Are you ready to upgrade your plain wheels to brilliant chrome wheels but do not want to wait for your wheels to be plated? California Chrome Wheel has offered Chrome Wheel Exchange Programs as a courtesy to its customers since 1986! With this program, you can receive a set of chrome wheels in advance and enjoy the beauty of your newly transformed vehicle without any downtime! Here are three great reasons to participate in the Chrome Exchange Program:

• Convenience
  

  You do not have to wait for your current wheels to be plated! You can receive your new chrome exchange wheels in advance! Upon receipt and installation of your chrome wheels, simply re-ship your silver-painted wheels back to us in our provided reusable packaging.

  (If you would like to have your wheels plated, click here.)


• Savings
  

  You only end up paying for the cost of the chrome plating and shipping! You do not have to pay for the cost of an entirely new set of wheels. Aftermarket wheels can cost up to five times the amount our Chrome Wheel Exchange Program!



• Value
  

  With chrome-plated original equipment (OE) wheels on your vehicle, it will retain its resale value much longer than with silver-painted or aftermarket wheels. Aftermarket wheels are often trendy and may go out of style in just a few months. OE wheels will always be popular because of their exact fitment.

With the Chrome Wheel Exchange Program, you get the wheels you want now for a fraction of the cost while increasing the value of your vehicle! You will not find a faster, more efficient way to put chrome wheels on your vehicle than with the Chrome Exchange Program.

To participate in the Chrome Wheel Exchange Program, you must have the same wheel in factory silver (same size, design, the exact same). Currently chromed wheels are not accepted as return cores in this exchange program. Also, a refundable security deposit / core charge is required and is designed to cover our purchase of the stock wheels ahead of time to chrome plate. This makes the chrome exchange possible. The deposit is refundable once we receive back your stock, silver-finish OE wheels (like for like in the same style we sent you chromed) in good, un-planted condition.

Upon receiving your new chrome wheels, you should make sure they are like for like (same size, design, the exact same) with your current un-planted wheels. After installation, the un-planted wheels should be repackaged in the same cartons that you received the chrome wheels in. Please be sure to use the protective rim rings that were originally shipped with your chrome wheels. Once this is done, simply return the wheels back to California Chrome Wheel freight prepaid with your request for core refund. Here is how the chrome exchange works...

The following formula determines the cost of a Chrome Wheel Exchange:

Average estimated one-way shipping time in days,
for a set of four (4) boxed wheels shipped via UPS Ground in the USA.
Your actual shipping costs may vary.

Freight is responsibility of the customer for each direction. Shipping costs will vary by location. Please contact us for a custom shipping quote for your wheels. Return labels are available upon request. Simply tell your sales associate that you would like return freight added to your invoice and the shipping department will affix return labels to your boxes. That way, when you box your original wheels into our boxes, you only have to reverse the flaps, tape up the boxes, and drop them off at a UPS store.

We recommend using insured and trackable methods of shipping such as UPS or FedEx Kinko's, when using your own carrier.

Upgrading to chrome wheels is a large investment not only in your vehicles appearance, but the value as well. CalChrome offers very cost effective ways to protect that investment. When ordering a chrome exchange, don't forget to order a set of wheel locks to go along with it. This simple and affordable anti-theft device has been proven time and time again to be the best defense against unauthorized wheel removal.

If having your wheels installed locally at our Valencia facility, don't forget to request Nitrogen tire inflation. Again, a very cost effective way to protect your investment. By retaining the proper inflation longer, your vehicle will handle better, get better fuel economy, enhance the safety and reliability, and help your tires last longer. Not to mention that by purging most of the gasses and replacing it with nitrogen, almost all of the corrosive properties are removed from wheel, helping to maintain the life of your wheel.

Visit the CalChrome Accessories page

When returning your un-planted cores to us, please utilize the same shipping materials that the chromed wheels arrived to you in. See here for details. If we have charged you for return freight shipping labels, simply reverse the flaps of the box your wheels came in so the return labels are showing. This is just another way CalChrome makes chrome exchanges as painless as possible.

Example of true, un-planted wheels.

Please send a copy of your invoice along with your good wheel cores indicating your request for a core refund. Be sure that the core wheels that you are returning to us are like for like, with the chrome wheels we sent you (same size, same style, same exact) and are in good condition with no damage or curb scrapes (some slight damage such as paint only scraping is permissible). Frequently wheels that have lower profile tires on them can have flat spots or out of round conditions. Most often we see this on the back side portion (inside lip) of the wheel. Please make sure you see them spun on a spin balancer at speed to make sure none of these conditions exist. Any questions, please refer to examples below, or call our sales department at 661-294-0170.

If damage does exist, partial refunds are possible once we inspect and determine the amount of repair required to recondition the wheel to be sold again. These repair charges will be deducted from your core deposit. In order to receive full credit for a refund, wheels must be returned with a copy of the original invoice, within 15 days from the date of that invoice. If this final step is not done, the sale may be considered an outright purchase and no refund will be given. If longer than 15 days is required to return the cores please call for a return confirmation number to allow for more time.

Good Core Return	Bent Core Return	Unacceptable Core Return

Tire balancer capable of
run-out measurement.

Once your existing wheels have been taken off of the vehicle, have them spun on a wheel balancer in the shop where the new chromes are being installed. Spinning the wheels will make apparent most damage that is not visible when viewing the stationary wheel. In order to receive a full core refund, there must be no flat spots or out of round conditions to the wheel, or repair costs will be subtracted from the refund.

Click the videos above to see how we test wheels that are returned. Notice on the two damaged wheels that the wheel appears to "hop" when compared to the back ground. These are examples of how a wheel can appear round just from looking at it, but when spun at speed reveals its true condition.

• Curb Rash - Curb Scrapes
• Heavily Damaged
• Bent

Your original wheels must not have any severe accident damage, flat spots, curb scraping, or lip damage. Prior to returning the wheels, you should have them spun by themselves on a spin balancer to make sure they are true (no lateral up-and-down or side-to-side movement). Although, if you do have repairable damage (please contact us), we can perform the repairs and deduct the costs from your core refund / security deposit. In order to receive a full core refund for your security deposit, wheels must be true, although we can repair and deduct charges from your deposit.

It is important to check both the front and the back of the wheel for damage. Pictured below is an example of a core return set of wheels. The facial portions of the wheels appear to be ok. Upon further examination of the back side of one of the wheels, there is an out of round/damage condition. However, this damage is repairable. These repair costs will be deducted from the core refund/security deposit. Repair costs are usually $35-$150 depending on the severity. In this case the repair cost was $125.

Wheel Front looks normal	Bent wheel (back view)

If your wheels have sustained minor curb damage (scraping), more often than not, your wheels will be able to be plated. The photos below are examples of acceptable curb damage that we are able to blend in during our polishing procedure at no additional charge.

(Click for larger view)	(Click for larger view)
(Click for larger view)	(Click for larger view)

Facial paint scratches or slight curb scraping may or may not require repair. This may be an opportunity for you to upgrade to chrome-plated wheels without the added expense of repairing possible damages such as curb scrapes to your wheel. Slight damage does not rule out the possibility for you to participate in the program, although repair charges may be deducted from your core refund. If you have more extensive damage, please call us for more information.

If your wheels have sustained more substantial damage from curb scraping or curb hit, it is best to contact one of our sales reps and provide a picture of the damage. In most cases this type of damage will still qualify for a core refund, however the repair costs will be deducted from the total.

As you can see in these examples, the actual metal of the wheel has been
damaged in a curb hit, rather than just a surface scratch.

This is an extreme example of an out of round condition on a Land Rover wheel. Normally the damage is not this noticeable, until the wheel is spun on a wheel balancer. This is an example of a wheel that is acceptable, minus a repair fee.

See the video above for an example of an out of round condition that was not visible until spun.

Out of round conditions can happen to virtually any wheel. Keep in mind there is a very big difference between an out of round wheel, and a wheel that has been flat spotted (shown above). More often than not an out of round wheel cannot be repaired because the bend originates at the hub and through the spokes of the wheel. Whereas a wheel that has been flat-spotted is bent only in the barrel section of the wheel, which can be pressed round again.

Out of Round	Out of Round	Severely Damaged

If a wheel has sustained a heavy amount of damage, as in a very hard curb hit, or accident, resulting in the lip being heavily damaged, the wheel will not qualify for a core refund. Again, if there are any questions as to if this applies to your wheel, please contact us and provide pictures so we can help in determining if it is repairable.

If the wheels have been previously polished or chrome plated. They will not be eligible for credit towards the core refund. We can of course re-chrome your wheels. Some vehicles may have a full size spare which you may be able to use if it is a good un-plated wheel, and is like for like with the wheels on the car.

If you have any questions, please contact us for more information before choosing to install the new chrome wheels.

If the wheels were previously painted, from the factory or otherwise, please check for sub-paint corrosion as seen in the pictures to the left. This may look like nothing more than paint bubbling, but the material beneath the surface may have been seriously degraded.

Please keep in mind, that the surface quality of a chrome plated wheel is entirely dependant on the condition of the base material.

Upon receiving your core return, we will inspect the wheel to ensure there are no conditions as listed above. Processing of the refund takes approximately 5 business days once we have received the wheels, for us to process the paper work internally. Please make sure you have returned a copy of the deposit invoice along with the same like for like wheels we have sent you. Also make sure you witness the wheels spun at speed on a balancer to ensure there is no out of round conditions. On vehicles that have low profile and/or run flat tires, we are finding more and more damage to the backsides (flat spots) of the wheels. If we find during our inspection any of these conditions, we will contact you and send photos if needed to prove such damages. We will then deduct the repair cost to correct the damages from your deposit.

If you have paid your deposit with a credit card, we must refund to that same credit card, and hard copy receipts will be mailed to you. If you paid by cashiers check / money order, we will refund you via our company check.