Can you chrome the C5 magnesium wheels? If yes does anyone have any pictures.

 

 

hehe, why?

The chrome is to "cover" the bare metal.

It would be like an idiot winning a gold medal and being so proud of it, he bronzes it for display..

 

Strip the paint and polish to a near chrome shine.

 

I have see it done, but the other option is to strip, polish and clear coat it
As done by an other member

 

Then they would look like any other vette's chromed wheels.
Besides they are powder coated not just painted, and have you ever had real mag wheels before?
They turn black over night so if you have nothing else to do except polish wheels do it!
Even with a clear coat just 1 little stone chip will grow faster then you will ever believe.

 

WOW!!! Thats one bad a$$ wheel! (the chrome one) Where did that come from? Where? Where? Where? I Want em!!

Barry

 

Don't know how I duped this. Must have been over excited about that chrome wheel.

 

WOW! I tripped it. I must have been REALLY excited.

 

Those are polished...........clear coat to keep the shine

 

Steve,
Thats amazing!! I've NEVER seen a polished wheel, shine like that! What do you think it would cost to get a job of that quality done? Do you happen to know of a reputable vendor in the Md area that does work like that? (well you did say, 'what else did I want to know')


Barry

 

Hooked eh Barry?
I don’t know anyone in MD but I would look up anyone in the book that polishes stuff or ask you local car guys!
Here is one in Baltimore(I know about 1 hour away!):
http://www.mainsteel.com/location_all.cfm#Baltimore

I would guess 2-3 hours a rim to strip & polish plus spraying so maybe $600~ $800 by a small company.
Its worth it imho cause the mag rim spoke design is unique……….I am toying with doing it to a set I have……..if I could just get the 18" widened to 12"
More info on Magnesium
http://www.magnesium-elektron.com/default.asp

 

Chroming Magnesium is not recommended and it does turn black quickly.

There is a very good new chrome-like paint (better than anything I've ever seen) from a specialty coating business. I'll post the link when I get where I have the info later today. It is put on over a black-base and clear-coat, then clear-coated itself. It is applied via high volume air, low media mist coat until it builds up. Pix on the site look great. They show a car done with it that looks like chrome, or at least polished aluminum.

Later.

btw, if the wheels are powder-coated and it is near the quality of that used on the late OEM Z06 wheels, it is a real b***h to get off by hand. I stripped just the actual rim area on a set to polish (and painted the centers) and tried everything including professional stripper just for epoxy and powdercoating. Most I ended up sanding off by hand (also tried every small, detail, hand sander (I've got quite a collection now) and it took hours per wheel to just do the rims. Massive build up of material, especially in the indentations. NEVER again. If you strip the wheels have it done professionally!

 

Check out the ALSA site, per my previous post for chrome like finishes, specifically, "Mirrachrome."

http://alsacorp.com/chrome.htm

 

I checked into polishing my rims a few years ago and I couldn't find anyone that was willing to do it. I was told that they were not willing to put the mag wheels into the powder coat furnace and that clear paint would not give me the results that I was looking for. Before you try and have them pollished I would talk to someone that has actually done it and has lived with them for a while. I remember a while back that one of our forum brothern had several posts on how much he liked the polished wheels and posted some beautifull pictures (the one shown here may be one of them) but then after a while he sold the wheels because they required too much maintenance. I wish I could remember his name. Let me know if you find a way to do it because I would love to do it to mine.