I've had the car for a year now and i finally realized...

[GO HOKIES!]

the chrome rims on the terminator are 100% chrome haha. Today was the first time i took the rims off and scrubed/cleaned the shit out of them. Yea, i bought the car with 350 miles on them and i thought the outer part of the rim was chrome and the inner part was alloy. Boy, was i wrong haha... I finally got jacking rails installed so i could jack the car up very easily w/o bending anything. I def. recommend them to anyone! O by the way,.... the wheels were so dirty that it took me about a hour per rim. YEA IT SUCKED! o well... it was worth the beauty of the shine

 

[trance_in_miami]

oke: :rollseyes

 

[jpk]

Hey, I didn't know that either. I always just assumed that Ford skimped on the chrome job. Yeeechh, now it will probably take me an hour per wheel to clean those things off as well. There must be a ton of brake dust and road grime caked on the inside of my wheels, because I've always only washed the spokes and outer rim.

 

[GO HOKIES!]

Hey, I didn't know that either. I always just assumed that Ford skimped on the chrome job. Yeeechh, now it will probably take me an hour per wheel to clean those things off as well. There must be a ton of brake dust and road grime caked on the inside of my wheels, because I've always only washed the spokes and outer rim.

I recommend some of the metal polish from Speciality motoring:
http://www.specialtymotoring.com/clearkote.htm

 

[03yllwguy]

Yup, all chrome

 

[jpk]

What do you guys do to keep your wheels looking clean and getting caked full of road grime and brake dust? Do you wax them or something? That part of the wheel well is a bitch to clean up.

 

[trance_in_miami]

for some reason polished aluminum cobra rims look lighter and brighter with the right polish and shine. I can attest to that... But i would still prefer chrome.

 

[03yllwguy]

I take em off atleast once every other month and polish them, the suspension and wheel well area.

 

[Blk03SVTCobra]

What do you guys do to keep your wheels looking clean and getting caked full of road grime and brake dust? Do you wax them or something? That part of the wheel well is a bitch to clean up.

Yup, a good quality sealant (Klasse or Zaino) after a good cleaning will make the brake dust so easy to take off that all you need is a hose :beer:

 

[jpk]

Hey, the inside of the wheel weel isn't chrome. Only the outside face is chromed. I polished the heck out of my wheels today and it's just alloy. Sure did get the face super shiny, though. After a second look at the yellow Cobra above, those rims aren't chrome all the way through either.

 

[TRBO VNM]

if you search there is a very easy 15min way to clean all the paint off the rims. Use aircraft remover from autozone. Search for aircraft remover in the terminator forum and you will find the process. took me about 30min per rim from start to finish to strip all the paint off from the inside as well as in the lug holes. they look amazing when done and cleaned up. I normally zaino them and cleaning is pretty easy later. I think any wax or polish would be ok. just something for protection.

I even drove in the winter with snow and ice and basically waited about 4 months to clean them and when I finally did they looked as good as when I frist stripped them. But I used mothers paste for polished wheels and mags. easy to apply and remove and looks amazing.

 

[TRBO VNM]

Hey, the inside of the wheel weel isn't chrome. Only the outside face is chromed. I polished the heck out of my wheels today and it's just alloy. Sure did get the face super shiny, though. After a second look at the yellow Cobra above, those rims aren't chrome all the way through either.

trust me, they are chrome all the way through..let me post some pics....give me a few

here are pics, factory 04 cobra wheels, paint stripped from inside and lug holes. this is cleaned after 4 months sitting after a month of driving in salt and snow.

 

[01vert]

That is the difference between factory and aftermarket wheels. The aftermarket wheels don't clean up on the inside and show chrome. Factorys look really nice after being stripped.

Looks good BTW.

 

[GO HOKIES!]

Yea diff. chrome all the way through.. seriously, you have to scrub like a mother!! Take your rims/tires off and scrub vigoriously.

 

[03yllwguy]

....After a second look at the yellow Cobra above, those rims aren't chrome all the way through either....

and the car isn't really yellow either.... :bs:

 

[TRBO VNM]

Yea diff. chrome all the way through.. seriously, you have to scrub like a mother!! Take your rims/tires off and scrub vigoriously.

actually no you don't. get some aircraft remover from autozone and it strips it very easy. no elbow grease required. I think I posted before, for those of you wanted to do it, search in the terminator forum or all the terminator forums for aircraft remover and you find the how to for doing this.

 

[jpk]

Dangnaggit. I spent two hours on those darn rims yesterday and got nowhere. No I have to go at it again. Maybe I need to find this aircraft remover stuff. Will I do damage if I take a Dremel or a drill with a felt polishing wheel to the rims to get that gray film taken off? I can't believe there is such a hard layer of gray crap over the chrome.

 

[03yllwguy]

i thought the rims weren't chrome :rollseyes

 

[TRBO VNM]

i thought the rims weren't chrome :rollseyes

:lol: shhh, don't tell anyone.

ok, guess the more than once I said what to do didn't take effect. I searched for you and here is the link. you are more than welcome to try some other process, but this will be the fastest way possible.

it was also the 2nd search result when I search as stated above.

http://67.15.62.79/forums/showthread.php?t=135300&highlight=aircraft+remover

 

[jpk]

Yes, WUTWINE, I found that thread after your first post. Sheesh, no need to rub it in. You said it more than once after my post! No one before you mentioned how to take the stuff off, and elbow grease sure didn't do the trick.

Today I took a rim off and put some Turtle Wax Chrome Polish to the gray paint. After a few minutes of vigorous rubbing, a small area became polished chrome. Holy cow, it took a lot of working the polish to get it off just a small area!

The Shuck's stores don't seem to carry Aircraft Remover and the nearest AutoZone is a half hour drive away. Fortunately, a neighbor hot rodder happens to know what that stuff is and told me about a shop reasonably close that carries the stuff. I'll try to pick some up next week.