I posted on the Wheels & Tires section and didn't get any responses, so I'll try here. I have chrome 505a wheels and I've noticed that when I wipe them off with a cloth, very small pieces of the cloth stick to rough spots. The burrs are so small that you can't see them, but these little pieces of fuzz are driving me crazy. Is there any way to safely remove these rough spots without damaging the chrome finish? I thought about trying 0000 steel wool, but I'm afraid I'll scratch the chrome. Any suggestions?

 

While I am sure you will get some responses here. I would call John at CCW on Monday. I always found that he was very helpful and offered good advice. He will not steer you wrong! One possible solution to the pieces of lint---Blow dry your wheels and nothing will touch them. That's what I do and it works great! My 2 cents

 

Thanks. Actually, I purchased the wheels through West Coast Corvettes because they were the only ones to offer the 505a style in chrome at the time. I'm going to guess it's the result of the chroming process and not the wheel itself. I'll try calling John on Monday.

 

First I'll say I've never had this problem but my thinking would be - to get the crome bumps off you're going to have to skuff up the finish because crome is pretty hard. So, this is going to be multiple steps. Polishes and rubbing compounds probably won't work but I'd probably give them a try first anyway. First look very closely for any cracks or lines that may become crack - I'm talking about using a magnifing glass to inspect this. If you see cracks or lines I'd stop right here. If you start getting rough around crack its going to chip off! If no cracks, 0000 steel wool might do it but something more aggresive may be needed. Go very slowly. The crome plating, if done correctly, will be a couple thousandths thick (underlayed with a bronze color material) so you do have some material to work with. After you do get the bumps off start working your way back up the abrasive chain to less and less abrasive products - keep making big scratches into smaller ones until the finish is back. No guarentees, just how I'd attack it.

On the other hand - Sounds like a lot of work - sure you don't just want to go to a better cleaning towel - like microfiber?

 

...and this is the reason John at CCW doesnt want to sell chrome wheels...plus the 4-6 month wait will make come customers nuts

 

I use microfiber towels and they're the ones leaving little pieces of lint.