hey everyone, i just got my wheels in august and it feels like ive hardly got to show them off yet. But i was talkin to a guy the other day who asked me when i was gonna take em off. So this brings me to the question, what will it do if i leave them on over the winter? (i have chrome, and i live in kansas city, where we get moderate amount of snow)


btw, i dont have backup wheels, so i really dont want to take them off just to put my hideous old ones on.

 

if you can keep 'em clean youre ok i guess, but chrome and salt are like 50 cent and Ja rule, they dont mix well.

Chrome plate is actually porous, when microcracked, the salt, sodium chloride, passes through the chrome layer to the underlaying nickel, dissolving the nickel into nickel chloride. The base metal, now exposed, rusts. Must now be stripped polished and replated. In such corrosive environments, and generally, rub every week with a good wax, like Turtle Wax. Pay special attention to corners and low current density areas.

otherwise youre rims will look like

or put your sawblades or whatever rims you got back on and not pay the consequences.

my 2 cents.

 

Since you don't have backup wheels. Best bet is to find a boneyard and get some OE wheels or some steelies.

 

Heh, I don't know if I'd call Turtle Wax a "good" wax, but the main thing is to keep it clean. Brake dust and road salt/dirt (ie, chemicals) are enemies of any kind of finish, whether it's chrome or painted. Leave any of these things on a wheel too long and you could damage the finish. Chrome is nice when it's maintained, but like tripleG said, once if it's damaged beyond a certain point, refinishing is $$$.

Keep them clean, and waxed regularly. Maybe not every week, but if you CAN, why not?


With nice wheels or performance tires, it's really a good idea to swap over to a winter set that has winter tires (even cheap *** ones) as it not only saves them from winter abuse, but it will be safer if you ever do get snow. I just spent the last couple days repainting two of my hopelessly blistered stock SE wheels so that they'll look half-decent in the winter. Maybe you can do the same with yours - it's not hard, just a bit time consuming.

BTW, what tires are you running and what size? If they're summer-only type or even high performance all-seasons I'd change over to winter tires because they don't like to grip well in the cold.

 

I agree with Bman. We get a fair amount of snow here and I wouldn't want to try and tempt fate by sliding around on skinny tires and expensive rims. I have a set of black steelies with studded snow tires that are mounted, balanced and ready to go. When the forecast calls for a chance of snow or ice, I just run out to the garage and swap them over.

I know this seems like an expensive option, but snow tires last for several seasons and prolong the life of your everyday tires and wheels, so I think it is a pretty good investment. For me, not getting stuck (or sliding off the road) on the way to work like a bunch of other losers makes it all the more worthwhile...

 

I never change my wheels and never will. Of course I live in the deep south where it lightly snows about once every 5 years and it may last a day. Once every 10 years we get snow that will last more than a day (4 at the most).

 

i swap em every year.... depends on how much snow you get and how much salt is put down throughout the year. in the NE as the winter goes on big potholes develop and they kill rims...

 

depends on what you spent for the wheels. if you bought 15 or 16 inch chrome wheels, rock 'em till they fall off. if you put a little more money into nice 17 or 18 inch wheels then i would ride them until your first snowfall and freeze my a$$ off changing them after that(like i did, i mounted my 18's in december lol). unless theyre really cheap wheels the chrome deteriorating wont be noticeable for years. my old 16's are like 6 or 7 yrs old and only now the chrome is peeling off( it was pitting 2 yrs ago, but still shined up nice)