California Chrome black chrome

ILLSMOQ

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I the centers of my HRE's done in a black chrome by a local place and they came out pretty good but they had a lot of little imperfections and it wasn't quite dark enough. I decided to give California chrome a try.

Also my inner barrels and outer lips were polished but I was tired of polishing the barrels everytime I cleaned the car so I had the barrels chromed..hope i don't curb them :omg::crazy2:

There has been a lot of talk about cal chrome lately and some posts about their black chrome so I thought I'd post up some pics of their black chrome.

Cal chrome charges about $125.00 to do each piece and if you want them to assemble the wheel it's another $125.00, I chose save the 500 bucks and asemble the wheels myself.....though after assemblng the wheels I think $500.00 to have them do it is money well spent.

California Chromes black chrome came out almost perfect there are probably 2-3 specks on each wheel but they are very hard to find. Their black chrome has a dark blue grey tint to it while the wheel techniques black chrome had more of a dark brown tint to it.

anyway the parts came back after about 3 weeks, you can see the contrast from the chrome and black chrome
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the black chrome is actually a type of powder coat called PVD and it's pretty thick. To fit the wheels back together some of the coating needs to be shaved off. Also excess PVD coating needed to be scraped off the back side of the hub so the wheel would will mount flat...razor blade worked for that.
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then seal the barrels together with silicone at the seam.
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some people don't think having the inner barrels polished/chromed is worth it but when the wheels are clean I think it looks awesome. The darkness of the black chrome changes depending on the light
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out of the sun light the finish looks more like regular chrome
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Here is the old finish for comparison - wheel techniques black chrome/polished lip/barrel. Notice the rust on the stop techs, I removed the rust with a product called evap-o-rust (worked great) and painted the rotors with black VHT paint while the wheels were at cal chrome.
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some pics of the car

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V

Venomiss

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They did turn out nice. Now that you have done that any chance you can join the VCA?;)
 
V

Venomiss

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thanks for the compliment....yes go ahead and reinstate my VCA membership:2tu: I miss my avitar.

Whatever way is easiest for you to join us! :) Thank you!

As a Viper owner you are eligible to join the VCA with a VERIFIABLE Dodge Viper VIN. If you wish to join the VCA simply call VCA headquarters at 800-998-1110 with your credit card and VIN in hand. You can also join online 24/7 simply by clicking here. New members can join today for just $115!

Or you can join Venom for $135 and get the cool Venom tag on that avatar.;)
 

Hiss

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THAT lOOKS GREAT-hard to beat Calchrome

Haven't made up my mind yet but I have some polished 3 piece HRE 547's. I am thinking about having them chromed. I am wondering how the black chrome centers with chrome lips would look on my blue/sliver coupe. Even thinking about the centers in the Calchrome gloss black.
 

Hiss

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BTW - After seeing the inner barrel chromed I wish now I would of had that done to my 5 spokes that were chromed by Calchrome.
 

Vividracing

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Those look sick, I know i'm late to the game, but I just put brushed P40's on mine. I wish I would of done black chrome now.....just killer. Congrats.
 

ZO6KLR

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Kurtis, your wheels look killer. Going to the tire shop today to have mine mounted and balanced. Thanks for the disassembly tips.
 
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ILLSMOQ

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I saw the pics of your wheels, they came out nice....got any pics of the wheels on the car yet?
 

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