It is not legal to run chrome plated rims in Germany since they chrome will start to flake off after about twenty years and then the wheel starts to rust when water gets under the chrome.

I was looking at a W140 in a salvage yard a year or so ago and it came with factory chrome plated wheels that were beginning to flake off. The salvage yard owner was griping about how he could not sell them since the steel had begun to rust.

But to be practical I should think this would only be an issue on a Mercedes. How many cars are going to last long enough for this to be a problem? It is a matter of time needed for the chrome to flake off vs. how many years the car is going to be able to run.

A Mercedes can go a long time, so I should think that only alloys would be the way to go.