06 Chrome rims corrosion

[Tru-Blu]

I'm still in "getting acquainted" mode with my '06, and one of the things I noticed fairly quick when I was looking at her at the dealership was the amount of corrosion that appeared to be on the back side of the stock chrome rims. I made a mental note to take care of that within the first couple weeks of bringing her home, hence the reason for this message.

Can any 06 owners that have the chrome rims comment on their experience with this? If you bought your LS new, what were the inside of the rims like? I will definitely be wire-brushing and probably sanding them, but was debating on what to do afterwards - maybe paint them black, go with a rubberized tuff-cote, etc.

Any thoughts would be appreciated,

TRU

 

[02LincLS]

show some pictures so we have a better idea.
clean them up with chrome polish the best you can and avoid winter use at all costs. buy some crappy 16" rims and slap snow tires on if you live in that kind of climate.
chrome is poreous but if polished will keep moisture away. once the chrome lifts, forget about it. sand and salt gets behind and the bonding metals corrode. it can be difficult to mount the wheel flat (and therefore get a good balance). at that point, sand the chrome off.

 

[Tru-Blu]

Sorry I should have clarified a little better in my initial post. The FRONT side of the rims are fine - near perfect. I'm assuming thats the only part of the rims that are chromed.

I suppose I will know more when I take them off to have a deeper look (and start cleaning) at the back side of the rims. I was just putting this question out there to see if any existing 06 owners had these rims and what their experiences were with them.

Somewhere down the road (maybe a year or so), I'll get some nice aftermarket rims/tires (like all you rich fellers' seem to have) and these will probably be the winter wheels.

TRU

P.S. I know I'm overdue for pics of the new ride, but haven't had a chance to detail her properly yet. Should be this weekend, though.

 

[02LincLS]

no problem. obviously the back sides are not as smooth as the face. they also don't round off sharp corners. these are where problems start as far as corrosion.
its not an issue as long as
a. you can't see it on the front (cosmetic)
b. the through hole where your center cap snaps in remains smooth and round since this is how most places center the wheel while balancing.
c. the mount face remains flat (also for balancing purposes)

 

[Ls208]

when i bought my car it had 20 inch rims on it, i live in idaho so that obviously wasnt goning to cut it, i went to my junk yard and was very lucky in finding a set of chrome aftermarket 17s for $150, they were in near perfect condition when i picked them up, after a hard winter the chrome started coming off exactly like you described, i was thinking about sanding them and painting them with some cheap black wheel paint becasue i dont see anyway of stopping it for getting worse, and for me its not to big of a deal as i only use them in winter.

 

[Lincoln Jealous]

unless you like chrome, you can paint any rim, just follow the steps for prep,

sand,prime,sand,paint,sand,clear,sand,compound,polish they will look like you just bought them brand new