Chrome wheels?

Greetings all, I was wondering what you all thought about having your wheels nickel plated or chromed. I was thinking of doing it over the wintertime but didn't know if it would be worth it or not. Also if you guys knew of any aftermarket wheels that would fit my XJ650 Maxim that where already polished or chromed. I am new here and really value the opinions and info posted here. Thanks

 

Personally, I would think trying to chrome the stock wheels on an 80's XJ would be a real nightmare. The rough texture of the wheels would require hours of work to prep for chrome plating. I'm toying with the idea of simply painting or powder coating. Powder coating is especially appealing due to the wide range of colors and textures now available PLUS it's high durability.

 

As far as I know, the wheels are not steel, but aluminum, or some sort of alloy there after. Aluminum cannot be chromed. It can be polished or anodozed. I think powder coating will work, but I could be wrong on that too. I saw a picture somewhere of a nicely polished wheel. It looked amazing!!! I can't imagine the amount of work that went into it though!

 

WHAT!! You sure about that? Aren't side covers and valve covers aluminum? I KNOW I've seen them chromed.

 

aluminum can be chromed but I think you have to find a chrome shop that is fimilar with plating aluminum. Also powder coat manufacturers have come out with some pretty impressive almost chrome powders

 

I looked it up. I stand corrected! So you can chrome aluminum after all. I wonder why we don't see that much around. Then again, maybe we do, I was just igonrant enough to think that under that chrome was steel, or some other metal. Anyway, here is a link to someone who does it.

http://www.chromal.com/

 

Yes, powder coating has come a long way. Here is an example of powder coat chrome from Eastwood Co.. You can get an entire home kit for under $125.00 INCLUDING the chrome powder. I highly recommend.

 

So it seems that powder coating is the way to go. I just need to find an oven that the wheels will fit in, that I don't have to go crazy with house wiring to make work. Which powder did you use on those parts chadwickm? It looks really good.

 

This will work.

$20 Powder Coat Oven for Wheels

 

have you considered "jet hot" ceramic (recomended)
here is pic of my headers. wiz.

 

Thanks for all the info guys, looks like I have all the setup info I need to darn near start my own neighborhood powdercoating business lol. Wizard, if you could post a link to the jet hot ceramics you mentioned would be awesome. This is why I love this site, if you can think of it, chances are someone here has done it and can share the how-to's.

 

www.jet-hot.com

 

I offer chroming services and most of the parts we do are for yamaha Vmax models. The wheels do chrome up just fine and run $350-$400 (plus 7% environ fee) for each wheel (sometimes less depending on the size). We do also have Black Chrome (nickel) but that runs 20% more and they aren't as durable as reg chrome is.

I do have one XJ650 and some Turbo Wheels I could get chromed in advance for you and then you send back your old wheels when you get the new ones. They have to be completely taken apart before chroming so I would suggest to get all new bearings while you have them out.

You can email me directly if you want for some pics of the chrome work we do (not many pics of the wheels though). one2dmax@aol.com

Sean

 

All good ideas...and I have another one. Get a good aluminum polish and a powerball for your drill and buff away! Works great!