luvchevs

Like to get some input on he + and - of these two wheel options.



Dave

ajg1915

My personal experience is that chrome has a limited life expectency and only last 3 - 5 years at most.

Polished last forever but is a PIA to maintain. By buying a more simple style wheel, it will make polishing easier.

luvchevs

ttt
Can't believe there isn't more opinions on this?

Dave

ajg1915

Go post the question in the general section, most guys don't come over here.

GettnBetter

Chrome sucks for me. It never lasts as has been said, 3-5 years at best. Not to offend anyone but the color just looks wierd too, more like plastic racing hubcaps! The look of polished aluminum to me is leaps and bounds a better look and shine than chrome.

I prefer polished and coated. My stock 2000 wheels are polished and coated, have over 10 years, 6 sets of tires and 110k+ miles on them and they still look as awesome as the day I bought the car. Well, there is some damage, 1'st from removing the stock clip-on weights and then later removing the stick on weights and one that has a little brake fluid damage on the inner well but it's hard to see. I remove the weights myself now, I use a plastic window scraper and that orange-goo sticky stuff remover to remove the sticky tape the day I take them to the tire guys.

I've read some horror stories about others with coated rims but whatever method GM used worked great.

Polished rims that aren't coated are a complete PITA, I agree. I had my older C3 aliminum wheels polished years ago, they looked just amazing, turned heads everywhere but polishing them every week got old very quickly.

68sixspeed

I've had good luck with GM chrome holding up so far, and it does clean up easy. Clear coated polished cleans pretty easy too but can show scuffing with age as the clear coat isn't that hard. uncoated polished is a PIA unless you are in love with the smell of mothers polishing paste and terry towels... it water spots, oxidizes, it looks nice but does require a lot of maint. -Dan

0Double D Mods

I ordered my new Boze Forged wheels with hi luster polish and ceramic clear

CW4L

My experience is Polished looks fantastic as long as it's kept clean, which means alot of TLC daily. Polished picks up dust so quickly that it is very frustrating and even have a quick spin around the block, you'll notice your wheels are already dirty, thats the downside of Polished, but they will hold up along time.

Chrome is alot less maintenance but you run the risk of flaking, peeling, and cracking after a few years and have to have it re-chromed. Lots of factors including weather, types of wheel cleaner can all lead to the chrome coming apart. You don't want to use abrasive wheel cleaners, or acid sprays on chrome despite their claims. I would stay with a mild soap or detergent, and actually Chrome appears best with a miracle cleaning agent called WINDEX.

Tork Monster

I have had a lot of wheels and have never been pleased with chrome. It pits, rusts, flakes and adds weight to the rim. And if you ever curb 'em, you are in for an expensive (and difficult to obtain) re-chrome job.

Polished & cleared rims will yellow, flake and cannot be easily repaired.

My current set of rims are 3-pc I-Forged polished, no clear.

I have had them for three years on my daily driver and park outside. Besides washing every 1-2 weeks (busy life, lol) I only polish the rims once a year unless I am at a car show.

You can buff out nearly anything from an aluminum wheel.. even a major curb-shot can be sanded out and polished.

Here is a shot of one rim I curbed, then after I sanded and polished:





If your wheels are getting dirty too quickly, change brake pads to something like EBC. Yes, chrome will release brake dust faster than polished aluminum, but that is a brake dust problem. I changed pads to Posi-Quiet and these rims are usually the cleanest part of the car!