Anyone else have an issue with their chrome clad wheels? I have an 08 Expy EL with 20" chrome clad wheels and it looks like the chrome needs to be cleaned. The problem is it's actually under the finish and you can't clean it. They almost looked tarnished. I had a local dealer look at them and he agreed that they were bad. It' still under full warranty so, I'm going to try and take it back to the dealer were I bought it to demand replacement. Any body else run into this problem with the chrome clad?

image of wheel
http://ztekdesign.com/images/2008%20ford%20exp.JPG

 

Is it like that all over?

Do you have any car polish? Try polishing a small section and see if it improves.
Do you live where they salt the roads? Have you ever used a wheel cleaner? Those might corrode the chromed plastic. It's just a hub cap really and the finish is not strong at all. similar to the chrome on the plastic pieces on the hatch. I would make the dealer replace them.

 

I tried using a little chrome polish in one area, soap and water, windex, car polish. Nothing touches it. It's completely smooth surface. It's actually under the top finish. It looks to me like a bad chroming process. I live in Wisconsin and yes they do salt the roads here. If the rims can't handle salted roads and are going to look that bad after 26000 miles then Ford needs to stop using Chrome Clad plastic and go back to aluminum. At least that can be cleaned.

 

my rims looked somewhat similar due to brake dust and red dirt...but elbow grease and a bunch of chrome wheel cleaner and I got most of the crap off.


I thought for sure it was under my finish as well, and almost gave up on it. Didn't feel anything either.


hope you get lucky like I did. I'm going to pull my rims off 1 by 1 and do some serious table-top cleaning. I also used my drill and a buffing ball

 

I'll take one more try and getting some results but I worked an area the size of a fifty cent piece with some chrome cleaner I had and it didn't clean up at all. The dealer I talked to the other day said they recommend nothing stronger than car wash soap for cleaning. He also said they switched to chrome clad because it's easier to keep clean. The obviously got that part wrong. What kind of chrome cleaner did you use?

 

I would try some car polish. Really put your thumb into it. If after a few tries nothing happens, I would say it's embedded in the finish. I would clean the wheels good before you take it in so they can't say you neglected to clean them good enough.

 

here ya go. it's tedious, but worked eventually.

I let my rims go dirty for a long time, so the cleaner had to soak a little bit. Just make sure the spray doesn't dry on the rim.

The spray foams on contact and clings to the rim pretty well. I just kept re-applying it and after about 10 minutes started scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush, then used the buffing ball on my drill.

 

Why didn't you have the local dealer that agreed that they were bad, replace them?

 

The local dealer told me if the dealer I bought the Expy from won't help then he can see what he can do. He said being he is a very small dealer and Fords policy is to basically keep track of warranty cost per dealer it's almost a bad mark against a dealer to do warranty work. Because the wheels are so expensive it's a large warranty claim and he would rather I try the dealer I bought it from first. I have know the service manager at the local dealer for a long time now and he isn't trying to shove me off. I just wish they would have had a Expedition for me when I bought mine. Then he wouldn't hesitate to get something done. Just not very many newer used EL's out there. I don't blame him for trying not to show high warranty claims. Nowadays Ford is looking for any reason to get rid of the mom and pop dealers that are left. Just part of the politics we deal with nowadays.

 

The easiest way to clean those wheels is to use oven cleaner. The secret is spray on and wait 5 seconds and hose off. Dont let it sit to long! repeat set until its clean and then use hand polish.

 

Try some Fluid Film. It not only protects the chrome, but cleans and shines it up nicely.

 

I would avoid oven cleaner. These are not chrome wheels. They are plastic hub caps that have a chrome finish. The chrome is extremely thin.

 

ohh i thought they were actual chrome rims..my bad

 

Can you take the plastic 'hubcap' off? If you did, any know what the wheels look like underneath?

My wife and a curb really did a number on two of ours and would not mind undoing the crappy chrome.

Dain

 

No unfortunately these chrome-clad have some super nasa spaced aged as seen on tv mega bond and can't be removed. It's the entire wheel and not really a hub cap system. For cleaning I’ve used our magic eraser which seems to work well on these. I’d never use them on real chrome but it seemed to work ok with the clad ones.