I was looking at chroming the rims on my 87 firebird formula. How much does it cost to do all four? If anyone has pics please show me. thanks

 

Not sure about having them chromed, but you can polish them to a mirror finish.

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Evil's 88 Camaro
Stock 305 TBI Auto, Flowmaster, Full 3" Exhaust, B&M Megashifter, K&N Open Element, MAC Lower Control Arms and Panhard bar

 

My IROC wheels cost about $800 to have them polished and plated back in '93. The key is to get a real good polish job, especially in the corners. If you don't spend the time on the polishing, it'll really show in the final product.

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'86 Camaro Sport Coupe and '88 IROC

 

Im pretty sure you can't chome-plate aluminium. But you can get it every bit as shiny as chrome by polishing it. I know a guy who polished his stock rims on his 88 Formula and it looked sweet as hell, but he said it took him a VERY very long time.

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1983 Firebird
TH700R4 Auto
Small Block 400
LG4 ECM, Intake, Carb, Distributor, etc.
Soon to be non-computer.
Clarion Head Unit 45X4
2 Pioneer 400W 12" Subs
Third Gen Performance
"A four cylinder is half an engine."

 

Uh, then what was that stuff that I had plated onto my wheels? I'm quite sure that you can...

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'86 Camaro Sport Coupe & '88 IROC-Z

 

Aluminum plates great. Almost all motorcycle plating is on aluminum. You could buff and polish your own wheels which would be very chrome-like for about $15.00 total.

 

Anyone have polished pics of the 3rd gen formula rims?

 

heres a pic of my polished and color matched T-A wheels:

 

They look great! I hope if i get some formula wheels.. I can polish them to really shine when im driving down the street! i have those GTA wheels and they are really BORING!

 

Wow, talk about a thread coming back from the dead!

 

what would you recommend using to buff & polish them yourself?

 

Go to a tool store and get a bar of white rouge, and some cotton polishing wheels. You don't want to use the other colors as they aren't necessary, and will leave colored residue in the pores of the aluminum. If you have a grinder, get a wheel for that, and some smaller ones for a drill (along with a shank). If you don't have a grinder, get some larger wheels for the drill also.

 

I stripped, polished & spray painted my rims black last week, here is the before and after pic.

total amount of money this job cost me: $20.00 for everything.

 

here is another just after I finished using the steel wool, meguiars deep crystal step 1 "sounds crazy but it really gets the depsits and stains out!", and the magic blue aluminum polish.

 

did you strip the old clear coat off first?
What was your process?
It sounds different than the one posted in the tech articles section. Those look great man. I'm planning to do mine this winter while the car is off the road and I'd be very happy to get the same results that you did.

Hodge

 

Well my iroc rims were in pretty bad shape so I had them cromed.. it only costed me $400 including shipping.

 

hehehe

I don't like the tech article currently on the site. It just so happens I made my own tech article on how to strip, polish & re-paint the rims, it tell you everything step by step AND it also has pictures , I sent it to Dirk already so just sit tight until he post it, I hope everyone will find it very informative

 

Thanks:lala:

 

Hey guys, how long/hard would I have to work to get my wheels lookin like 1986redbird's??

Here's shot:

 

 

it took me approx. 3-4 hours each rim. so about that much time. Then again redbirds rims dont look like he really polished them.

 

hey 5SIZ, do you mind sendin me that tech article? I'm wonderin how much I'm gonna spend and I would greatly appreciate if you sent me an advance copy of that article. Thanx

fire089@yahoo.com

 

Here is a pic of my wheels after painting and polishing. Mine took
me about 12 hours per rim, but that includes all wet sanding from
220-2000 grit, prep. for painting, and polishing. I know that is alot
longer then 5SIZ's method takes, but I am very happy with the
results.

Heres a pic:

 

one closer up, they are very reflective and look even better in the
sunlight:

 

That looks like 12 hours work to me , to much work for me as well lol.

89V6FBIRD

Sent