Sealing/waxing chrome wheels... Is this even a good idea?

[Eldorado2k]

From my understanding, the most important thing when it comes to maintaining and preserving chrome wheels like new is making sure they stay clean & dry and free of moisture because that’s what leads to pitting and pre mature aging of the chrome.

So the other day I open up my trunk and see this...



You see that? All that moisture...





And why is that happening? Well besides it being cold overnight here in California, the main reason it’s happening is because I decided to finish that wheel off with Beadmaker as an lsp in order to “protect” it... But looking at water behavior caused by the sealant on this chrome wheel, is it actually doing more harm than good?

My gut tells me yes.. What do you guys think?

[MarkD51]

I'm surely no authority on many things, and often question my own perceived knowledge of many things, but I'll give it a shot.

What I'm assuming you're seeing is condensation forming. Just like a glass of a cold beverage will sweat on a warm day.
The Wheel is colder than the surrounding air. It warms at a slower rate due to mass, and unlike the paint finish isn't drying quickly due to sunlight warming the panels.

Honestly, common sense tells me that any protection is better than none when it comes to chrome plating. But what I question is, "how much" protection is actually offered by just conventional products put on chrome such as waxes or sealants?

From some experience and having a few sets of chrome wheels in the past, my answer is "very little". Better than nothing, but how much better?

Fact is, all chrome can pit. And not all chrome is the same. We'll assume most if not all wheels are triple plated. (What is it commonly, Nickel, Copper, Chrome?)

Vintage Ludwig Drums way back in the day, when they switched from Brass Shell Snare Drums changed to a sort of Aluminum, which was called "Ludalloy", they were real "pit monsters", much more susceptible to pitting than the earlier Brass Shell Models. I think why, was because Ludwig eliminated one Plating Step, cheapening production costs, and this was the result.

I never used Beadmaker, but have read posts, some say it's not that durable.

The last set of Chrome Wheels I owned, were the 22" GM Clones on my Tahoe pictured in my Avatar. Immediately after the Nitto Tires were mounted and balanced, I coated all wheels in and out with Carpro CQuartz DLX Coating.

This was probably the very first time in my life owning chrome wheels where I felt I had some better protection. Cleaning was much easier, seemed to me like they had better protection than I was ever able to achieve beforehand with past chrome wheels.

I'd assume the coating would provide a much better moisture barrier, thus better at preventing possible pitting occurring.

Hope my brain farts help.

[MarkD51]

I'm of the belief that waxes and sealants don't bond very well to metals, and chrome like they do to paints, regardless of what manufacturers of such products might have you believe.

I researched some of this a bit, and had read about products like Reniassance (sp) Paste Wax being the ticket for protecting firearms, knives, and such so well. My experiences to that are "baloney"! That this product didn't do any better of a job protecting that I found.

That's when I concluded that a coating would be the best form of protection.

[vobro]

How is condensation on a wheel different than paint? Put any metal in a moisture rich environment and it will "fog" over

[Eldorado2k]

Thanks for chiming in, Mark. Appreciate you sharing the knowledge on the subject. I’ve always been on the fence about trying to protect chrome wheels and now that I remember, even when applying something like the OTC AA Wheel Protectant, if you ever had the chance to try it on chrome wheels it has a funky effect on them that can be seen at night when it gets especially cold.. It turns into like a hologram effect [for lack of a better word] on the finish and it’s certainly not something that gives off a good impression. I tried that on some chrome wheels once and never again.

How is condensation on a wheel different than paint? Put any metal in a moisture rich environment and it will "fog" over

You’re probably right with that statement.^ However I’ll take it a step further, and it’s exactly why this is bugging me at the moment with the wheel and it’s the fact that if you apply lsp [wax or sealant] on top of metal, whether it’s paint or wheels it will “fog” over at a dramatically higher rate compared to metal/paint/wheels that are bare aka unprotected.

Here’s an example: I did a 50/50 on my hood and polished the left side with HD Speed. The right side I polished with Pinnacle Black Polish and applied nothing else. No protection on the right side.

Look at the dramatic difference. The side with protection gets extreme fog, whereas the bare unprotected side doesn’t fog up at all.

[MarkD51]

I can recall when I lived in Southern New Mexico, I'd see some uncommon weather conditions where it would be cold, or should say "colder" during the evening, then at dawn would warm up considerably. And the underside of my "metal roofed" Carport would be dripping wet with condensation, just like if you sprayed the underside with a garden hose. Would drip all over my vehicles.

The desert southwest usually has very low relative humidity, but there are times where it's much more humid. Such as the summer Monsoons, or these quirky weather occurrences like I describe above with rapid changing temperatures.

I don't think there's any such products for wheels, especially chrome ones, where sweating-fogging will be arrested to any degree. Of course such sweating and fogging is most noticeable on a chrome wheel because of its mirror finish. Not quite as noticeable on painted wheels, but probably there as well.

[Eldorado2k]

I don't think there's any such products for wheels, especially chrome ones, where sweating-fogging will be arrested to any degree. Of course such sweating and fogging is most noticeable on a chrome wheel because of its mirror finish. Not quite as noticeable on painted wheels, but probably there as well.

My gut tells me that wheel in the trunk wouldn’t be fogged over if I hadn’t applied the spray sealant on it. 2 coats too... Now to remove it.

[Mike Phillips]

From my understanding, the most important thing when it comes to maintaining and preserving chrome wheels like new is making sure they stay clean & dry and free of moisture because that’s what leads to pitting and pre mature aging of the chrome.

In my opinion and experience, you are absolutely correct.

Chrome in an of itself is for the most part impervious to chemical attack, at least the kind of chemicals most humans have easy access to and use in some manner in the real world.

In a couple of days, I'll hit the 33 year mark for teaching detailing classes, so like the Farmer's Insurance TV commercial,

I've see a thing or two...


The first place you'll normally pitting and rust is in the seams, cracks and crevices of a chrome wheel.

Why?

Because it's easy to clean the large flat face of the spoke or the easy to wipe rim. It takes more work and time AND a great brush to get your car wash soap into the tight areas and scrub them and then rinse and dry them.

AND because most people don't get these tight areas clean they get a build-up of dirt and road grim. Most of you have read my article on Road Grime.

The dirt and the road grime hold moisture in, that is it keeps the chrome surface wet. The water will do what water does and cause oxidation and corrosion. It will find ANY place or area where it can seep into or past the chrome surface and find metal and at this point it's game over.


This is real simple to prove to yourself, just look at any neglected chrome wheels. Where is the pitting?


When I worked for Meguiar's, they used to put out a Marine Catalog. In it, they recommended Meguiar's M16 Paste Wax for protecting and maintaining chrome surfaces. First clean the chrome surface and then apply a coat of this "heavy wax", allow it to fully dry and then wipe off the excess. This is an old school style wax that dries hard. When you allow it to dry and then wipe off the excess you leave wax behind in all the surface imperfections. This sealed these surfaces and prevented water, salt and oxygen from getting to the chrome or underlying metals and thus prevented or at a minimum helped to prevent rust.

The catalogs are gone. M16 is gone, (except for my stash), but my memory lives on and along with my experience, I know this works. The key is simple,

Keep the chrome surface clean and dry. Seal with "something". A true hard wax is simple but sometimes, it's the simple things that work the best.

[Dr Oldz]

I have a local shop that does chrome plating and the following is his advice for years.

Use a cleaner wax with light or no abrasives on it 4 times a year.

Use a pure Carnauba after the cleaner wax. He always suggested Mothers Pure Nuba tin.

Wash frequently and keep clean.

If storing for winter, wax with a pure Nuba and keep on(don’t wipe off excess) untill done storing.

Pretty much in line with Mikes suggestions.

[Mike Phillips]

I have a local shop that does chrome plating and the following is his advice for years.

Use a cleaner wax with light or no abrasives on it 4 times a year.

Use a pure Carnauba after the cleaner wax. He always suggested Mothers Pure Nuba tin.

Wash frequently and keep clean.

If storing for winter, wax with a pure Nuba and keep on(don’t wipe off excess) untill done storing.

And the above is an example of being pro-active for both regular and preventative maintenance.


I've been to a lot of salvage yards or Wrecking Yards as they were called in the old days. Been to a few that had a lot of antique wrecks in them, we're talking rows of Model As, etc. The thing I always noticed about cars that were this old was any flat chrome trim tended to look pretty good over the decades. For example, the chrome bumpers.

The problem areas are the tight areas where it's difficult and more time consuming to do a GREAT job of cleaning away dirt and road film. And that reminds me, I meant to share my article on ROAD FILM for anyone that's never seen it before.


This first one shows you where road grime comes from...

Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film