This thread is a continuation of
https://www.speedsterowners.com/topic/fake-chrome
This is about 40 minutes work on the photo I posted yesterday. If you have these Chinese steel wheels on your car this is what you have to look forward to.
Vendors who sell you this as chrome are guilty of fraud. This is PAINT.
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Most of the VW/Porsche wheel manufacturers went to a "flash chrome" process many years ago, which is an ultra thin layer of chrome that can peel and flake and just doesn't last. This is why we stopped offering chrome wheels in favor of high polished aluminum wheels for those that have to have a chrome look.
We have a local shop that does triple chrome plating, but they struggle with welded VW/Porsche wheels. I don't know all the "ins and outs" but something about how the chrome tries to bridge the small and tightening crack where the inner is welded to the outer.
I'd like to see how powder coating would work - now that you have the chrome layer gone. (Still think a lot more prep would be needed though). There are very shiny chrome looking powder coating available. I do prefer the dull Wirth silver look over the chrome.
So once wife pops the turkey out of the oven - insert your pre-basted powder coated wheel! "They" say there is nothing harmful in the powder coating process.
@chines1 posted:Most of the VW/Porsche wheel manufacturers went to a "flash chrome" process many years ago, which is an ultra thin layer of chrome that can peel and flake and just doesn't last. This is why we stopped offering chrome wheels in favor of high polished aluminum wheels for those that have to have a chrome look.
We have a local shop that does triple chrome plating, but they struggle with welded VW/Porsche wheels. I don't know all the "ins and outs" but something about how the chrome tries to bridge the small and tightening crack where the inner is welded to the outer.
I've had parts in the past, before the EPA closed everyone down when you could afford to have it done. The only way to do wheels (at the time) was to drill the rivets, pave the two parts plated and reassemble the wheel. Used to be able to get the plating done for $25 a wheel. The Chineseium wheels seem to be about $90-120 depending on who you buy from...don't want anymore of that.
The chrome shop told me that the copper , nickel and chrome try to attach to the nearest metal , so it will not get into the groove where the inner and outer ring meet,
that’s why you need to cut them apart , Chrome separately and weld back together ,
there are a few places around here that still do it , but it is expensive.
Back in the aughts there was a place about a mile from me that did great work polishing the aluminum and chrome plating the steel when I was restoring my 69 Scrambler.
I went back a few years later to get a motorcycle frame nickel plated and he couldn’t do it. He said the city had banned the necessary chemicals from within city limits and rather than move, he waited until he had a load and trucked it down to TJ to have it done. He lamented that the product wasn’t nearly as good as his.
@dlearl476 posted:
Back in the aughts there was a place about a mile from me that did great work polishing the aluminum and chrome plating the steel when I was restoring my 69 Scrambler.
I went back a few years later to get a motorcycle frame nickel plated and he couldn’t do it. He said the city had banned the necessary chemicals from within city limits and rather than move, he waited until he had a load and trucked it down to TJ to have it done. He lamented that the product wasn’t nearly as good as his.
Not a good photo but you might be interested. They're all gone now. 900NCR to California, 750SS to Australia, 750 Sport in Pensacola last time I knew. I Built all of these in the early 1990's.
The Ducati Mk. 3 is somewhere in South Alabama, Benelli 350 in Texas.
Sweet Jim. My Spyder kind of ruined my MC hobby. At one time, I had a garage full of Ducati single stuff. Enough to build 3 bikes. I’m down to 2x250 motors and enough to build one. I’m trading it to a lifelong VW pal who’s retired. Hopefully to convince him to build one last VW motor. For me.
@imperial that actually sounds more eiler what they were trying to describe to me.
@WOLFGANG we've used Prismatic Powder's "near chrome" and it is very close. Not quite chrome reflection but 95% We've also used Alsa's chrome paint and it has been amazing, bt it is really temperamental and you have to have the black layer underneath polished to a mirror shine so going welded steel wheels would not be easy
Here is another option:
I wanted the look of the two piece carrera wheels. Worked with my local powder coating shop and they were able to alter their chrome look powder to make it look more like aluminum - I think they added yellow to it. I then sanded the centers and hit them with the usual Wurth silver. Here is the end result. Very happy with them.
@ScottS - very, very nice.
Looks great ,
Did you also do the back of the outer rim ?
Yes, the entire wheel was powder coated. Then I sanded and painted the centers.
Awesome job !!
@Scott S - DANG! That turned out very cool! Nice detail.
The beauty of it is he has the protection of the powder coat underneath the Wurth silver!
More or less ,,, if you break the finish by sanding the seal becomes somewhat porous, but what do I know, I am not a painter with experience on that front.
On the other hand, man those wheels look so awesome I would give it a whirl, but then he did. 
The Wurth silver seals all that. Probably a better substrate than the metal.
@IaM-Ray Wow, what a kill joy. Why don't you pee on the guy?
I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and guess that @Scott S has been in a few rodeos before. I'll also guess that he just roughed up the powdercoat a little to give the paint some tooth to stick to.
These wheels look absolutely FABULOUS, Scott. Don't let anyone tell you different.
I've powdercoated enough to know that it's great for a lot of things, and tough to use for others.
For example - I clear powdered my hubs (not drumskins like a normal human - my actual aluminum hubs) after I'd already run them for a couple of years, and even though I cleaned them with parts cleaner, etc. - every bit of grease hiding in teh pores of the aluminum leeched out during the baking process. It's horribly hard to recoat with powder once it's already on.
Fun fact - you can wet-sand and rub out powder-coat.
Painting over powder would be fantastic. I'd just scuff it with a scotchbrite pad and spray away.
@Stan Galat posted:For example - I clear powdered my hubs (not drumskins like a normal human - my actual aluminum hubs) after I'd already run them for a couple of years, and even though I cleaned them with parts cleaner, etc. - every bit of grease hiding in teh pores of the aluminum leeched out during the baking process. It's horribly hard to recoat with powder once it's already on.Fun fact - you can wet-sand and rub out powder-
All those little pores are surface area. One reason aluminum and magnesium are used when maximum heat transfer is desired.
Good to know !
Really dig that two-tone wheel. Subtle, but noticeable.
Can you give us a secret handshake example
Just a quick tip for anyone trying... when you powdercoat old metal we clean it, blast it, and the pre-heat it to the final baking temp in order to cook out any old oil/grease, and sometime we even have to repeat that pre-bake a few times.
For the record, I am not a fan of powder coating wheels on a car that is exposed to the elements on a regular basis/a daily driver - especially if you live in snow country. Everytime - litterally every single time - no matter which company I have used, I only get 3-4 years out of a set before they fail. It almost always starts around the valve stem after having new tires put on. Once any sort of lifting starts, your pretty much screwed. We hit our roads here with mag chloride de-icer all winter long. I am sure that accelerates the issue once you get any sort of scratch on the wheel.
If I go with paint, I can always refurbish them in the garage over a weekend.
The speedster wheels were definitely an experiment. Being that it only gets maybe a 1000 miles per year, I was far more concerned about the outers showing cleaning marks. But, being careful with how I wipe them down seems to be working. 4 years in and they look exactly the same as in the pics.
I do have to come clean about something.... I was *this* close to grinding slight recesses on the outer edges of back side of the centers. Even made a round template and bought the ball shaped grinder bit... because if you are going to make a Carrera wheel, shouldn't you go all in and replicate the back side rivets?
I know, I know....... but I caught myself.... ha!
Well just for the record I still like them a lot . And the madness gets you even worse if you try to make an exact duplicate
