Polished instead of chromed?
 

Has anyone had their wheels polished to get the chrome effect?

For $1000 for all four a guy will remove the grey coating and polish the aluminium up to a high finish. I say a piece of aluminum done this way and it was mirror-bright. He said the Porsche aluminum was even better quality.

He says chrome is subject to peeling.

I know a few fellow riders who've done it to it with engine cases and rims on their motorcycles. It looks good, but it is something you'll have to stay on top of after that. I did it once, years ago, and was ok with it.

It's not something I'd do again. Partly because it creates a maintenance type of situation, but mostly because I don't care for a non-stock look. That's on my Boxster as well as any of my motorcycles. I make very few alterations to my vehicles. My Boxster will never be anything other than stock.

$1000 wow thats nuts.

You can do it yourself with any aluminum.

I have an aircraft with aluminum wings and using the Nuvite polish system you can make virtually any aluminum sparkle like a high gloss chrome or mirror.

Granted on big flat surfaces with a buffer its pretty easy but I don't think it would
be that hard or take long on the rims with a little buffer tool.

You go through about 3 grades of abrasive polish to get a mirror finish and more.

Its truly astounding. Check out the reflections in the non paint here https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EeHuT4hYTus/T7FwvBz1VaI/AAAAAAAABUI/yrIJAPfePmA/s640/N14LH_5.jpg

Also you can create 2 tone effects easily just by masking the area you want to not polish.

Maintenance in a dry environment is minimal and you may just retouch them every couple years with only the fine grade polish.

Once you have bought the Nuvite system you will have enough to polish everything aluminum on your car and if you wanted to get really crazy theres the engine parts.

I think the block may be aluminum too?

I've done on a few motorcycles that I've had. It definitely looks good but as stated before...you have to stay on top of it.

Maybe its just me but for $1000.00, I'd think you could get another nice set of wheels. Maybe even get a similar set for much less and try/do it yourself. Its really not hard.

All finishes has drawbacks and appeal. Just depends on which you like the most.

Chroming adds weight & slows heat dissipation. It can peel & if you curb the wheel it will peel & the only fix is to strip off all the chrome & start over. Polishing is better if done properly & ZoopSeal is a great sealant to preserve the shine. If you curb a polished wheel simply repolish. I pay $500 a set for polishing a basic 5-spoke wheel.

Here is a link to the Nuvite product for polishing aluminum to a mirror finish.

I have used it on Aluminum sheeted aircraft wings and you can truly get it to reflect like a mirror with not much effort.

Just get out the buffer and go through the final 3 grades of Nuvite and you will have better than chrome shiny aluminum wheels.

Vintage Trailer Supply - parts and supplies for vintage travel trailers and campers!

Its a little pricey but a bit goes a very long way.

I did 104 sq feet of wing in 6 hours going through the 3 grades.

The results were outstanding and stood up very well to the elements as the wings were left outside in the elements for 4 years before needing touch up with the final grade polish again.

What about polishing followed by a clear powder-coat, or even just a conventional lacquer clear-coat?

I think that will just make future touchups with polish a problem. The bare polished aluminum should be just fine and when you wax and polish the rest of the car you can do the wheels too with no worries.

I doubt any clear coat is going to make the polished aluminum look any better and perhaps get dull as the road grime abrades the clear coat. The bare aluminum is harder than clear coat so it will do better on its own in my opinion.



Another thing I forgot to mention is that I noticed the polished aluminum is so smooth that dust has a hard time sticking and just blows off. It would be interesting to hear if brake dust is also less because of this.

The OP's $1,000 quote must have been a difficult wheel like a Sport Classic II. The $500 I pay includes the backside of the wheel. After 3 years the Zoop Seal is still repealing brakedust better than waxing a new oem wheel. Zoop Seal is out of business but simular products are available.

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