Dan

Okay, I have a few questions if anyone would like to answer them:

1. Is the red leather interior a better quality than the standard leather?

2. What are the downsides to chrome wheels? Never owned any. Usually prefer machined myself.

3. Could it be that the side bolstering wasn't that great, based on comments from people who sat in the car, because they weren't able to inflate the side bolsters using the button? Is there such a button?

That's it for now. Thanks.

[I edited my original post]

HairyCanary

My thoughts....

1. Probably the same leather, just a different color.
2. Maybe shows scratches easier? Can't think of any real downside.
3. Lumbar is in the back of the seat, not the side bolsters, so I don't think it would have any effect.

Dave

steve19970

As far as the virtues or downsides of chrome wheels, in comparing them to painted alloy (I don't have any machined ones), chrome holds up better against the mag chloride they use here in the Denver area to keep the ice melting. If you're not driving in snow, or they don't use chemicals on the roads where you live, then there's no real difference. I put some chrome wheels on my wife's car though, and they sure do pop!

Dan

Sorry, my bad. I meant side bolsters not lumbar.

I heard that chrome can flake off, discolour, scratch easily. Is machined more durable?

steve19970

I suppose that's a possibility, since chrome plating is technically a coating...but it's a chemical procedure, so flaking doesn't sound right to me (though I'm far from an expert on this). But my wife does nothing special to keep hers nice, and we've had ours for several months now, without any of those problems. I know that months can't foretell years down the road, but so far, so good.

What kinds of things do you expect will scratch the wheels?

Ripstang

As far as crome wheels go Dan here it is :Crome will only discolor at high temps like crome headers just off the motor where there bolted on they "blue" .It can flake off as it is just an electroplated coating ,but just like paint its all in good prep work before plating .It does scratch, but not so easy as aluminum mag wheels the mag just hides it better .If the wheel is crome and has sharp 90 degree bends in it the plating has a hard time being plated in there and rust can get in there with salt weather and cause the crome to flake off as well .The rim itself is made of steel so it can take a direct parking curb hit better that aluminum where it could bend from the hit . :bang:
Aluminum mags are very "porus" as well ,with the salt being on them it can get into the mag with the twisting and flexing of the mag causing minor cracking between the air pockets in the mags aluminum rim and after a period of time the tires will go low or flat ,not from the tire or valve stem but the mag leaking air itself .In some cases with older aluminum mag wheels I have actually seen an entire set of mags thrown out because they can no longer hold air in them .

My best suggestion ,have summer wheels and If you have a cold winter with road salt climate get steel winter rims and tires if you want to drive you car all year .

Dr Iven

I have chromed stainless steel wheels on my Ranger, and the edges of some of the spokes show a little tiny bit of discoloration. The plastic hubcaps are also chromed, and they started flaking off last year. It looks pretty nasty. But, the metal seems to have held up pretty well, and they're over 10 years old. I've seen plenty of chromed aluminum wheels that have bubbled, though. :notnice:

200mphcobra

I have cared for-4 year old 95 style chrome plated Cobra r wheels on my car. They are bubbling at the edges. Pass on the chrome. Pass on any coating.

V10

I have heard lots of horror stories from people who live where they put salt on the roads, about the chrome plating on aluminum wheels cracking, pitting and flaking off. Aluminum is not an easy material to get other metals to plate onto and have good adhesion. I'm sure that another problem is the thermal expansion rate for aluminum is a lot greater than chrome which would also tend to break the bond.

Dr Iven

The weather here in Florida is great all year long.

Well, except for the occasional hurricane.

Dan

Well, I'm not at the stage where I even know if I'm going aftermarket let alone deciding between chrome and machined aluminum but I can say that either will NOT be used in the winter. That's what my 17's will be for that come with the car. The summer tires will be babied.

woody1

B) I've had chrome wheels for years and not experienced any major problems. Over the past few years the processing QCs seem to have inproved at major platers giving a better finish.

Word of warning with aluminum; especially in areas using mag chloride in the winter. This stuff is NASTY to aluminum. The trucking industry is up in arms about this stuff.

Since truckers see a lot of road hours and miles they are experiencing aluminum connectors get eaten away in one or two seasons(i.e. brake fittings, electrical connectors, cheap aluminum external trailer wiring, etc). And yea they are also seeing problems with the aluminum body panels. Granted this is proably what most people will see in 4-6 years of average driving; just my $0.02.

Dan

Thanks for all the comments guys!

Ripstang

No problem Dan ,If you do deceide to go with crome rims make sure the rim itself is steel rather than aluminum .As a few others have said the ones with the aluminum/crome flake off with the heat expantion and flexing of the aluminum.I myself have had crome/steel rims for 4 years just for summer use and no problems at all. B)

Ripstang

OH! one other tip Cal tire as well as some other tire and rim places have computers there with all the cars ,rims and tires that you can set up to see how your car will look with the rims on and the tires you want ,just pic the color of you car ,type model ,tinted or non tinted windows as well as lowered or non .Pick you tire and rim and see how it looks standing still and moving .It helped me out a great deal when I bought mine!!