tarnished chrome wheel

[mikehrz]

the rear driver side factory chrome wheel on my pt has some sort of brownish tarnish. the guy i bought it from (the owner's son, never met the actual owner) said someone tried to clean the wheel with something. since he wasn't the owner, he didn't have the details. he suggested rechroming the wheel, which sounds a bit drastic to me, not to mention expensive. i would like to try cleaning it off, if such a thing is possible, but i really don't know what to use or if it would even work. i also considered just buying a new wheel, but i bet this is also expensive. so:
1. does this sound cleanable, and if so, what do i do?
2. is rechroming a viable option, and how much should i pay for it?
3. if all else fails, what would a new wheel cost?

[turbomangt]

Mike, what you are seeing sounds like rust. It doesn't mean the wheel is rusting, it can be corrosion behind the wheel that is transfering on the wheel itself. Hard to say without seeing it, perhaps you can post a pic? I have some stuff in my stock that I'm sure will work. My chrome cleaner is a good start found on my web site, I can also give you a metal wipe which is a little more aggressive. I would try these things before buying a new wheel. contact me direct at www.perfectautofinish.com and I'll help you out. Gary

[mikehrz]

thanks for your help, Gary. the drums are pretty rusty; funny thing is, though, the tarnishing looks like a liquid splash and drip pattern. dont know if that means anything or not. i'll try to post some pics asap.

[mikehrz]

new development: my dad had the car and ran into a guy who does some body/paint work as a side job, i think his main job is at a dealership. this guy tried rubbing the wheel with steel wool (a prospect that sounds scary to me) and when the steel wool had no effect, he basically said that no cleaner would work and the wheel needed to be rechromed. dont know what the guys level of expertise is. any comments? (i'll try to borrow a friends digital camera and post some pics tomorrow.)

[mikehrz]

PICS!
took a couple shots in the morning and evening. during the day i was at work

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...rz/bakday2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...rz/bakday1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...z/baknite1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...z/baknite2.jpg

also took a shot w/ same camera, same time for comparison just in case.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1.../frontnite.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...z/frontday.jpg

any further opinions?

[turbomangt]

I will say they look nasty, wonder how that happened. I would try my chrome cleaner, heck, its worth the try, even if it didn'work you could still use it elsewhere. Gary

[mikehrz]

sent you an email.

[Cal Cruzer]

I had that on one of the rear chromies on my car. It was under the chrome and I could not get to it. Fortunately the dealership agreed with me and replaced the wheel.

I would not recommend using steel wool on chrome. It might look better but it will cause scratches in the chrome that will eventually make you wish you hadn't done it.

[mikehrz]

tried some of gary's stuff, didn't work. didn't really expect it to though, so i'm not disappointed. got a new one today. new challenge: make a wheel w/ 4 years' worth of patina look like one that's literally fresh from the factory. maybe it's just a different process now that produces a different "color" of chrome, but there is a difference between the new wheel and the old ones, even after using gary's chrome cleaner (which, i must say, made the old wheels really shiny! and it was really easy to use).