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Everyone that has the chrome PVD wheels is probably familiar with the peeling/ flaking issues that seem to be common with it especially on the 20" wheels. Mine are as bad as anyone's it seems, around the edges. I bought a used truck and part of my negotiating on the price was these wheels being chipped up on the edges. Got them down a bit and bought the truck thinking someone can surely fix these up at least halfway right all the wheel repair shops I have around here. As I am sure most of you have seen, NO ONE will touch these things or even attempt to do any repair, probably for good reason, but nonetheless, those of us with chipped up PVD wheels are left with no options except buy a whole new set of wheels.
So that led me to do some trial and error /research on a DIY fix and I think I have come up with one that is pretty good given that the other options are look at them being chipped up or buy new wheels.
There is a company called Molotow that makes a pen called liquid chrome, mainly used for hobbyists on models and what not. I tired it on some test pieces of different metals and it looks great on any non-porous metal surface, super shiny and very chrome like, but you must put a clear coat on it or as soon as it gets dirty or smudged it becomes and milky and basically looks silver.
Considering the pen is $12 and a clear coat touch up brush / pen is about $10, I'm pretty dang happy with the results for $22 bucks. Two pics are a before and after of one of my wheels. So far the liquid chrome/ clear coat has held up to about 750 miles of driving and two car washes with no signs of damage. I know this "fix" is bootleg and will make some people cringe but given the lack of cheap options I'm pretty happy with it for right now
Basically before i did this one of the first things people would notice is the wheels being torn up, now the only time people notice the repair is if i point it out and even then its hard to point out.
Figured will all the chrome PVD issues out there and lack of cheap fix options this would be worth sharing Before After
Everyone that has the chrome PVD wheels is probably familiar with the peeling/ flaking issues that seem to be common with it especially on the 20" wheels. Mine are as bad as anyone's it seems, around the edges. I bought a used truck and part of my negotiating on the price was these wheels being chipped up on the edges. Got them down a bit and bought the truck thinking someone can surely fix these up at least halfway right all the wheel repair shops I have around here. As I am sure most of you have seen, NO ONE will touch these things or even attempt to do any repair, probably for good reason, but nonetheless, those of us with chipped up PVD wheels are left with no options except buy a whole new set of wheels.
So that led me to do some trial and error /research on a DIY fix and I think I have come up with one that is pretty good given that the other options are look at them being chipped up or buy new wheels.
There is a company called Molotow that makes a pen called liquid chrome, mainly used for hobbyists on models and what not. I tired it on some test pieces of different metals and it looks great on any non-porous metal surface, super shiny and very chrome like, but you must put a clear coat on it or as soon as it gets dirty or smudged it becomes and milky and basically looks silver.
Considering the pen is $12 and a clear coat touch up brush / pen is about $10, I'm pretty dang happy with the results for $22 bucks. Two pics are a before and after of one of my wheels. So far the liquid chrome/ clear coat has held up to about 750 miles of driving and two car washes with no signs of damage. I know this "fix" is bootleg and will make some people cringe but given the lack of cheap options I'm pretty happy with it for right now
Basically before i did this one of the first things people would notice is the wheels being torn up, now the only time people notice the repair is if i point it out and even then its hard to point out.
Figured will all the chrome PVD issues out there and lack of cheap fix options this would be worth sharing Before After
how long did you have to wait for the liquid chrome to dry and what type of clear coat did you use?
I followed @tjwhite1 recommendations and instructions over a month ago and my before and after pictures look very much like his.
I did not cover the pen with clear coat, but make do so in the future. I wheels look 100 % better. Not perfect, but unless you are within a few feet of the rims, you will not notice any defects.
Thanks again TJ!
After using the chrome pen! What a difference. Thank you for the information on the pens. They worked so good, my wife could tell me which wheels I repaired as I had one new wheel. Standing just a few feet away, you can’t tell.
The tires in the pictures do not look like original tires that are on my truck. That begs the question: Is the damage caused by the tire changing machine or operator? I have almost 51,000 miles on my 2015 and so far no damage to the wheels. If the damage is caused by the new tire mounting process... what's a guy to do? I have seen some tire mounting people use a shop rag to protect "mag" wheels when mounting new tires... but with the current state of many employees in tire shops... who knows.
PVD Wheels FIX!!
