Repairing a chrome plated wheel
 

Looking for some advice here. Had a flat tire, and the tire shop i went to assured my rim wont be damaged when they repair the tire. When i picked it up, it was damaged a lot. Long story short, they are covering the costs.

The wheel is a 3 piece forged wheel with chrome plated liquid bronze lip. The repair company they sent it to is only spot repairing the ares that are damaged, not replating the lip (which you'd have to take everything apart).

My question is, is spot repairing alright? Or will it be prone to damage easier?

From my understanding chrome plating is done by putting it in a chrome bath. But i could be wrong?

I could ask them to send it to the manufacturer to do it properly if im not satisfied, but last time i did that it took 7 months(during height of covid) and i missed out on the whole summer with my summer wheels. Even now they said it could take up to 8 weeks.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Which company is repairing the wheel?

If it’s Panther or Greens you’re in good hands… I wouldn’t worry too much.

We've probably sent 4-10 wheels a week to panther every week for the past 5 years. They are good.

With all the cost cutting recently we've had to start using the mobile repair guys. They suck, it's all bondo and spray paint. When you say "spot repair", this is exactly what I see them do, just horrible. For the wheels with the machined aluminum clear coated face, it becomes a section of just silver paint.

So the tire company has a personal relationship with westcoast wheels and they are taking care of the repair, but they are outsourcing the chrome plating part to a chrome plating company. Im going tomorrow morning to take a look at their process so far.

Is it work bronze lips? I never found a place to repair those when I asked around. :pokerface:

Its Avant Garde liquid bronze. I'll know for sure tomorrow, im gonna put it side by side with my other wheels to make sure it all matches lol

What's the going rate to refinish machined wheels via Panther or Greens? I have a set that's been repaired by the previous owner and the silver paint doesn't match with the rest of the wheel.

Shop rate for Panthers is about $225-265 a wheel depending how complicated it is... not sure what their retail customer rate is

For something easier like simple paint match, you might want to try nu-brite in Langley... they're not as good for repairs as the other guys, bit sloppy sometimes (just my experience) but they're cheaper like $150-175 a wheel... and you can send them photos on their website to ask for a quote

Ok so quick update, when i had allowed the tire company to attempt to find a reputable shop that could fix chrome plating, i was skeptical. So not to my surprise, western wheel craft simply painted over the damaged areas ONLY. Meaning not only was it completely the wrong color, but it was now 2 different colors on one wheel! Looked like backyard work to me.

Now instead of sending the wheel over to Avant Garde where they would have been able to refinish the lip and be quicker and cheaper. They now have to replace the entire lip cause of the fuck up, which will take longer and now i have to put my winters on for the summer.

The tire company wants to cut me a cheque for the cost of my doing it myself to cut ties and wipe their hands clean.

I should just tell them to cut me a cheque for the entire cost of a whole new wheel at this point.

Yea 100% I’d say I just want a new wheel

Take the cash and buy a new wheel, hope it's not discontinued

I spoke with my supplier for my wheels, they are going to give me an invoice to send to the tire shop for the cost of a new wheel so I'm not 3 wheeling it for the whole summer. The tire shop better cover it.