I went and took a few pictures of what my wheels currently look like.

From far away they look great!

Now lets see what they look like up close....

This is what they looked like after polishing the wheels with Mothers chrome polish. the white "speckles" are tiny dimples in the chrome itself and could not be polished out. You can feel the tiny specks with your finger when you rub across them.


Left rear wheel. Notice how the chrome is literally PEALING off of the wheel, and cannot hold a shine anymore. This wheel is leaking air at a rate of around 10 PSI a week.



Left Front wheel. It'* starting to peal and will not hold a shine in this spot, but it'* not as bad as the other wheel. (yet.)


This is the same wheel in another spot. This rust spot (I assume) will not come out with polishing, and you can feel this one as well. It feels sunk into the wheel and would not buff out...


My guess is that the wheels are pretty well shot now. The spots all over the wheel won't polish out using expensive polishes and I don't know what much else to do, especially since they're now starting to leak. Anyone have any suggestions, or are the wheels shot?

anyone? Some one has to know something about chrome wheels here.

I think there was something under there when they were chromed and it started to rust up.

Doesn't this fall under GM'* 7year/100k Anti-Corrosion Warranty?
It could become a safety hazard very quickly. I know on the 1999 Bonneville'* they did a recall due to the same thing happening to the T-stars, IIRC.
I'd check out your owners manual for the period for which the Anti-Corrosion Warranty covers and if it'* still in that period I'd take it to your nearest GM dealer for it to be covered under warranty.

Good Luck

this is exactly why i do not like chrome wheels. Chrysler has alot of similar problems with their chrome wheels. i cant say anything for the speckles/dimples, but the peeling usually comes from the use of hammer-on wheel weights chipping the chrome off or the tire shop not being carful and using metal tools to remove and install the tires. After the inital damage occurs, sand, water and other such nasties begin to oxydize underneath the crome and make it peel. The valve stem also sees alot of wear and tear from removing and re-installing new valvestems

ALWAYS ASK FOR STICKY WIEGHTS FOR CHROME WHEELS - this is your best and really, only defense

This seems to be a common problem with all chrome-finished wheels, not just GM or CHRY. Especially after 5 years of year-round use.

absolutely, however, with my experience, chrysler seems to have to worst reputation with the problem

I see a wheel weight on there. I absolutly do not recommend those weights on a real nice set of aluminum rims, and same for chrome. Pretty well all rims can accept the stick on wheel weights inside them, that will still balance the rims. When getting tire changes, specify that you want the stick on weights. If they use those weights, you can raise a stink, and possibly have the wheel refinished at their expense.

Another thing, winter rims, and tires. Spend the money on a 16 inch steel rim, or an old aluminum that won't mind taking a beating. Get some OE hubaps, or something cheap. At least you can garuntee your summers won't take a beating, and there will only be tire changovers to new tires, every few years. Not as much balancing, replacing valve cores, etc. Very much worth the investment IMHO.

Brake dust is another ememy of Aluminum and chrome rims. Ceramic pads can fix this easily. Or frequent cleanings.