Customized Chromed Wheels

I was recently referred to Globe Tire by HRE Wheels to locate a set of chrome 97 NSX wheels. Spoke to the owner named Arnie. Asked several questions regarding the plating process such as: how long do the wheels stay in the nickel tank and do they come full polish. To mitigate any additional shipping charges, I asked that he look at each wheel before shipping just to make sure (have had problems in the past with chrome quality from other platers). Just a simple question to look at them before shipping.

Gave him my credit card number and address to ship to. A week later they had not shown up. Called and spoke to Arnie about the status of my order. His response was that I seemed to picky about quality and therefore he decided not to ship the wheels. He thought it would be more trouble than it was worth. He was concerned the quality would not meet my needs.

I was referred by HRE. I do not recommend anyone use Globe Tire for their NSX wheel needs.

Just to elaborate a little on this subject, I have yet another hard-luck 928 story that might be applicable to anyone who has or is considering chromed aluminum alloy wheels:

1. Porsche issued a service bulletin recommending against chroming their alloy wheels. I've never read it, but as related to me by a Porsche dealer mechanic it observed that, at least with respect to the chrome plating processes usually used after-market on automotive wheels, there are a couple chemical/physical problems: a) chrome plating is porous (to water), and b) chrome plating has a different index of thermal expansion than the underlying wheel alloy. This sets the car up for moisture penetration and corrosion beneath the chrome layer which *inevitably* causes pealing and flaking. So far we would seem to have "only" a severe cosmetic problem. But that's not true, as I found out...

2. My particular '86 928, like most 928s, had its wheels chromed at the time of initial delivery. Right before I bought it the PO replaced all four tires. Two of the wheels subsequently but at different times developed mysterious slow leaks, which turned out to be the chrome plating peeling away *at the tire-bead to wheel-rim interface*. I believe this developed at that time because of the disturbance resulting from changing tires. In any case, I finally had to have all four tires removed *again* and a rim carefully scraped. I also am pretty sure that the problem would have recurred with each tire change, if not sooner.

My conclusion from all this is that after-market chroming of alloy wheels is not worth the risk and hassle. If I ever acquired a car that had chromed wheels again I would without further ado have the chrome stripped off and returned either to the factory appearance or have them polished, or get new wheels. I don't want to have to worry about leaks around the bead at 150 mph. IANAM (I am not a metallurgist) but I suspect there are chrome plating processes that would work and be reliable, if expensive. I just don't know how I would verify that myself.