Wheel Vintiques

I was wondering if anyone else has ever had any problems with the chrome plating on OE Chrome steel wheels from Wheel Vintiques? I purchased a pair of 15 x 10" chrome Ford OE wheels a few years back and have them on my project car.
The car is in DRY STORAGE and whenever we work on the car they are either covered or removed from the car. My problem is they are already showing signs of rusting where the wheel center is welded to the wheel rim.
They are good looking wheels, but I'm disappointed they are rusting from being displayed in and pushed in and out of my garage.
The body has been in bare metal for about five years now (in the same garage) and hasn't even shown signs of surface rust.

 

Problems? I will never buy from them ever again! They have the worst business practices I've ever dealt with. Just bought a set of Skylark wires for about $2400 and I wrapped them in some nice BF Goodrich Silvertowns, mounted them, and then discovered them all four flat the next day. All leaking through the spokes. They boast about inspection and quality control, Ha!..bullshit. Google them! You're not alone!

 

Do you keep a good coat of car wax on the chrome wheels? If not, you should.

 

I like them. Then again they are literally 3 miles from my house. They even make me parking lot deals sometimes. Coker is right across the street from them. It's nice.... Anyways. Yes they'll be fine to chrome. It's the chrome shop i'd be worried about.

 

A Wheels Vintique thread since the 6th and only three posts? W.V. must be shooting the witnesses. Surprised they haven't been 'cocktailed'.

 

I know of a few guys who purchased the Chrome Olds Super Stocks that WV claimed were repops of the 80s originals. They are not. The valve stem is located in the wrong spot, the welding of the hoop to center section was rusting, the chrome was not up to snuff, and the backspacing was incorrect for the application. WV claimed they were for '83/'84 H/O and '85-'87 4-4-2. But they could do a custom back space for more money

I'm fairly sure they were just putting 15x7 hoops on common as dirt 14x6 centers and calling them repops of the originals.

I picked up a grungy set of 15" Super Stocks and will have them rechromed rather than buy some half assed wheel, by some half backed company, that will not acknowledge something as simple as incorrect back spacing.

 

umm, all spoke wheels require tubes, don't they?

 

No. They coat the centers w/ some type of silicone/window sealent that doesn't work. They are aware of this problem and continue to sell them at top dollar prices and do not refund money back. My mechanic grabbed the sealent w/ two fingers and easily pulled it right out! They were not surprised when I called them. Their solution? Send them back, get them a month later and they put the same shit on it w/o testing it for leaks...again.

 

Just so you guys know (because it sounds like you don’t)

When chrome rims are made the rim and the centers are plaited then there welded together ….. So the rusting welds your complaining about were never plaited.

If they were plaited after assembly they would really look bad

 

If I lived 3 miles from them I would have already made the local news.

 

I bought 'em in chrome, and it's the chrome that is actually rusting.

 

Yeah, so what keeps the plating from burning off or discoloring when they are welded. I've also seen chrome wheels that the welds are also chromed, which would appear to me to show they were welded before.

 

I think their chrome is questionable also. When the sealent pulled away from the wheel, it pulled the chrome off! My mechanic pointed it out to me and was shaking his head at it. He repairs and sees wheels everyday.

 

Treating the wheels with Gibbs pennetrant will stop the rust. Works well on my wheels that are out in the rain all the time. The wheels are ten years old and not a sign of rust.

 

Actually one set of wheels by WV with the Olds SSIII were done just like that.
The area between the hoop and center section looked weird as it was not a crisp line. The other thing, even on my crusty 15" SSIII they are not rusting at that weld. Same with some good condition 14" SSIII that I have as well. GMs original welds did not rust. WVs did.

At minimum their chroming technique is sketch.

 

I'm not happy with mine.
I like the wheels, but the plating, just like Stockton's I had before, is ehhhh....

I know I could be doing more to keep them from rusting, waxing them, or whatever, but, it seems obvious that the things should last more than a year in a garage...mine have not seen much mileage.

It's not on the welds, I'm talking about either.
I guess this might be the reason that they removed the listing for any chrome oem style wheels?

I'm witcha, though...not overly pleased...not angry as hell, either...just expected more.

 

Did I say all chrome wheels were plaited in pieces and welded together?

Go ask anybody at any chrome shop and they will tell you what I did. Which is what I was told the last time I had some one off wheels made.
Plaiting just flat doesn’t like to go into an inside radius.
Maybe some are passed back threw the process after welding … I don’t know.

Anyways …. short of building some kind of perfect concors restoration why in the hell would you care if there’s a little silver or clear paint on the welds on the back side of your wheels?

BTW
Do you have a cat?

 

Just re-read his statement....my brain misses things sometimes. Now I guess he is only talking about the welds...I don't care about that, I expect that. I have rust on the lip or the rim ( outer ) and already in the inside circumference around the lug holes. I really wish I could find a decent chrome steel wheel. Of course, It's a driver car, and I'm not too spendy on it. I imagine a magnificent set could be obtained for the right price....I DID expect a bit more from these, though. I figured it would be fairly obvious that the appearance of the center would be a prime concern on these, because after all, if buyers of these wheels were typically covering them up with a cap, why even bother to buy an oem style, non-multi-lug wheel. You could just buy some $ 89.00 a pop smoothies.



Does anyone know if perhaps plating problems might be why these wheels in chrome seem to be unlisted now, on their sight???

 

have you tried contacting them. maybe they could replate them is you ship them back.

 

Next time, buy from "wheelkid" / Rally America.

 

I just found this thread looking at wheels. I used WV once to order 52 chevy caps. They sent me 2 16" wheels, ford I believe? I never said anything a wk later they discovered and sent the slip for the wheels and I still had no caps. Took like 8 wks for 4 52 chevy caps. Luckily the car wasn't done so I wasn't in dire need.

next set I'll give wheelamerica wheel guy a shot

 

Smart decision. Wheel Vintiques are deuche bags.