unexpected and never in snow, so I don't expect heat or salt-related peeling. The company gives a year warranty, with two more years after that pro-rated. This seems to be a little more than I've seen elsewhere, but I suppose the warranty is only as good as "paying" a claim.

A benefit of these chrome wheels is that they now clean very easily (as long as it doesn't rain...). However, I'm not sure if I will ever be able to parallel park the car ever again.

So, that's how it went. All in all, I thought it was a great deal. If you can scrounge good, un-curb-rashed wheels, this works out much cheaper than buying them chromed, even aftermarket. I've seen powder coating cost more than this. Two of my wheels I had directly shipped from "ebay" to CICC with no problem, which saved considerable freight.

[kip Foss]

I had chrome wheels on my 1977 450 slc and they were crap. They came from Preformance Products and were on the car when I got it about 4 years ago. I don't know that they were any more than 5 years old when I got the car but they sure didn't last. I replaced them with bunt cake ones off 2 of my parts cars a few years ago. I blasted and painted them and although I must admit that they really don't look as neat as the chrome I was not going to spend $185 each anc take a chance that they would pear 5 years later.

[suginami]

All chrome wheels don't peel, but chrome wheels are a problem for almost all car manufacturers.

Most people don't realize it, but cars don't come from the factory with chrome wheels because they can't warranty them. The failure rate is too high.

Chrome wheels are always a dealer add-on.

My buddy, who used to work for Mitsubishi, told me that Mitsubishi warranted chrome wheels for a brief period of time, but abandoned it due to high warranty repairs.