Chroming wheels and swing arm. [Archive]

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phoenixcustom

12th July 2009, 21:56

Hi does anyone know of a really good chroming outfit in christchurch or surrounding, area's i am looking at getting my wheels and swing arm chromed, both of which have factory paint/powder coat on at present.
Cheers.

AllanB

12th July 2009, 22:45

The B-King has alloy wheels and swingarm - that's a special process to chrome alloy - different from steel. I am unaware of anyone in CHCH who does this but make a call to a couple of the chromers as they will know. There was a crowd in Hamilton years ago chroming alloy.

The other option is to have them polished then clear coat baked. Elite wheels do polishing.

p.dath

12th July 2009, 22:49

For the wheels it may be worth finding out what it would cost to get steel wheels and then chrome them, so you can use a normal simple process.

You can always sell the old alloys to re-coupe some of the expense.

CookMySock

13th July 2009, 08:00

Don't chrome, powdercoat them. Go talk to the powdercoaters, as theres some nice chrome-like finishes available.

Steve

vifferman

13th July 2009, 10:00

Don't powder coat them - polish them and have them Nikasil treated. Clearcoat can discolour or crack, whereas the Nikasil is very clear and can be reapplied in a few years if necessary.
Chrome doesn't adhere well to alloy, so is even worse for cracking.

pritch

13th July 2009, 12:32

i am looking at getting my wheels and swing arm chromed, Cheers.

I'm not sure that's a good idea. Ask an engineer (BE type) about stress risers. Or look it up in google? Bike frames aren't chromed for that reason.

DMNTD

13th July 2009, 12:38

Don't powder coat them...

Any reason why not? Heat cause a problem?

vifferman

13th July 2009, 12:50

Any reason why not? Heat cause a problem?
I have heard that the heat used in powdercoating can wreck alloy. However (but!) I've also heard that there are two different forms of powdercoating - one is a higher temp, the other is suitable for alloys. Factory wheel coatings are usually spraypainted on.
But that's not the reason I said that. If he wanted shiny wheels and swingarm, polished ones look great, but do need some protection from tarnishing. Paint or powdercoat seems to attract road spooge, perhaps because the plastic electrostatically attracts it and helps it to adhere. Dunno. But when I stripped'n'polished my VFR750's wheels, they were HEAPS easier to keep clean, even without any coating. Instead of washing them once a month or so, they only needed to be done every couple of months.

OutForADuck

13th July 2009, 13:18

Dont' chrome.. polish.. do it yourself.. not hard... doesn't take as much effort as you might have heard, will last well (especially if you use nikasil) and just needs a little polish to keep it looking stunning.

Also chrome will add significant unsprung weight to your bike and could affect teh handling more than you would like.

scumdog

13th July 2009, 13:20

Hydrogen embrittlement?

I believe it applies with ferrous metals but unsure about alloy.

CookMySock

13th July 2009, 17:55

Is nikasil economical on wheels? What about polish and nyalic them ?

Steve

DEATH_INC.

13th July 2009, 17:59

There's a crowd in gisborne that do a farkin nice job of chroming alloys. Don't use anyone else. I can get their name if you need it (pm me), but they aren't cheap. Quality work never is.
BTW, none of the other finishes mentioned come close to chrome for depth and color...

boman

13th July 2009, 19:39

The amount of Chrome alloy mag wheels I have seen losing there chrome finish, is unbeleivable. All it takes is a little pinhole in the chrome, and water gets in and the alloy reacts, chrome comes off. I would rather polish,and get them coated, at least you can redo resonably easy and inexpensivly.

devo

14th July 2009, 11:22

vifferman

14th July 2009, 11:30

Is nikasil economical on wheels? What about polish and nyalic them ?
Fork!
I meant nyalic, not knickersill.
My bad. :doh:

devo

14th July 2009, 11:38

Fork!
I meant nyalic, not knickersill.
My bad. :doh:

ok, so i wont go looking for knicker wot ever then :innocent:

CookMySock

14th July 2009, 12:56

tell me more about nikasil.have used nyalic on my boat and found it to be crap.Do tell us more about your nyalic experiences, as there has been some discussion on nyalic here lately. Nikasil is a very expensive hard ceramic used to plate pistons and cylinders, usually in high-performance two stroke engines. It's use on wheels is likely to be hell-expensive. The suggestion of it being used in the case was a typo. (read back)

Steve

devo

14th July 2009, 17:24

Do tell us more about your nyalic experiences, as there has been some discussion on nyalic here lately. Nikasil is a very expensive hard ceramic used to plate pistons and cylinders, usually in high-performance two stroke engines. It's use on wheels is likely to be hell-expensive. The suggestion of it being used in the case was a typo. (read back)

Steve

I used as reccomended by the nyalic rep on a fibre glass boat to preserve the finish.
It was fine for a year, then started breaking up and blistering off.
I tried to remove it with white spirits as reccomended by the distributors, but it wouldnt shift,nor would it with anything else I tried.
The result is, I've now got this crap on my boat which I cant shift.
I have a couple of friends who have used it on there ally boats with the same results.

vifferman

14th July 2009, 18:43

I used as reccomended by the nyalic rep on a fibre glass boat to preserve the finish.
It was fine for a year, then started breaking up and blistering off.
I tried to remove it with white spirits as reccomended by the distributors, but it wouldnt shift,nor would it with anything else I tried.
The result is, I've now got this crap on my boat which I cant shift.
I have a couple of friends who have used it on there ally boats with the same results.
Hmmmm... thanks for that - it's good to know.
My recommendation of Nyalic for protecting polished aloy wheels was based on a recommendation from an Aussie mate who used it on his wheels. I have no personal experience of it myself. When I stripped'n'polished my VFR750 wheeeeeeels, I just used a bit of Autosol every 6 months or so. They were a piece of piss to keep clean compared to the white paint that used to be on them.
One day when my VFR800's wheels are a bit more scratched (they're not too good now), I'm going to do the same with them. Bit pointless at the mo, as the paint on the bodywork's looking a bit untidy.

boman

14th July 2009, 19:15

Yea my old bosses wife had polished alloys on her car. Every 6 months or so we took the wheels off the car, and repolished with autusol, or Mother aluminium polish. Found a cotton buff in M10 which i can use on my drill, it works really well on alloy. Brings the surface to quite a shine.

devo

14th July 2009, 21:02

Just done the same with the front wheel on my speedy.
Stripped of the paint and polished up with 3M paint stripping wheels, then autosol on a cloth buff.To keep the shine a bit longer and hopefully minimise water spotting I hand polished with mcguiers deep crystal polish.(no2 of the 3 step system).
Will have to wait and see how it weathers.

phoenixcustom

15th July 2009, 20:52

Cheers all i will have to have a long hard think about whats best, thanks for all your feedback.

Hinny

18th September 2009, 19:56