Fake Chrome

I had new chrome wheels right out of the box with dull areas of chrome , I lightly buffed the chrome and it went right through to black as you have.

My wife used some Rustoleum "chrome" metallic paint on a project a few years ago and it looked really good - Surprisingly good!

Here you go:

https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Ol...11352532712&th=1

The Krylon Chrome paint is very good, too:

https://www.amazon.com/Krylon-...0051402803&psc=1

I gave up on Chrome Wheels years ago. I bought some correct 10 slot steel wheels from Beck and they have been fabulous. I also paid the piper and got REAL Porsche hub caps.

Does Brazil still make the Mangel chrome rims for VW bugs ?

the chrome on those was never long lasting and you often see sets at the swap meet for cheap with peeling chrome.

@Alan Merklin posted:

I had new chrome wheels right out of the box with dull areas of chrome , I lightly buffed the chrome and it went right through to black as you have.

Alan,

What did you do? I'd order new wheels but I expect none are really chrome.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

My wife used some Rustoleum "chrome" metallic paint on a project a few years ago and it looked really good - Surprisingly good!

Here you go:

https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Ol...11352532712&th=1

The Krylon Chrome paint is very good, too:

https://www.amazon.com/Krylon-...0051402803&psc=1

Imho those chrome paints are terrible. They have zero durability, and if you try to topcoat with a clear, it turns a dark silver.

The only place I have found a good use for chrome paint is the inside of a bulb reflector.  Spray it on, let dry, assemble and never touch it.

@imperial posted:

Does Brazil still make the Mangel chrome rims for VW bugs ?

the chrome on those was never long lasting and you often see sets at the swap meet for cheap with peeling chrome.

No. Haven’t for years. Decades maybe. I think Carey had the last load and it’s been a while.

@LI-Rick posted:

Imho those chrome paints are terrible. They have zero durability, and if you try to topcoat with a clear, it turns a dark silver.

The only place I have found a good use for chrome paint is the inside of a bulb reflector.  Spray it on, let dry, assemble and never touch it.

This has been durable as can be, but it costs an arm and a leg.

House of Kolor “Real Chrome” but it looks more like semi-polished aluminum, like I like.

It even suffered a dent without cracking.

The frame on my Vun likewise has a very “alloy-ey” look to it. No idea what paint, but it’s durable as can be.

They even heavily discounted the bike because there was some weld splatter near the frame head that they missed. The paint on that is still intact after 15 years. Sorry I don’t have a better picture of it.

BONUS: Now that we have unlimited editing, I can add it to my post when/if I ever find one. Thx again @Theron

@dlearl476 posted:

No. Haven’t for years. Decades maybe. I think Carey had the last load and it’s been a while.

This has been durable as can be, but it costs an arm and a leg.

House of Kolor “Real Chrome” but it looks more like semi-polished aluminum, like I like.

It even suffered a dent without cracking.

The frame on my Vun likewise has a very “alloy-ey” look to it. No idea what paint, but it’s durable as can be.

They even heavily discounted the bike because there was some weld splatter near the frame head that they missed. The paint on that is still intact after 15 years. Sorry I don’t have a better picture of it.

BONUS: Now that we have unlimited editing, I can add it to my post when/if I ever find one. Thx again @Theron

David,  Gordon was speaking about a buzz bomb spray paint, not a 2 part catalyzed paint.  Not even remotely the same.  

Those paints you posted look nothing like chrome, btw.

@Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi posted:

Alan,

What did you do? I'd order new wheels but I expect none are really chrome.

The Vendor refunded my purchase,I found a set of NOS on the Samba.

@LI-Rick posted:

Those paints you posted look nothing like chrome, btw.

That’s why I like them. Shinier than silver paint, with the look of alloy.

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Sometimes I think Mangels get a bad rap  (1960s colloquialism - see Merriam-Webster citation).

I've had mine for about seven years now, I am at least the third owner, and they look like this:

Admittedly, I'm not very finicky about appearance. I try to keep the car clean, splash some protective touch-up paint on stone chips, and don't allow bird droppings to age much before removing them. But my cleaning products are mostly water and a kitchen sponge. For the wheels, I wipe off brake dust every 100 miles or so with, again, water and a sponge, but that's it. I'm told you must wax these wheels or they will instantly turn to dust, but, after seven years of no wax, that hasn't happened.

Okay, okay, this is sunny California. These wheels have probably never seen salt and when they do get wet, they get to dry out in a garage — often a 130-degree garage. But still, I don't think they look too bad. I'm not seeing any cracking, peeling, or flaking. And no heartbreak of psoriasis.

There were a lot of copies of these wheels made in places that were not Brazil, so maybe it's the copies that are responsible for the bad rap (M-W, Op. Cit.).

I do know that Kirk (of the old VS) used to source these until Mangel suddenly stopped making them (around 2011, I think), whereupon he was compelled to use Mangel lookalikes from places that were not Brazil. But these ones do have some Portuguese writing in places you can't see when a tire is mounted, so they are presumably the real deal.

I think Mangels are a lot like cocker spaniels in that they will treat you OK as long as you're not mean to them. As far as I can tell, their only problem is that they need two more slots per wheel.

.

Has anyone compared old Mangels with real 356 Porsche rims as far as the oval holes , and how close they were to the German original rims ,

and has anyone rechromed a set of Mangels lately .  I know to properly re-chrome rims you need to cut them apart and rechrome the inner and outer pieces separately and weld them back together ,

There were some repro 16 inch rims a few years ago and the oval holes were not as deep as the original German 16 inch rims…..

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As hinted above, Mangels will never be mistaken for original 356 wheels, as Mangels were made for VW's and had eight slots, while the P wheels had ten.

As to taking apart a Mangel, re-chroming, and re-assembling, the cost would be way more than a set of Greg's (Vintage Motorcars) 190 alloy wheels, which are now available in the VW four-bolt pattern, have the right number of slots to ape a Porshee wheel, and weigh about half a ton less per wheel.

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To make either kind of wheel stop a true Porschephile in his tracks just stamp "kPz" on them & stand back.

@Sacto Mitch posted:

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As hinted above, Mangels will never be mistaken for original 356 wheels, as Mangels were made for VW's and had eight slots, while the P wheels had ten.

As to taking apart a Mangel, re-chroming, and re-assembling, the cost would be way more than a set of Greg's (Vintage Motorcars) 190 alloy wheels, which are now available in the VW four-bolt pattern, have the right number of slots to ape a Porshee wheel, and weigh about half a ton less per wheel.

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Correctomundo, Mitch. Mine are 5 years old and the powdercoat looks brand new.

When my Mangels were new I coated them with a clear coating from POR-15.  The coating didn't dry/cure as smooth as I would have liked but they still look pretty good from a short distance.

My understanding is that powder coating over chrome doesn't work well.  Is there an easy fix for that?

Right - Neither powder coating or painting  won't stick to chrome.  The chrome needs to be removed - by hydrochloric acid (danger Will Robinson!) or blasting (sand or shot peen) or tedious sanding.  Sanding might work with these crappy flash chromed rims.

I have thought about trying Plastidip coating on some unused Mangels I would like to sell.  Their offset wouldn't work on the back of my IRS CMC.

This thread continues here.
https://www.speedsterowners.com/topic/fake-chrome-ii

@Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi  Please post in the same thread. Starting a new thread for the same topic makes it difficult to follow.

This thread is now locked.
thanks

-=theron