Bad Luck With Chrome Wheels

[BCON]

My Lexus dealer removes the stock wheels from brand new cars and has them chromed in some shop near L.A. The chrome on my LX wheels was all pitted after less than two years (on a garaged car driven in Southern California, imagine a salty winter in Boston!) The dealer recently swapped a new set of chrome wheels for me at no charge. I was very happy until they also began to pit in a couple of months. I suppose this is fine for a throw-away short lease, but I was planning to keep the LX for a while. My advise to you readers is to stick with factory paint if you want Toyota-Lexus quality.

[1990LS400]

Chrome wheels - even ones chromed by an aftermarket service - should hold up far longer than a couple of months without pitting. Ask the dealer for still another set of wheels! And another set after that if necessary.

My badly pitted chrome wheels were replaced under warranty, when the car was about 39 months old, with wheels from the same chrome service. (The original lessee used them during the winter - lots of salt is used on roads here in the Midwest.)

I would have preferred non-chrome replacement wheels but the dealer rep said that the warranty allowed replacement only with the exact same wheel type that the car was sold with. But after almost two years and no winter use, the replacement chrome wheels look brand new and have absolutely no pitting.

It really is possible to get properly chromed wheels to hold up. I hope you have better success with the next set!