My black wheels are turning silver!?

[tonyhetherington]

Hi all

Bought my car back in May, and at the time the wheels were refurbished by the dealer (or rather, whoever they have do them). I had them done in 'black chrome' (or whatever the Lotus term for that is?). All very good, and with the black car I just love the look they have.

Now...I was cleaning my wheels yesterday and I noticed that the front left wheel was, actually, silver. It started off life the same colour as the other wheels, but it literally would pass as a completely silver wheel on a standard wheeled car.

Is it me, or is this actually happening? Has anybody experienced this before? The wheels are in 100% perfect condition, no flaking, no chips, nothing at all and I clean them without fail front and back every week.

So...urmmmm, well, I just wanted to know if anybody else had similar trouble or knows it to be a problem?!

Thanks all!
Tony

[lawrence5]

Sounds weird - nickel polished I thought if it's a S2 111S. Post pics - could just be a std wheel made to match..... badly

[Buster44]

Don't 'spose some ones swapped it over?????????

[GTRene]

tonyhetherington said:

Hi all Bought my car back in May, and at the time the wheels were refurbished by the dealer (or rather, whoever they have do them). I had them done in 'black chrome' (or whatever the Lotus term for that is?). All very good, and with the black car I just love the look they have. Now...I was cleaning my wheels yesterday and I noticed that the front left wheel was, actually, silver. It started off life the same colour as the other wheels, but it literally would pass as a completely silver wheel on a standard wheeled car. Is it me, or is this actually happening? Has anybody experienced this before? The wheels are in 100% perfect condition, no flaking, no chips, nothing at all and I clean them without fail front and back every week. So...urmmmm, well, I just wanted to know if anybody else had similar trouble or knows it to be a problem?! Thanks all! Tony

Do you happen to life in a place called "Ghost-town" call the ghostbusters...?
GTRene

[tonyhetherington]

I'm just looking at all my old pics and I wonder if I'm just making it up now. When I next have daylight (not easy at the moment!) I'll post comparison pics between the two front wheels (it's the front left that is looking more silvery) and see if that shows up anything.

Thanks for the thoughts guys!

[minidiva]

Hi

I had a similar experience on my old car (mini), not with the wheels, but with the wheel nuts. They were black to start off with - not a thick coating like paint or enamel, but a thinish layer - I think it is some chemical dip or something that makes them black.
Anyway, after a while they started to turn silver - patchy at first and eventually it all came off and they went rusty and had them changed under warranty. I think it was from the wheel acid that I used to use to get the brake dust off (I needed to use it as I had white wheels) that made it come off / dissolved the black stuff.
Even after a while of not using the wheel acid anymore the new ones started to fade.
Have you or anyone else been using any strong cleaning products on the wheels?

[Tim Netherton]

Funny you should mention it, mine are doing the reverse - I have the standard 5 spoke alloy and they have flaked quite badly in a couple of places and are turning black - I blame 'Wonder Wheels' cleaner which I reckon is pretty acidic stuff - well it burns a bit if you splash it on your skin.

[GTRene]

you almost could say, maybe they have some silver wheels they sprayd black when they needed black wheels for some cars to deliver at that moment...
and at some points, some black wheels when they needed silver ones so they sprayd them silver??(at factory or dealer or a guy/women who needed 1 wheel and sprayd the one the could get?)
GTRene

[victormeldrew]

All platers recommend only warm soapy water for cleaning chrome plate - bright or blank. Acidic wheel cleaners could well be responsible.

[tonyhetherington]

nope, no acidic wheel cleaners at all - the only thing I use for my wheels is warm water with the same turtle-wax shampoo that I use for the body of the car (different bucket though).

Because the wheels were newly refurbed, it's all I need to get the brake dust off because I do it without fail every week!

[moominter]

Black chrome or power silver wheels are powder coated black then silver is coated on the face of the wheel and then clear coated.
The shade of the finish is determined by the amount of silver coating on the black, so its hard to get the shade of the silver spot on on all four wheels.



>> Edited by moominter on Wednesday 7th December 01:01

[rixge]

So long as there not turning Japanese !