Refurbishing steelies&hubcaps

[Boobo-oobo]

I have a set of 15" steel wheel and a hubcaps from my old w124 that i want to refurbish.

Disassembled the hubcaps, Im gonna repaint them when I sand them down, but I don't know what to do with the chromed parts (I guess they're chrome). Re-chrome them, paint them too? They look to be plastic underneath. Any suggestions what would be the best method?

 

[Cowboy]

It's not really chrome, it plastic with chrome paint on it.

Re-chroming something like that is possible, but it's a professional job, the old chrome has to be stripped away carefully (as to not damage the plastic that must have gone brittle with age) then re-crome-painted and polished, not easy, not fast, not cheap.

In DIY stores you can find stuff like 'chrome spray' in a can.....none of that shit works, stay away from it.

If you ask me you are just as well of sanding the old chrome away and just spray painting the stars a slightly darker shade of grey than the hudcaps themselves, should look alright from a distance.

 

[Boobo-oobo]

It's not really chrome, it plastic with chrome paint on it.

Re-chroming something like that is possible, but it's a professional job, the old chrome has to be stripped away carefully (as to not damage the plastic that must have gone brittle with age) then re-crome-painted and polished, not easy, not fast, not cheap.

In DIY stores you can find stuff like 'chrome spray' in a can.....none of that shit works, stay away from it.

If you ask me you are just as well of sanding the old chrome away and just spray painting the stars a slightly darker shade of grey than the hudcaps themselves, should look alright from a distance.

Thanks, think im just gonna do that, repaint them to some grey color.

Or to the new balkan standard shade of blue? Or start a new trend of balkan red? Perhaps black?

Tried to clean the brake dust off the hubcaps, but didnt go as planned. Did 4 iterations of spraying and scrubbing with a brush. The rear ones turned OK-ish, the front ones need some more work.