A good start to narrowing down your wheel customisation choices is to understand the types of wheel finishes and how the wheel surface is treated to achieve the colour and polish type that suits your style. Each has its own attributes and different degrees of maintenance.
Chrome-plated Finish
This is the classic, mirror-reflective wheel style. Wheels are coated with several layers of copper, nickel and chromium for a highly reflective appearance. This provides the brightest, showiest look of all finishes, nearly as reflective as a mirror.
This finish doesn’t need a protective topcoat to prevent rust. Chrome wheels can also be treated with translucent paints for a variety of colour choices.
Powder-coated Finish
A dry paint and heat technique is used for a durable, attractive wheel that resists rust, heat, chips and scratches. Fine ground particles of colour and resin are electrically charged and sprayed onto the surface. Then the wheel is heated in a curing oven which bakes on the finish.
There are a variety of colour choices for powder-coated wheels, but once coated, they cannot be re-coated.
Machined, Clear-coated Finish
Clear coating is used as an additional touch for many wheel finishes. It can be used on raw aluminium wheels or painted wheels.
Some bare metal wheels are machined and then clear coated: A thin layer of metal is shaved off the wheel face for a bright shine, leaving small lines like what you see on a CD. Then the wheel is coated with a clear sealant for protection from corrosion. The clear-coated finish can be appealing for those who like a combination of a machined look with painted accents while providing a protective topcoat. It also assures the wheel paintwork will stay as good as new for years, as long as it’s not nicked or scraped.
PVD Finish
PVD (physical vapor deposition) wheels come with a shine that rivals conventional chrome plating. First, the wheel is coated with primer. Then a very thin metallic coating is applied to the wheel in a vacuum chamber using an advanced electrical bonding method. Last, a clear acrylic powder coating is sprayed on to seal and protect the finish.
There are some benefits to a PVD finish. These wheels are much lighter than chrome-plated wheels, which may get you more nimble driving responsiveness and better fuel economy. They’re available in lots of color tones. The clear coat helps to seal out winter deicing road chemicals, so with proper maintenance, these wheels are a good year-round choice.
And they offer meaningful environmental benefits. The process doesn’t use hexavalent chromium, contains 100 percent of emissions and consumes less energy.
Bare-polished Finish, With or Without Top Coating
Raw aluminum wheels can be hand-polished with a buffer so the surface is completely smooth, then clear coated for a rich shine. Wheels can also be machine-polished to a near-mirror shine with no top coat applied. These are popular finishes for street rod and car enthusiasts who like to show off their ride.
These finishes offer some advantages over chrome-plated wheels since they don’t add weight to the wheel, which could improve fuel efficiency and handling. Polished wheels can also easily be repolished to restore their like-new condition if they lose their luster over time.
Painted Finish
Wet paint is used for this finish, followed by a clear topcoat to protect the paintwork. The colour tones and polishes available in painted wheels are pretty much endless, from silver tints to matte black to hot pink, or matched to your vehicle’s body paint colour.
Wheel Shine Options
Finally, in case these aren’t enough options for you, you can customize the type of shine you like. Wheels can be made with matte (a flatter shine), gloss (high shine), satin (in between matte and gloss) and mirror (reflective) options. You can mix and match these on different parts of the wheel face.
