Are these chrome wheels restorable?
09-12-2011, 09:37 AM
#1
Are these chrome wheels restorable?
Not a 350z but a wheel is a wheels so need some expert advise!
Seems like corrosion or some kind of build up along with rust and chips.
I know chrome cant be touched but how do these look?
I'm not trying to get them to be showroom finish, just cleaned up enough and prevent any further chipping/damaging.
Seems like corrosion or some kind of build up along with rust and chips.
I know chrome cant be touched but how do these look?
I'm not trying to get them to be showroom finish, just cleaned up enough and prevent any further chipping/damaging.
Trending Topics
09-12-2011, 02:08 PM
#8
350Z-holic
iTrader: (16)
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Scottsdale/coyote drophouse
Posts: 8,246
Received 414 Likes
on
237 Posts
now thats an odd reply.. fawk it, maybe it will do the trick.. but as everyone else has mentioned, chrome is a beeatch... if it gets rusted, you can keep removing what you can .. or it has to go all the way back down to the bare metal, then ahve the rust removed, then be rechromed.. never worth it.. you can get replica BMW wheels or even the real ones off ebay all day long for the same or less.. these dont appear to be the multipiece BBS either.. i just sold a set of those for 400 bucks 18" for all 4, no rust.
Id just buy new if the foil trick doesnt work. no real DIY aside from that man. GL.
Id just buy new if the foil trick doesnt work. no real DIY aside from that man. GL.
09-12-2011, 08:04 PM
#10
Registered User
Wow, it’s painfully obvious that you guys spent your days in high school chemistry class ogling Peggy Sue’s ***** and not listening to the teacher drone on.
Raw aluminum is fairly reactive, but one of the reasons it resists corrosion is because the surface of the metal reacts with the oxygen in the air forming a thin layer of tough al-oxide. If this coating is scratched of abraded it quickly reforms. Scrubbing a slightly rusty chromed bumper with aluminum foil works like magic because the abraded aluminum foil quickly steals oxygen molecules from the iron oxide (rust).
Coke-a-Cola was your grandfather’s go-to car care product. It cleaned off stubborn bugs, removed corrosion from battery terminals and helped with rust removal etc. The unique taste in coke is phosphoric acid, this helps dissolve the weakened iron oxide and the phosphor leaves a coating on steel resisting further rusting. A much stronger and better source of a phosphoric acid cleaning product is Naval Jelly.
This is all well and good, but I presume that O2sys’s wheels are chrome-plated aluminum and not rust prone steel. My guess is that the crap on the wheels is a combination of pitted chrome, brake dust and some corroded aluminum bubbling up from under the chrome. Some of the rust specks trapped in this witches brew may be iron particles from the rotors and metallic brake pads.
Navel Jelly or coke and aluminum will at least take care of any rust specks. If you can manage to rig up something to buff off all the rest of the crap any exposed aluminum will shine like chrome. A quick thin coat of some acrylic wheel sealant will keep them looking descent for at least a year or two.
Raw aluminum is fairly reactive, but one of the reasons it resists corrosion is because the surface of the metal reacts with the oxygen in the air forming a thin layer of tough al-oxide. If this coating is scratched of abraded it quickly reforms. Scrubbing a slightly rusty chromed bumper with aluminum foil works like magic because the abraded aluminum foil quickly steals oxygen molecules from the iron oxide (rust).
Coke-a-Cola was your grandfather’s go-to car care product. It cleaned off stubborn bugs, removed corrosion from battery terminals and helped with rust removal etc. The unique taste in coke is phosphoric acid, this helps dissolve the weakened iron oxide and the phosphor leaves a coating on steel resisting further rusting. A much stronger and better source of a phosphoric acid cleaning product is Naval Jelly.
This is all well and good, but I presume that O2sys’s wheels are chrome-plated aluminum and not rust prone steel. My guess is that the crap on the wheels is a combination of pitted chrome, brake dust and some corroded aluminum bubbling up from under the chrome. Some of the rust specks trapped in this witches brew may be iron particles from the rotors and metallic brake pads.
Navel Jelly or coke and aluminum will at least take care of any rust specks. If you can manage to rig up something to buff off all the rest of the crap any exposed aluminum will shine like chrome. A quick thin coat of some acrylic wheel sealant will keep them looking descent for at least a year or two.
09-15-2011, 10:00 AM
#12
all u are going to do with this is waste your time and money...All its gonna do is end up cleaning up what u can and making the pits and peeling more obvious and going to just make it peel and flake more..Like i said in the beginning the only real way is to get rid of all the chrome plating on there and start over with painting, powdercoating or re-dipping or coating..Other than that ur not going to get any good results..good luck unsubbing for pure stupidity with people who think they are smart and have never actually tried or have any experience with this..
