Refurbishing the chrome with PVD
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Refurbishing the chrome with PVD
Good day y'all!
MY 2019 vapor chrome wheels has a peeling finish.
It was not perfect when I got the car with 28k miles on it.
I no doubt made it worse by weekly visits to a very nice but still automated car wash. Not touchless. Those use caustic solutions what create other issues. This one does put a ceramic finish on it and it works. My car lives outside and hand washing weekly is not gonna happen. My car looks great.
But the wheels do not.
I have thought about swapping out to the newer style 20' wheel that is part brushed and part painted but prefer the all chrome look.
A few companies online offer exchange programs and net cost is about $13-1400 with shipping for all 4 rims. They claim PVD chrome is lighter and better than regular chrome. The Vapor chrome on lexus is not traditional chrome and pitting is not the issue. The vapor chrome finish is chipping off and the brush from teh car wash is making it worse. LIke I said, it was happeing when I got it but was very minor and the failure continues. My GS350 Fsport had brushed/painted rims and were never affected in three years by the washes in the same facility.
If I had a garage I would do it by hand.
Does anyone have experience with refurbishing the rims?
MY 2019 vapor chrome wheels has a peeling finish.
It was not perfect when I got the car with 28k miles on it.
I no doubt made it worse by weekly visits to a very nice but still automated car wash. Not touchless. Those use caustic solutions what create other issues. This one does put a ceramic finish on it and it works. My car lives outside and hand washing weekly is not gonna happen. My car looks great.
But the wheels do not.
I have thought about swapping out to the newer style 20' wheel that is part brushed and part painted but prefer the all chrome look.
A few companies online offer exchange programs and net cost is about $13-1400 with shipping for all 4 rims. They claim PVD chrome is lighter and better than regular chrome. The Vapor chrome on lexus is not traditional chrome and pitting is not the issue. The vapor chrome finish is chipping off and the brush from teh car wash is making it worse. LIke I said, it was happeing when I got it but was very minor and the failure continues. My GS350 Fsport had brushed/painted rims and were never affected in three years by the washes in the same facility.
If I had a garage I would do it by hand.
Does anyone have experience with refurbishing the rims?
Last edited by Nalod; Mar 17, 2026 at 06:51 AM.
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