Letter 28789

Chrome Plating Aluminum Wheels [Texas] 

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I have a friend that is looking to chrome his 2003 BMW 745 aluminum wheels and I was wondering would this be good to do or would it be better to purchase chrome wheels? I noticed that on one of your comments on your site you said it was not.

Gregory H [last name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
Manufacturing - Arlington, Texas, USA

There is probably nothing wrong with chroming these wheels. However, it's possible that your friend's wheels are made of a different, harder-to-plate alloy than wheels might be which were designed to be plated from the beginning. Further, because chromed wheels are expensive, people often think that they can have their own wheels chromed for less, and usually that's not true:

In an OEM shop one operator may be handling a dozen or more wheels simultaneously, whereas if that same labor cost must be absorbed by just two wheels, it's costlier. In an OEM shop, specialty conforming anodes and other specialty tooling will already exist, whereas such tooling may have to be built just for your friend's two wheels.

An alternative would be to high polish the existing aluminum wheels.

 
Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com Inc. - Brick, NJ

I want to answer or follow-up on this subject publicly (in non-commercial fashion).

 

My company is a supporting advertiser at finishing.com and we want the contact information to reach the inquirer privately.

 

I want to post a new question or inquiry of my own on a different subject.