18" Chromed Wheels

[FROADER]

So does anyone have pictures of these $600 plastic wheel covers?

 

[Crizz]

Of course :

And here you can see that plastic covers are on the aloy wheels. IMHO, I wouldn´t call this "cladded wheels" - on cladded wheels I would understand a chromed out wheel, not a chromed plasticcover glued on

 

[FROADER]

Interesting... Is it the whole wheel or just the outter ring? I can't really tell from the pics.

 

[Crizz]

It´s not only the rind. The whole surface is a cap, guess you can see it a little better on these pics :

 

[FROADER]

Wow, that sucks.

 

[05Boxster]

My thought had been to remove these covers for winter driving, kinda like instant "winter wheels" then pop 'em back on for the summer so they don't get ruined by the salt. Has anyone tried to remove one, is it possible?

 

[Crizz]

it´s impossible to remove ´em, they´re fixed with a kinda mounting-foam. Okay, regardless of that you can remove, but you´ll have a prob with the design of the rims after that and of re-mounting them.

Again : it´s chromed plastic. Ever seen plastic become rust ? Salt doesn´t matter to these chrome-clad-wheels. That´s the only positive thing of it.

 

[cwescapexlt4x4]

it´s impossible to remove ´em, they´re fixed with a kinda mounting-foam. Okay, regardless of that you can remove, but you´ll have a prob with the design of the rims after that and of re-mounting them.

Again : it´s chromed plastic. Ever seen plastic become rust ? Salt doesn´t matter to these chrome-clad-wheels. That´s the only positive thing of it.

That's a good point as long as the rust on the steel wheel "behind" the cover stays in good enough condition.

 

[Crizz]

That's a good point as long as the rust on the steel wheel "behind" the cover stays in good enough condition.

*lol* Ever checked the rims ? They´re made of aluminium-cast ! That´s why I can only shake my head - they took the cake ! it´s like giving pearls to pigs. Where´s the sense to add a chromed clad to an aloy rim instead of a polished or clear-coated finish ?

I don´t believe that they really saved money by that .....

 

[05Boxster]

it´s impossible to remove ´em, they´re fixed with a kinda mounting-foam. Okay, regardless of that you can remove, but you´ll have a prob with the design of the rims after that and of re-mounting them.

Again : it´s chromed plastic. Ever seen plastic become rust ? Salt doesn´t matter to these chrome-clad-wheels. That´s the only positive thing of it.

No, I have never seen plastic rust. But i have seen "chromed" plastic get pitted, chipped, and flake off. Believe me, the salty roads here in Mass WILL NOT be kind to these covers.

 

[jameszr1]

Audiophile radio no better than one from the 90's
plastic $800 wheels that look good, but try to buff it out when you rub the curb
poor placement on the door handles
terrible placement of cup holders
44K vehicle (window) and no rear sensors, great GPS & Sirius, but my biggest gripe is the cheap ass radio system. Audiophile....sounds to me just like hi-fidelity.
And Ford wonders why they aren't selling. A small 8 that gets 16 MPG might be a hint of a good place to start. None the less, I like the Explorer although I'm sure someone will flame me for telling the truth.

 

[wharriso]

When I purchased mine, there were 2 Explorers on the lot that I liked, a red one with the 17 inch alloy wheels and a dark cherry one with the Audiophile 6 disk CD changer and 18 inch chrome wheels. The dark cherry one was an additional $1000.00. But after the incentives and discount and too much for my trade-in and extremely low interest rate, I think I saved over $7000.00 on this car, with payments MUCH lower than I expected... so I have no complaints. The wheels look nice and the neigbors are jealous.
________
KR350

 

[07LoadedLimited]

Yeah, I have to admit, after paying 40K+ I was a little surprised to find out that the wheels weren't actually chrome (then I remembered wondering exactly what "chrome-clad" meant....lol).

It's okay though, I will be replacing them with a set of 20" Forte F3's....the truck is black on black with chrome accents.

 

[gh67]

I thought that might be a good thing if the wife hit a curb or something. But I called Ford, and you have to buy the complete wheel as a replacement. You can't just buy a plastic hubcap.

well....that just happened to me yesterday. Was an idiot and got into a curb and just the right angle to catch the lip of the chrome cover and bend the hell out of it. Was hoping that I could just buy another chrome cover but if "interceptor06" is correct...I'll have to buy a whole new wheel. In fairness to the chrome clad (as much as I hate it on a $40K truck)....if the wheel was true chrome it probably would have been messed up a little too (though not ruined).

So I suppose what really ticks me off is the low profile tires with the 18'' wheels. In my old 99 EB, I mounted many a curbs (yes, for fun)) and treated the ole girl like the truck it was....and the 16'' wheels and meaty tires took it like a champ. Now I just learned an expensive lesson that my 06's tire/wheel combo has turned it into a yuppie mobile with no ambitions of curb or mild off-road tackling. (ya ya…so the 18’s handle much better in normal conditions….but I’m ignoring that for my ranting purposes)

Suppose I'll call the dealership in the morning and order a new one....anyone know how much a new wheel will cost? Wonder if the new one will come with a new tire pressure monitoring strap (even more $$) or can my old one be removed? Given all that, I bet I’ll have to let the dealership do the swap. Tempted to change out to an entirely new tire/wheel combo but the tires have 90% tread left and I'm not even sure what I would get (suggestions?). Until then, no more suburban "off-road" adventures....at least not on purpose....now just hope the wife (or I) never does it on accident.

sorry if I sound pissy...but the demoralization of the killer curb is still fresh on my mind from last night....thanks for listening.

 

[wharriso]

well....that just happened to me yesterday. Was an idiot and got into a curb and just the right angle to catch the lip of the chrome cover and bend the hell out of it. Was hoping that I could just buy another chrome cover but if "interceptor06" is correct...I'll have to buy a whole new wheel. In fairness to the chrome clad (as much as I hate it on a $40K truck)....if the wheel was true chrome it probably would have been messed up a little too (though not ruined).

So I suppose what really ticks me off is the low profile tires with the 18'' wheels. In my old 99 EB, I mounted many a curbs (yes, for fun)) and treated the ole girl like the truck it was....and the 16'' wheels and meaty tires took it like a champ. Now I just learned an expensive lesson that my 06's tire/wheel combo has turned it into a yuppie mobile with no ambitions of curb or mild off-road tackling. (ya ya…so the 18’s handle much better in normal conditions….but I’m ignoring that for my ranting purposes)

Suppose I'll call the dealership in the morning and order a new one....anyone know how much a new wheel will cost? Wonder if the new one will come with a new tire pressure monitoring strap (even more $$) or can my old one be removed? Given all that, I bet I’ll have to let the dealership do the swap. Tempted to change out to an entirely new tire/wheel combo but the tires have 90% tread left and I'm not even sure what I would get (suggestions?). Until then, no more suburban "off-road" adventures....at least not on purpose....now just hope the wife (or I) never does it on accident.

sorry if I sound pissy...but the demoralization of the killer curb is still fresh on my mind from last night....thanks for listening.

Maybe you ran into dumb luck like me. When I bought my EX, they "threw in" a wheel warranty (when I got home, I saw that I paid for it). Anyway, while doing Christmas shopping last year, I discovered 2 punctured tires. The holes were on the side so plugs are not really too reliable. I remembered the warranty and drove my plugged tires up to the dealer. I had to explain to the warranty company how I "thought" this happened and I had to wait a day for them to get the tires but when I got my car back, I had 2 new wheels free of "additional" charge!.

Check your papers man, you may have been hoodwinked into a wheel warranty as well.

 

[Crizz]

If this would happen to me ( or my E.B. ) I would go and peel of all the chrome-skins and give the wheels a paint if highgloss-polishing wouldn´t be able or to expensive. Wouldn´t be a reason to give the money to Ford for selling plasticwheels as spareparts. Could only look better w/o those clads.

 

[jessydog]

Wonder if the new one will come with a new tire pressure monitoring strap (even more $$) or can my old one be removed?

GH-- No, the existing sensor strap cannot be reused. At least, that's what my dealer told me. Also, I don't think a new strap is included with the wheel...it has to be specifically and separately ordered. When I bought my 07 one of the 18" chrome-clads had a big dent on the outer rim, as if it had been dropped onto the edge of a curb without a tire on it. The dealer ordered a replacement, and when it arrived, I showed up to have it swapped out. Then and only then (probably upon actually unpacking the wheel) did they realize they had no new strap. Then they ordered one, and they had it the next day. Since I wasn't charged, I never knew the cost of either part (wheel or strap).

 

[Crizz]

I had the tire-warranty, too. But Ford Greenway didn´t get in touch with me, as hard as i tried. And shipping from GE to the States isn´t a good idea without knowing what will happen.

So this will be my last new Explorer, next one will be a used one, for what the heck i need any world-wide-warranty if nobody cares.

 

[wharriso]

I had the tire-warranty, too. But Ford Greenway didn´t get in touch with me, as hard as i tried. And shipping from GE to the States isn´t a good idea without knowing what will happen.

So this will be my last new Explorer, next one will be a used one, for what the heck i need any world-wide-warranty if nobody cares.

The one I have is some kind of 3rd-party warranty. It wasn't administered by Ford but sold by the dealer. If you get wheel damage, you have to go to where you are getting it repaired and have them talk to the warranty administrators about paying the bill, that way, no money has to go through your hands. If your tire/wheel warranty hasn't lapsed, you can call the warranty people directly for more info.

 

[gh67]

ordered wheel

well it turns out the rim itself had damage too....so went ahead and ordered a replacement wheel for the time being. Out of curiousity I checked the dealer price, around $360...which is actually much less than I assumed for an OEM...but then again how much can plastic chrome cost? The dealer price is just a little higher ($20 or so) than the cheapest I found new online. Though I ended up finding a company in Detroit that deals in new and used OEM wheels. He had a bunch of "take-offs" that were in perfect condition for about $250 each.

As for the tire pressure monitoring system.....apparently the sensor itself can be transfered from my old wheel but the straps are one time use and you have to cut them off. Luckily the wheel being sent to me already has a strap on it and I can attach my old sensor. I say "luckily" because the price for the strap alone (no sensor) is $60. I saw one at the dealer today....it looks like an oversized radiator clamp and couldn't imagine it costing more than a few bucks to make.