A few people have asked me what black chrome is. My answer is one of the most visually interesting surfaces of a car. My understanding of how it's made is by taking regular chrome, and shooting it with a clearcoat tinted black. FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG! Similar finishes such as 'hyperblack' get spun off as black chrome, but it's not the same. I say black chrome is visually interesting because of it's dark yet reflective properties, it's not as common as paint or chrome, and it reacts so differently to different lights.
With light:

Without:

With camera flash

Fluorescent light / no flash

One in light, one in shade

Cloudy day:

Sunny day:

Shameless picture whoring:

 

Nice ride John. And nice wheels of course.

Thanks for the shots.

 

Here is some Hyper Black for comparison sake.

 

I like black chrome a little bit more, but thats not to say i dislike the hyperblack

Great looking stangs you guys

 

Black Chrome looks very nice.

 

There is also a process called Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) that can give some amazing results - not sure if it is done with rims, but I have seen it in other applications.

 

LOVE the black chrome.. WANT the black chrome!

 

looks sharp john, always have like the black chrome

 

Those wheels are awesome, nice ride!

 

I am thinking about black chrome fr500s. The thing is that i hear a lot from other forums that the black chrome finish that comes from a certain vendor later starts to crack and eventually comes off. Do you have any problems with them at the moment?

 

sick , are those 20s?

 

Wow, old thread kinda caught me off guard. Nope, still no problems, and yes they're 20's.

 

Proper black chrome is a chemical process in the upper layers of the finish, a "tinted clear" *could* work, but would not be the way I'd go if I was having something done. We've looked into it for our products, especially on the new models, and it is more expensive than regular 3/4 layer decorative chrome plating, due to the additional steps. It is somewhat of a "secretive" process, and many platers have their own way of getting the desired result, if they can do it at all. Normally you have copper - nickel - chrome from bottom to top, but if you mess with the chrome layer by adding Ti or other elements, or just add a 4th layer above the Cr, you can shift the color to "black" or actually to some other shades even from what I've seen done.

There's a lot of free techincal info available on the web regarding the basic processes involved in getting different finishes, but not much specifics on it, since the info tends to be proprietary once a finisher figures out a winning combo.

 

That's certainly correct for the *right* way to do it, but unfortunately based on troubles reported by wheel purchasers on the boards with the "black" in the "black chrome" flaking off, being stripped by car wash sprayers, etc a LOT of the aftermarket wheel companies are not doing it the right way, and instead using more of a "simulated black chrome" with a sprayed tint coat over regular chrome

 

And now the difference between the 149.00 dollar wheel and the 499.00 wheel becomes even more apparent

Sorry, just a pet peave of mine. Bought my share of junk through the years, I just won't touch the stuff that's done like that, as in the long run it ends up costing more anyway when you have to replace or recoat them 2-3 times over their life... I do miss the wheels that went with #05, 2 pc forged wheels, proper finishing, proper fitment, etc...and light weight (for a 19x9.5) but still DOT and TUV compliant.

FYI last time we had "real" black chrome work quoted to us, it was approx. 50% more than standard 3/4 layer chrome work, if that gives you a clue to the costs.

 

Agreed 110%. Sometimes the cheap stuff is exactly that: cheap

 

Maybe I'm glad I read this thread before getting a set of the black chrome fr500's.