Hi Folks - My 2015 F-350 came with 18X8 "Chrome Clad" Aluminum wheels and I'm not liking the chrome. I can't really afford new wheels so I tried using charcoal PlastiDip (see my Signature pic - that's before they peeled). I followed their instructions to the letter, used their Cleaner and they peeled within a week. The center caps still have the PlastiDip on them but the wheels bubbled and peeled. The cladding is plastic, like a hub cap but does not seem removable. My next thought is to sandblast (I have my own sandblaster) the chrome off with low pressure so as not to eat up the plastic, then paint them with Krylon Fusion, a hard surface paint made for plastic.

Thoughts? (Besides "By the time you get through with the sandblasting and all the cans of PlastiDip and Krylon, you probably could have bought new wheels")

Thanks!

 

I think you will have to do something to get the plasti-dip to stick. Either sand blast or rough up withere some sort of sand paper.

 

Its a lot of work but just have them powder coated. I wouldn't sand blast them and if you take the tires off the wheels and remove the TPS than you may as well do the coating.

 

Powder coating would be ideal but you can't powder coat plastic... the "Chrome Clad" is basically a non-removable plastic hub cap attached to the aluminum base wheel.

I sand blasted the center caps and painted them gloss black today - they take enough away from the chrome that I actually like it. I may just leave it like that!! Thanks for the opinions guys...

 

That does look good. Good job! If you still want the wheel all black, the same process that worked on the caps should work on the wheel. As far as I know, the caps are same being chrome over plastic.

 

I thought you were talking about the wheel not the hub cap. They do look nicer now.

 

It's not really an actual hub cap - look on the Ford web site in the Super Duty section. They're called "Chrome Clad Aluminum Wheels" - in reality, it's just an unfinished, cast aluminum wheel with a chrome plastic cover bonded to it somehow, but it can't be removed. I'm not sure what they were thinking but probably just another way to save on production costs! The more I look at the truck, the more I do like them now though. Thanks for the comments...

 

The chrome cladding can be removed, but it'll take an old screwdriver and a mallet to convince the cladding. Do this only if you plan to strip the wheel and paint/powder.

 

I have had great luck with Plasti-dip. I did the wheels on my wife's VW beetle 2 years ago and they still look like the day I did them. It is her daily driver so I do have to clean them regularly and keep them looking good.

Her wheels had a clear coat on them, so perhaps the chrome reacted differently than the clear coat.