Re-Chroming wheel embelishers or Replace?

[Grizzly]

Hi all.

I have been trying to get hold of a set of rim embellisher's for quite some time now and every so often the previous owner calls round to see how the rebuilds going, yesterday was one such visit and i asked him if he still had the Rim Embellisher's which he did but he said from memory they where in quite a state.

This morning he dropped them off for me and even though the chrome is quite bad and they have areas of corrosion there not damaged and the tabs on the back are ok, which got me thinking about possibly re-Chroming them?

The Problem i have is i know nothing about Re-chroming (the expense involved?, if the items look good after? Even where to get them done in the UK)

So i thought i'd ask as Chroming must be fairly common?

[theelanman]

I have found chroming to be expensive......
IIRC I paid about ?400 to get my rear bumper done, and about ?200 to get a boot rack for an MG done

I wonder if (not knowing if the stuff is durable enough) youd thought about wrapping.....
the stuff they use on the outside of the car must be ok for wheels too..........
clean off the old chrome (soda blast or other)..then paint...then wrap.....sounds easy...

have never tried it myself but if genuine chrome if prohibitive it may be an idea to try for not much expenditure

[john.p.clegg]

mmmmm..... mine are stainless...but if you do go down the re-chroming route don't venture to Failsworth...

John

[KevJ+2]

Might be a good time for folks to tell us all about chroming prices and quality.
No Google chrome jokes or cromers in Norfolk allowed

[TroonSprint]

In my limited experience, chroming is very expensive and isn't always well done. I once had a set of MG Midget bumpers rechromed and it cost quite a lot more than buying replacements. Within two years they were rusty because the process had been poorly done. If you decide on replating, try to get a recommendation for a business someone else has found to be good.

Mike

[theelanman]

http://www.hubcapmike.com/2in-trim-rings-beauty.html

these any good......???
don't know if anyone knows of them or has tried them.....but looks like an option......
at $69 or ?43 seems like a bargain......might just cost more in shipping tho'

[Grizzly]

Well i have a bit of an Update, i have stopped by a Place called Manchester Platers earlier and asked there opinion, they said they look fairly straight forward so to strip them fill any pitting and re-chrome i'd expect to pay between ?40-60 each. I've never had any Chrome work done so i don't know if that's allot or not??

So i rang Paul Matty just out of Interest to see what they can supply and i was told they do sell them for ?39.75 each + vat but they don't have any in stock (there expecting them any day)

I actually have a 13" Stainless Embellisher (I believe it was from Classic Car spares) its the full rim covering one and i got it to see if it looked ok but i wasn't happy with the fit of it as it looked like it was made for a wider wheel so stuck out away from the rim, its not to say there arn't better fitting ones out there but i went after originals after that.

Its funny you should mention Wrapping, i used to use Chrome and steel paint quite allot to repair some modern wheels and it did cross my mind but it never looks quite right, when you get close up it has an orange peel to it and looks a bit odd. But could be a way of getting them usable??

[theelanman]

the rimbellisher for the +2 was a wider rim than the rimbellisher for the elan....

if you have an elan then you may have a +2 rimbellisher.......????

[Grizzly]

I have 13" steel wheels and i thought the +2 had 14" steels? if they did have 13" maybe thats the issue.

[theelanman]

all had 13" rims......the +2 was 5.5" wide and the elan 4.5" wide

[Elanconvert]

hi grizzly
I have used doug taylor of weston super mare, who did a good job for a reasonable price.......they also do nickel, etc.

fred