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?

 

They have to be tanked.

Try a bumper re-plating shop

 

My male german sheperd was able to strip all the chrome off my lug nuts (thank goodness wheels are polished aluminum). Want to borrow him? Doesnt take long...


Shane

 

Well...

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