Wheel Paint verses Chrome?

I own a 1998 VFR 800. My wheels are dark gray and are begining to bubble. The undercoat appears to be red. This leads me to believe that the previous owner had them painted...thoughts anyone? I also would appreciate opinions on what to do next, particle blast them and repaint or chrome them, what options do I have?

What do you folks think. My budget is not unlimited however, I would like to do it the right way the first time.

Thanks

 

My limited understanding of these things is that you can take them to a powdercoating place, where they will sandblast all the old stuff off and then powdercoat them whatever color you desire.

There's also anodizing but I dunnoh how well that works for wheels.

 

I would recommend powder coating. Not a big fan of chrome wheels on the vfr..

 

Yeah, what he said.

 

Chrome? You aren't riding a Hardly Ablesone with tassles

On Motorcycle wheels the best thing to do, IMO, is have them painted, then have the painter bake the clearcoat on. Paint looks better then Powdercoating and baking the clearcoat on gives you the durability. I use a paint guy in WA state that has been doing this for decades and this is method of choice.

 

magnesium and aluminum are extremely hard to chrome. most chroming facilitys will try and talk you out of it. besides the chroming process for mag & aluminum is much higher priced then a steel item being chromed. majority of wheel companys actually utilize a chrome paint method over actually chroming aluminum and magnesium.
powdercoating is much more reasonably priced also.

 

Thank You all for the information. I will forget the chrome, and have them blasted and painted as well as have several coats of clear applied.

 

The previous owner of my 2000 had the wheels chromed and I really like it on this bike. Maybe I'm the only one I don't know. I have had wheels powder coated before at they turned out very nice and durable too.

 

beaitiful VFR/...exact bike as mine, except my wheels are dark grey. I do like the chrome on your bike. BEAUTIFUL!!!
P/S Thanks for the pic...I have rechanged my mind back to chrome. By the way since you live in Nova Scoti: if you ever take the ferry to Bangor or Portland Maine to ride, please contact me. I will drive up to meet you. we can tour the white mountains and you can stay at my home so as not to incurr hotels costs. I am always looking for a reson to ride with fellow VFR owners.

thanks again

 

I like the look of the chrome as well. Beautiful bike. I still have the stock black on mine but the rear is getting pretty beat up from all the tire changes so i have been following this thread. I had been leaning towards a powder coat finish but it sounds like paint will be the way i will go also. Now all i have to do is decide on a color.

 

mine are polished and i think they look better than paint. that said it's a lot more work to keep them looking nice.

 

I stripped mine, polished the outer and painted the inner but would much rather have chrome but couldn't find anyone in this area to do it.

 

Mine are black and peeling. I plan on stripping them and then polishing the aluminum rather than paint or clear coat. Any recommendations for a good aluminum polish, or how to treat the aluminum to seal it and prevent oxidization?

 

I wonder if they could be Nickel plated. Nickel has a kind of Stainless look, might be cool.
John

 

Wish Honda would have made our 5th generation bikes with white wheels.
Even the GP bikes of that time had black wheels and they don't look as good as
some of the other race bikes. White wheels on the track look great.

I had a beautiful 1990 Ducati 851 with white wheels and I took a photo of it
along side my red 1998 VFR with black wheels. The white wheels made the Duc
look much better than my VFR. Black wheels disappear and look boring.

I like Outboard John's idea about nickle plating. Chrome is too blingy but nickle
might work.

 

I checked in my area (NH) to see who chromes. All the shops I checked send the wheels to the west coast. cost is around $200 per wheel and it takes 3-4 weeks. After seeing the chrome, thats the way I will go. I can get this season with the wheels as they are, then for winter I will send the wheels out to get chromed.

 

Beautiful!!!...thanks for the pic

 

Thanks for the offer and the compliments. I would love to get away like that for some nice rides sometime. I'm waiting for knee surgery this year to fix a severed ACL. I'm hoping to get it done soon and the recovery time over with so I can ride injury free! I'll attach a couple more pics I found that show the wheels in a little different lighting.

 

Wow! The chrome looks good.

I've been hummign and hawing what colors to do the Wheels on my 4th gen.

My last 2 bikes (VF500 and '86 VFR750) both had white wheel and they were a HUUGE pain to keep clean.

I like the black wheels cause they rarely look dirty....but colored wheels just look so much better. (when they're clean)

 

Great Job!!!...Looks beautiful...I love the silver color. I hope to get a new model next year or so.