I bough a 73 Nova over the summer and it came with Cragar SS chrome plated rims. The problem is all of them have chrome peeling off, and on one of them the outer rim part has so much rust it ate through the chrome and now after sanding it off, the absence is noticeable. I don’t think I can afford to re chrome them, or to buy new rims. So would it be a good idea to get Duplicolor High Performance Wheel coating and to paint them into a charcoal gray color? Other options or opinions are welcome.
That’s a tough one, lots of work required to get them ready to paint. Take a look here:
These rims were so popular in my day,I bought 4 for my '57 for $30.00 each,loved them.
Why not call some plating shops and price it? That is, if you can find a plating shop. The environmental regs have probably shut most of them down.
I know that around here chrome plating gets expensive. It’s pretty labor intensive and wheels like this would be especially difficult because of so many nooks and crannies that have to be polished after the original chrome is stripped.
I’ve done a lot of painting over chrome and the only way you will get paint to stick more than a few weeks is if you have the wheels sandblasted or bead blasted.
Painting is a far cheaper option but it’s going to take some serious surface preparation time if you want it to last.
Considering the fact that wheels take a beating you might check into having them powder coated. It’s much tougher than paint.
I’m sure that the economy would shut them down, not the regulations. If everyone has to meet the regs, then the price of compliance is just passed on.
If you paint them, you need to sand them to remove all the flakes and roughen the surface. Next you need to paint the surface with a thin coat of primer. Finally, paint it with the color and texture you want. Before you start, you need to mask off the areas that you don’t want painted. You could even do a two-tone paint job if you want.
Unfortunately, nothing will correct or compensate for failing adhesion between the chrome and its base. Any conformal over coat such as paint would likely simply fall off with the failing chrome and rusting steel.
But hey, it’s a '73 Nova with rusty chrome rims! I say get the paint and go for it! As long as your expectations are realistic why not? Perhaps even flat black with new Wally World hubcaps (for about $25 a set) would improve the appearance.
there’s a place called Paul’s Chrome, and its pretty close, but i was the process and they were asking for 410 dollars for two small pieces of trim. if it would cost that much it would be smarter to buy new ones which are 180 a piece.