PVD Permachrome wheels

[MadOx75]

I'm sure many of you have seen the Permachrome wheels on Ebay that are offered for either sale or a reduced price with exchange of the same, unchromed wheel. Since the new SL has as much chrome trim on it as the Krom seems to, I figure it should have chrome wheels... So I emailed the vendor through their website last night to see if they had any plans on offering the new 18" SL wheels in permachrome. They got back to me and said they didn't realize that there were new wheels for this year, so they didn't have them in stock. Because of that, they offered me the opportunity to pick from three other Nissan wheels for a pretty large discount over their regular price for the permachroming... The three they're going to let me choose from are

18" Nissan Murano


18" Nissan Maxima


18" Nissan Altima Accessory wheel


So they would send me one of them, I get my tires mounted and balanced and all, then I send them back my OEM Rogue wheels. So basically I'm just looking for opinions on what style you all think would look the best on the Rogue, or if i should just suck it up and pay full price to have the OEM wheels done...

[Leo2005]

Hard to choose. I like them all. Why don't you put 1-3 numbers in the random program like rock-scissors-paper and whatever number popup that's what you will get? :p

[harryg]

I like the maxima wheels, you can make a poll probably in here somehow to allow us to choose

also i remember reading somewhere that chroming oem Nissan wheels was not a good thing and it can lead to problems...read it somewhere on the forum i think it may have been phillipa's comment

[MadOx75]

My wife likes the Maxima wheels too...lol. Guess they're in the lead.

And what kind of problems? I know doing regular chrome plating has all kinds of issues with just about any wheels, but this Permachrome process is supposed to be much better.

[TonyN]

what prices are you getting?

[MadOx75]

The wheels go for between $645.50 to $738.50, if you do the exchange. I can take my choice of them for $480.

[MadOx75]

I found the TSB that phillip posted. I agree that the chroming process could theoretically alter the alloy and cause problems. Two things with this - First, the process is completely different for the permachrome than for real chrome. They don't remove the existing finish to do the work. They just clean the hell out of it, then spray it with primer powdercoat, perform the PVD permachroming process, then hit it with clear powdercoat. Second, even if I did have problems with the wheels, I wouldn't expect Nissan to cover them under warranty any more than I would expect them to cover any aftermarket product. The company that does the work warranties the wheel for 5 years/100,000 from time of install, so I'd work with them if there was a problem.

[philipa_240sx]

As I see it, this process isn't much different from painting a regular wheel so it should be safe.

'Permachrome' uses the same techniques to apply 'chrome' (aluminum actually) to the plastic reflectors found in your headlights. It's a very neat process that is far more environmentally friendly that traditional chrome plating. I can really see this taking off in the next few years. Emissions from automobile production have been the subject of increasing scrutiny the past few years. Water borne paints, enviro friendly foams, and PVD 'chrome' are just a few ways of reducing those emissions.

[MadOx75]

I've been emailing back and forth with the owner, and I really think I'm going to go with the last one, the Altima Accessory wheels. They're kind of similar to the stock wheel, and I like the recessed center. I wish there was a straight on shot of them so I could photoshop it onto my car, but I think it will look good with the chrome trim and the pearl white paint... Now just to get my wife to not freak out about me spending more money so soon...lol.

[MadOx75]

So I spoke with the owner of the company on the phone tonight. He's based out of Michigan, and is doing so well he's opening a new place in the LA area. Really nice guy. Apparently he used to own Detroit Wheel and Tire before getting into the Permachrome business... Anyway, after talking with him and making sure my stock tires would fit on that Altima wheel, I asked him what the price would be, and he said he'd give them to me for $400 plus shipping and exchange of my Rogue wheels. He said that's pretty much at cost for him, but its still cheaper than having to get a set of the Rogue wheels new from a Nissan dealer. He actually offered to send me one of them on his dime so I can take a look at them in person. I'm going to grab some pics straight on so I can photoshop them onto my car and get an idea of what they look like...

[MadOx75]

I hadn't gotten around to taking pictures of the wheels until this weekend, but here ya go. Kind of a crappy day out, and the wheels are dirty from all the melting snow we've had, but these are the Permachrome 18" Altima Coupe wheels on the Rogue. I also had the front windows tinted with 30% EF tint. Click to make it bigger...