Wheels, chrome, and....well....I don't know

[MediaMike19063]

So I finally got over the cold feet and bought the '95 3000GT SL. I love this thing!!! It's incredibly awesome! WOO! ok. Sorry. I'm done. So, I was going over the car again and I found a "blemish" in the chrome of the rear passenger wheel. Now, this "blemish" is actually rust eating the outter layer of the wheel. Is this fixable? Should I be looking into getting a new wheel? I don't have $1k + to throw into wheels and tires at the very moment. Any suggestions? Any and all help is appreciated. I'll try to get pics of them up tomorrow morning.
Thanks again all!
Mike

[jeettao]

This may sound extreme, but, if you don't mind non-chrome rims, you can get your rims bead blasted for probably around a hundred bucks, remove the chrome and rust from all four, and you'll have a fresh matching set of rims.

[MediaMike19063]

Originally Posted by jeettao

This may sound extreme, but, if you don't mind non-chrome rims, you can get your rims bead blasted for probably around a hundred bucks, remove the chrome and rust from all four, and you'll have a fresh matching set of rims.

Hmmm.....do you think that a black/dark grey would be good for the panama green body? With OEM wheels? Hmmm.....any other considerations? I'm interested now

[lawdogg]

Hey Mike:

Peeling / bubbling chrome rims is actually very common. When I had stock rims on my 94 VR-4, about half the chrome had already fallen off.

The cheapest thing for you to do would probably be to find mint condition SL rims in the classifieds section on here ... although you may want to consider aftermarket rims.

Welcome to the forum! Congrats on your purchase!

--Ryan

[jeettao]

Well, you can powdercoat them any color, like the stock silver color. Do they look good? Good enough to sell several thousand green 3/Ses that year...

I agree with lawdogg, if you can find them, that'd be much cheaper than buying them new from the factory. However, though I've never shopped around for SL rims, I'd think that if this problem is "common", then logic would tell you that finding a "mint set" will be rather difficult. Heck, the shipping alone is probably half the cost of just bead blasting + powdercoating them outright.

[whmdan]

I had pretty much the same problem, my front right wheel had a massive scrap in the metal. It remained safe to drive on, but looked horrible. For the meantime, I simple blacked them out with spray paint. Not know what else I could do. It made this much less noticable. However, when I did get money, I bought new rims. I got these from Discount Tire for $110 each; And the pictures don't do them justice.

[etecnifibre]

Originally Posted by lawdogg

Peeling / bubbling chrome rims is actually very common.

I've never heard of such thing!!

To the OP, check ebay. I know you said you don't have the grand to spend, but, on ebay you will find a set of replicas, chromed. I know they are expensive, but so is powdercoating.

And just blasting them to nothing to have a set of 4 matching, in my opinion, well, it's not the way I'd go.

These cars look badass with chrome rims. Like I said, my opinion. I wouldn't trade my stock chrome rims for ANY aftermarket rims, even if they were given to me free.

[jeettao]

Ah, see, I guess that's where we disagree. I personally cannot stand chrome rims, so yeah.

As far as powdercoating being expensive, hell no. Find a guy around you. I remember there being a thread about a guy in Indiana doing it for 200 dollars: whole set bead blasted + coated.

Shipping for rims is going to be 60-80 dollars alone + the cost of purchase. And if you find mint ones, they aren't going to be cheaper than powder coating. I'm not trying to push you in that direction or anything, it's just a suggestion coming from a guy that doesn't like chrome, so take it as you will.

[inperfectdarkness]

gunmetal powder coated 3rd gen 3kgt base rims. only thing i'd use if i were going to rock 3/s stockers.

i think chrome is heavy; and there are rims out there that look even better than the stock stealth 5-spokes, or the stock 3kgt 6-spokes.

those konig's aren't bad for color. the design isn't my taste though. and the one thing about aftermarket wheels that makes them so appealing to me? you can get them with a nice, fat lip. a lip fatter than the one on a drunk redneck sassing mike tyson.

[Kaz03]

Originally Posted by etecnifibre

I've never heard of such thing!!

These cars look badass with chrome rims. Like I said, my opinion. I wouldn't trade my stock chrome rims for ANY aftermarket rims, even if they were given to me free.

My chromies also have some flakey spots. I realize they are heavier than alloys but I like em. If the small spot bothers you consider having that rim re-chromed. Should be able to have that done pretty cheap. If nothing else it may increase the value of the set if sold in the classifieds or ebay.