I've got my hands on some original styled steel wheels for my '68. They need sandblasted and painted and I have to get trim rings and center caps. I know the original paint color is Argent silver but I love the look of the chrome styled steels which I believe came out in 69, they are just so expensive!

Here is my idea, how will they look with a good silver primer and a good quality chrome paint? I realize it wont look as good as real chrome but I think it might look better than the Argent. Anybody tried this, got any pictures?

Thanks

 

you could clean them up and have them powder coated. There is a powder coat that looks alot like chrome.

 

There is a powder coater here in town. Any idea on cost? I know I can get them chromed but it wont be cheap.

 

If you spraypaint chrome them, I will find you and smother you in your sleep..

Powdercoating is a good option. The guy that does my work will sandblast and powdercoat a set of wheel for 200$

 

from what ive heard, the "chrome" powdercoat ends up more looking like alum than chrome when its done

 

'Smother me in my sleep' that was good. I know what your saying, I just think the Argent with chrome trim rings and center caps just looks wrong, even though I know its original equipment. I am trying to stay pretty close to OEM but I cant get past the Argent. Anybody have a picture of 'chrome color' powder coating?

 

The chrome powdercoating I have seen looks like high-gloss silver. Not nearly as reflective as chrome, but more than gloss silver paint.

I spraypainted chrome inside my taillight housing, just so it might be a bit more reflective..

 

I've tried various 'chrome' and 'aluminum' spray paint, and the bottom line is it won't hold up well on wheels. At least not on a daily driver.
Go for the powder coat at least. It will last a long time.
Maybe some sort of catalised epoxy paint would last more than 6 months.

 

Most wheels painted never hold up over time even factory clear coated ones peals in a year or two.Powder coating is not cheap but once its on its a pain to get off its hard as a rock but looks like paint.Its about the same price as chrome but it can't pit like chrome does.

 

one caution on the powder coating the wheels is that if/when you do scratch them, it is very hard to fix. You can't just touch them up. Instead you have to blast them down to the metal and start over. As others have said, "it's a pain to get off". So expect to pay quite a bit to have it done.

On my 1990 5.0, it was cheaper to buy new wheels than fix scratches in the p-coating. That was after shopping many different wheel repair places. In the future, I'd only have powder coated wheels if they were very deep and less likely to ever get scratched.