traumadoc

The dealer wants to chrome my factory AMG rims. Any thoughts??? Any photos????

I am shying away from aftermarket rims (although the ones on this forum look awesome) because I have always had trouble balancing them and our roads are not real nice here....

idrive

I have had bmw wheels chromed with excellent results. Mostly about the shop doing the chroming. Some are really good...some are not.

Remember the chrome adds about 3lbs of wght. per wheel. That isn't good. My aftermarket rims balanced up MUCH better than the stock amg's

VelocitE55

It pretty much comes down to your opinion and taste. Chrome, like Titleist said, adds realatively significant weight to each wheel. It wouldnt normally be that big of a deal to add 10-12 Lb's to your car but we are talking 10-12 Lb's of unsprung weight which will hurt handling. For example, the wheels cant rebound as quickly with heavier wheels when you hit bumps in the road. Then of course you have the problems associated with chipping. I would def leave them as they are but that is my opinion of course. Good luck!

traumadoc

WOW. I had no idea that the chrome weighs so much! How does that compare to the weight of some of the better aftermarket rims!

Thanks....

DiamondK

Your dealer wants to chrome them? If he's the one pushing for it (without having been prompted by you) watch out he's not trying to rip you on the chroming job.

Aside from that, what color is your car going to be?

I got chromed factory wheels on my car, and have been pretty happy with them, although I've recently got a little curb rash and am worried about delamination, but so far it seems to be holding up ok.

NOTKTS

Just to give you an idea; these sort of look chromed to me. Maybe their just really dirty? I can't tell

DiamondK

That's not chromed.

traumadoc

The car is going to be Graphite Designo. Chrome should look good. And yes... the dealer suggested chroming them. What is a reasonable price?

DiamondK

IMO chrome wheels only look good on very dark colors. Your car is going to look HOT. I'm jealous!

Didn't really know what I was doing when I got my car, and the dealer charged $1300. Looking back, I probably should have only paid maybe $800-$900? You could call a local place that does chroming, and ask them how much it would be, to give you a baseline to judge your dealer's offer.

NOTKTS

The more I look at it, the front wheel seems like it's chromed to me. It maybe an illusion but it still gives the effect. Hey, it’s better than nothing.

idrive

Dealers make HUGE mark-up in this area. It cost about $100 a rim if you have it done yourself. Plus any shipping, mt and balancing

vraa

I'm not a fan of chrome.
Black them out

tomk

1. Chrome rims will leak air and require more freq fill ups
2. There is a type of "painted" on chrome finish now available.
3. If salt on roads in winter, chrome will lift up in areas where damaged.

DiamondK

1. I can attest to this. It's not a huge deal, but you do have be a little more attentive.
2. Where from?
3. Good thing it never snows in Northern California.

Speaking of curb rash. I'm wondering if there's anyway to "seal" the damage points to forestall delamination. I was thinking maybe some superglue. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

MDCLS

Have the chrome stock CLS rims here and have not had any problems whatsoever in losing tire pressure(just passed the 2k mark) but I could see where it could be a problem like you guys mentioned if the chroming was done unevenly screwing up the seal.
It's all a matter of preference. I liked the look with the dark body and contrasting chrome trim. As far as cost. Yea they get you.

DiamondK

Nice car MD.

traumadoc

What you paid for the chroming?

Star&Car

Hey,I'm new to here and it's my virgin post I guess these are what you were referring to,maybe those pics below can give you some idea,anyway here you go ...

MDCLS

Thanks DiamondK

traumadoc

Much appreciation.

AMG2GO

The stock CLS55 wheel is 30 pounds front and 31 rear. 33 and 34 pounds plated. It is cast with a +25mm offset.

If you want my advice, get a performance wheel. Renntech (20 lbs), Kleemann (26 lbs) , HRE (25-35), O.Z. (23-32), BBS (21-25), etc.

The BBS RS-GT is a cold forged alloy wheel, super strong, super light, super high quality and is available in staggered sets for a CLS. 21 pounds. All F1 technology. It comes in gunmetal gray.

The Renntech Monolite comes in standard or diamond finish, 3x stronger than your stock wheels, 10 pounds lighter per wheel.

O.Z. Superleggera... forged... very light.

why pay money to make your car slower... why have a wheel that says "I want to look flashy" rather than a wheel that says "I am a car enthusiast, I know what I am doing, and my car has real performance parts on it".

Go to the upgrade garage at the tire rack and see some of these on your car. www.tirerack.com

I think someone here has renntech monolites just do a search if you want to see those.

traumadoc

Here is my concern. EVERY time I have had aftermarket wheels on my car, no matter which brand, the car develops a wobble. No matter what I do, I cannot get the darn things balanced properly! Once I even balanced the wheels on the car. That worked for a while. What do you think I am doing wrong? Wheel shop says it is because they are putting the weights on the inside only. Where we live in Eastern KY, there are just very few good places to get wheels balanced. I just hate to take the risk and then shake everywhere I go.

AMG2GO

The lower the profile of the tire, the more likely you are to feel even the slightest imbalance. So if you are going +1 or +2, it is just more natural that you will feel it. But there is no reason why this should be a problem if its done right and the wheels and tires are quality. You are not the first person doing this, you just need to get a good set of wheels and make sure they are balanced correctly. I have bought maybe a dozen sets from the tirerack for various cars. Mounted and balanced. Never had a problem. I think you have just had some bad luck, but it shouldn't happen if its done right. This is why I am saying get a forged wheel. Due to the forging process it has to be a tighter tolerance wheel. A quality set of wheels should be almost perfectly balanced. Those BBS wheels are X-rayed for imperfections. These are the differences between good wheels and wheels that just look good.