Has anybody else done this? If you have, how did you do it, and how long did it take?

If you've got em, post your wheel pictures.

 

You have a polished engine..... so what is so mysterious about polished wheels? Lots of people have done this, I think some dealers even did it in '94.

 

They are probably chromed, not polished. Some FD's came with chromed wheels stock.

 

The wheels appear to have some kind of metal powdercoating on them. I guess you sandblast that off, and then just polish the heck out of them and they look like this? Or are wheels like this chromed?

 

There were stock chromed wheels?? I've never seen those before- do you know what year? I think these look better than most of the aftermarket wheels I've seen. (Anybody have a set for sale?)


---
"They come in pints?!" "They come in chrome?!"

 

The chrome was probably a dealer option, not from the factory. But they do exist. They pop up for sale in the FS/WTB section every now and then.

 

Those are chromed stock wheels. I have a set, and really like them. They were not a factory option. Some dealers sent the wheels out, and had them chromed.

One of my wheels had a piece of chrome chipped off while being worked on at my local tire shop. They sent the wheel in to be re-chromed. The old chrome, and the copper under it was disolved off, and recoated with copper, and then new chrome. The copper is required to get the chrome to stick. The tire shop said it was about $100 to rechrome the wheel.

If you would like a pic of my car (with stock chrome wheels), PM me with your e-mail address.

 

Blingtastic! Hey Adam, are you sure you don't want to trade yours for a set of FD wheels that are painted black?

Sonny

 

Hey Sonny, what do yours look like? These are my current ones (powdercoated black):

 

Do you have to grind/sand them smooth before you get them chromed, or will the copper and chrome layers take car of it?

Trying to figure out how much work this is going to be.

 

That is a question to ask the chroming place. I'm sure that they could do it.

 

That's a nice offer Sonny. Let me think about it for a few years

 

Whaaaa? Gosh... I need to leave the DC Metopolitan area...

There's only ONE shop that I know of in a 50 or so mile radius that will TOUCH chrome anything. And that's b/c it's a toxic material, and requires special handling and disposal. They charge an arm and a leg to strip a rim of chrome, recoat it, and rechrome it where I live.

Oh and Adam, not trying to bust your bubble, but the shop also told me to try and avoid rechroming at all costs (no pun intended) b/c when they come to strip the chrome, the chrome has seeped into the wheel itself, and as a result, when they leech it (when stripping it), it's actually being pulled from the wheel, leaving the wheel not weaker. Or at least that's what they said (my disclaimer if that's false).

~Ramy

 

I had chromed stock wheels on my Silver Stone FD before I went with 99 spec wheels. Let me know if you want a few pics of the "old" setup.

BTW - They were in fact a dealer only option as stated earlier. I have a copy of the original invoice showing the extra $575.00 cost.

 

I happen to hate mine.

 

Ramy,

Good thing you used a disclaimer . Chrome doesn't stick to aluminum. The aluminum has to be coated with copper first. Then the copper coated wheel is chromed. I was also concerned about weakening of the wheel. The people doing the work assured me that the wheel would not be weakened with this process. A simple solvent is used to remove the old coatings, with no adverse effect to the wheel (my disclaimer )


Chromed wheels were never available as OEM from Mazda. Some dealers had stock wheels chromed, and marked up the price accordingly. If you don't believe this, contact your Mazda dealer. Try to get a part number for chromed wheels. It does not exist.

 

nice toes

 

I love mine! got them done at California Chrome in Santa Clarita Ca. as Adam C said you must do the copper plating to the aluminum

 

Adam...you're wrong.

LOL...Just had to say it hehe I dunno if this makes any difference, but this wasn't in reference to the stock rims. It was a set of Volk Rezax II's I had. Dunno what that wheel is made of. But glad to hear there's no adverse effect on the wheel (at least in your case )

~Ramy

 

Chromed wheels were never available as OEM from Mazda. Some dealers had stock wheels chromed, and marked up the price accordingly. If you don't believe this, contact your Mazda dealer. Try to get a part number for chromed wheels. It does not exist.[/QUOTE]


I believe everyone is agreeing that it is a "Dealers Option Only" no one is disagreeing here.

I personal like that look let me know if any of you guys wanna sell them

 

I agree totaly. As a matter of fact I just gave away a set of ugly *** chrome stocks about 2 weeks ago. (they were on a parts car and I hate them)

 

shouldve done something about those dirty wheel wells lol...

 

i think its the fact that the flash on the camera is directed right at them...=/

probably looked better in person, cuz even the dirty part of the tire tread makes it look whack

 

Shinier than my mom's Benz.

 

Yes, very shiny...mmm