How do you remove chrome from wheels?
Thread Starter
|
Lead Driver
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5,491
Likes: 16
From: Kuna ID
How do you remove chrome from wheels?
I bought a set of chrome wheels for my car and after removing the old tires found the chrome was flaking off on the lip. I would like to strip the wheels and have them rechromed or powdercoated. Whats the best/easiest way to do this?
FTE Leadership Emeritus
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 18,787
Likes: 30
From: Melbourne, Aus
Originally Posted by Sycostang67
I bought a set of chrome wheels for my car and after removing the old tires found the chrome was flaking off on the lip. I would like to strip the wheels and have them rechromed or powdercoated. Whats the best/easiest way to do this?
It depends.
If you are a geek (like me
) and you want the best finish.Get a decent sized plastic container, fill it with 5 gallons of water. Put in 7 oz/gal NaOH (Caustic soda), 9 oz/gal Na2CO3 (Soda ash). Get a 6 V battery (or use a DC converter), get some alligator clips, find a scrap bit of steel.
Place the wheel, and the scrap piece of steel in the bath. Not touching, and as far apart as possible.
Connect the positive alligator clip to the scrap piece of steel, and the negative to the wheel.
Do this with all the wheels (you may need to replace bath solution after a couple of wheels, and or the scrap piece of steel too)
You should end up with a lovely piece of chromed scrapped steel.
But - becareful, don't bathe them too long...
If you want to strip the nickel (the layer below the chrome) you essentially do the same thing, but use weak battery acid as your solution (instead of the Caustic soda/soda ash), and get a lead plate out of battery to use as your anode (negative connection)
If you aren't so much of a geek... you can sandblast them if its flaking, but you probably won't get the nickel off (which is under the chrome), and the finished surface won't be as nice.
If you just want the chrome off, silver polish should to the job... or lye based Oven cleaner.
Hope that helps
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
1984F2506.9
1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
8
Jun 5, 2013 08:12 PM
toddbacon
1967 - 1972 F-100 & Larger F-Series Trucks
2
Oct 27, 2012 08:43 PM
jbillfish
1999 - 2016 Super Duty
2
Mar 2, 2012 11:05 PM
Stinky7-11
1973 - 1979 F-100 & Larger F-Series Trucks
24
Feb 7, 2012 06:27 PM
