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I just purchased the wheels off another owner. The previous owner had them chromed. But as you can see from the pictures the chrome is peeling and pitting inside the barrel and outside the barrel. I would like to put them back to original polish finish. Does anyone have any recommendations to make this possible? If not possible what other options do I have? Has anyone dealt with this situation?
Wheel Details: CCW 505a 19x8.5 Front and 19x10 Rear for my 2006 cts-v
Last edited by Bexar Caddy; 02-19-2015 at 10:09 AM.
Firstly, do not polish them or attempt to refinish them yourself. I learned the hard way that chroming shops work their own magic. If you try and polish it up or abrade it in any way, it can leave swirls which you can see through the new finish. So the shop will do it on their own. Find a good one, I use a really good shop local to me. It is in San Marcos, California. That might be a little far from you, but they did a bumper on my 55 Chevy and the trim pieces. Turned out amazing. Just gotta look around the local car meets and ask, someone will have a good recommendation.
Thanks for the advice. Trying to find a shop here in Texas but anything dealing with chrome seems to ship to Cali. I got a price in Houston (Atlas Plating) to chemically remove the chrome and polish the lip and face of wheel for $175 each. But he said it would be extra to polish the inside of the barrel.
That seems about what you would pay out here. Have you thought of having it stripped and then powder coated? Powder coating is way cheaper and in my experience, a very tough finish when done properly.
Didn't really wont to powder coat them because I have another set of wheels (19″ Linea Corse Veneto Wheels - Hyper Silver) + my stock wheels as well if I wanted to go that route. I really think polished wheels would accent my black cts-v well.
Didn't really wont to powder coat them because I have another set of wheels (19″ Linea Corse Veneto Wheels - Hyper Silver) + my stock wheels as well if I wanted to go that route. I really think polished wheels would accent my black cts-v well.
I had a set of polished wheels powder coated with clear back in the 90s and they still look pretty good today. They weren't as super shiny as a freshly polished set of wheels but I didn't have to constantly clean them either.
They have yellowed slightly over the years but all in all, glad I did it as I rode the bike a lot and they stayed pretty nice.
I actually Had CCW repolish a set of 505a wheels I bought years ago. Price was reasonable iirc. Call them first.
It was one the first things I did. John from CCW said "unfortunatley that isnt going to be practical www.calchrome.com may be able to do something with them in a powdercaoted or pvd finish" I was hoping maybe someone would have some experience with this situation on here.
Found a place in town that restores bumpers and antiques to chemically remove the chrome from the wheels. Got into a dispute with the owner of the shop so he only did the rear wheels. Took them to a polishing shop in town and they polished the 2 rear wheels only the face and lip not the barrel and also removed the chrome from the front wheels and polished them as well. They came out great only thing is I sold my V a couple of months back.
Finally received new center caps and valve stems. Was thinking about powder coating the inside of the barrels and leaving the face polished. Just so that I can save some time maintaining them. What do yall think?
I think they turned out good. I personally would powder coat the inside. I have the CCW SP600's and had them all powder coated because I was tired of constant polishing and taking the rims off to clean the inside of the wheel. Plus I love the look of all black
Finally received new center caps and valve stems. Was thinking about powder coating the inside of the barrels and leaving the face polished. Just so that I can save some time maintaining them. What do yall think?
I think since you sold your V, you should sell them to me.
Finally bought another V back in October. It's an 04 with 60k miles with no sunroof and no modifications. Went to Houston a couple of weeks ago for Lone Star Throwdown and on the way I dropped off the wheels to get the barrel's polished. Turns out once you start to have pitting and uneven surfaces on the wheel it's best to have them powdercoated instead of polish because you would be able to see waves and imperfections in the polish. Long story short never chrome your wheels and if you plan to restore them back to polished aluminium chemically remove the chrome do not grind or sand blast. But if you plan to powdercoat them sand blast is fine.
02-19-2015, 08:45 AM
CCW 505a Chrome Issue 
