So I have a set of Avus M02 20" wheels for my 2007 997TT. They came with the car when I bought it 4 years ago. The thing was that a year later the tires were pretty well gone and I had to make a decision as to whether I would get a set of 19" wheels or get new 20". I was however worried that if I ever damaged one of the Avus wheels I would then have to buy a set of 4 new wheels on the spot.
So when a set of OEM Turbo's came up for 1200 mint I bought those. Now these AVUS beauties are just sitting there.
The thing is that these wheels have chrome lips and there is a bit of road rash on two of them and the Chrome is peeling in a few spots. So although they look great from a few feet away, they clearly do need to be refurbished some how.
So, what are the options?
1) I could buy new lips. I have the proprietary tool need to take apart the three piece wheels. This will set me back a minimum $350 a wheel (with taxes new bolts etc)
2) I could try to repair the road rash and lifting chrome. The questions is how?
3) Fill the chrome areas and then plastidip the lips.
4) Sell them as is (how much would they be worth???)
Here's the only shot I have with them on the car.

Any suggestions?

 

Well, I just had the same dilemma with a set of Zone 3 piece wheels. The local wheel refinisher Wheel Medic, took them and sandblasted the chrome lips, and same with the centers. Painted the lips and centers. Painting chrome is tricky at best, but the best way seems to be heavy sandblasting or sanding with 80 grit paper to get mechanical adhesion.

They don't recommend the practice of painting over chrome, but stripping it or buying new chrome lips is not really economical. I say scrape flaking chrome, plastidip outer lips black, and either leave centers same color, or paint body color. Worst thing that happens is that you have to take to to get them professionally refinished later. You can unbolt the centers with no air in tires without need for resealing the wheel. Rechroming, at least around here is not economical either, and the wheels with tires maybe worth around $700 imo

 

Hi,
Thanks for the advice. I didn't know that I could remove the centers without separating the two lip halves. That changes things a lot.
So I could remove the center piece and then have the chrome sandblasted off and then painted. That sounds like it might work and be reasonable in cost. The wheels are perfect otherwise, and never need air.
Might be worth a shot.

 

If you are going to blast the outer lips, then you will need to dismount tires and disassemble the wheels. If you just need to remove the centers, then no need to take apart if they don't leak. This applies to wheels that are silicones together, some have o-rings that may slip out of the groove if separated. The Wheel Medic would probably disassemble paint lips and reseal for around $100 per wheel.

 

Ehh... Avus isn't one of the big names that gets a lot of attention on the used market. I'd sell as is for what you can get for them


Dumping money to refurbish makes sense for BBS, or HRE, but here I think it's not going to pay off for you here. Let someone who needs something that looks good from a few feet back enjoy them.

 

Did you check with a chrome plating supplier? I would think they could strip and rechrome. Maybe call and ask for an estimate.

 

Around Ohio that is really expensive. One of the problems associated with replating is the pitting, which is going to show up in the final process of not addressed. They do have plastic chroming that I have seen for small parts, but I don't know about large ones like that. I had the chrome done for a 1969 Riviera that I restored, it was over $4000 to do 5 years ago, and I probably won't do chrome again.

Check with. Wheeflip.com. They sell barrels in all sizes. This is probably a 40 bolt outer, and can be purchased raw , polished , or chrome. They are around $165 each and are bolt on. Most wheel manufacturers use standard wheel lips, and make their own centers. This wheel maker is one of them.

 

stripping and rechroming would realistically cost about what the wheels are worth. Not a reasonable option for resale prep. obviously plastic chrome is not a reasonable option. you can't reasonably "do it right" and any solution you take short of properly refurbing the wheels will reduce your market considerably.

Sell as is and let the buyer figure out which direction he wants to go.