Hoss XLT

I picked up some Mothers chrome polish to do my 20 inch wheels and while doing it I realized the polish was worth more than the cheap wheels. Thanks Ford for $1000 optional plastic wheels.

FiveOhFuzzF150

It's chrome clad dammit. U respect the all might Henry Ford!

rlh6805

I thought the same thing when I took delivery of mine so I bought some aftermarket 20" KMC's. After one winter in MI I'm sorry I did it. Real chrome will get trashed from the salt they use on the roads. Luckily I was able to clean them up with some good polish. You can bet that I'm going to be putting my factory plastic chrome wheels back on before next winter comes.

OCEddie

Tears were shed on this earlier. See my comments below:

I just traded a 2008 Escalade ESV with 19,600 miles on my new Lariat Screw with chrome Package 20" wheels BECAUSE General Motors banged me like a drum on the 22" wheels I had on the Escalade. They were Chinese dog**** and the chrome was bubbled both under and over the finish. The dealer is a close friend and ordered a full set of wheels on GM's dime under warrranty...MORE BUBBLY AND FLAKEY JUNK !!!

He finally told me to go find four wheels on in-stock Escaldes with 22's that were acceptable and he would just switch them out. It took three vehicles to provide me four wheels that were acceptable, and even those had imperfections. And after that, the grey coating that they put on the other side of the spokes just peeled off. BTW, that's where you stick the weights, so the weights just come off with the coating.

THESE CADILLAC WHEELS ARE $1000 EACH.

Don't complain about chrome over plastic, or chrome over cryptonite...any wheel or cover that accepts chrome and lets you drive it winter and summer without the chrome flaking off is a big step up from chrome over aluminum garbage from "worldwide" suppliers.

Four grand worth of stock Cadillac 22's on a 70 grand list truck showed me that every manufacturer is whoring the customer. I'm giving Ford a shot for the second time in my 35 years of driving. If they "chrome clad" an aluminum wheel, and the chrome stays on long enough for my wife to polish the curbs at Costco, I'll be happy.

Learn to love your plastic chrome covers. Any chrome on the aftermarket wheel you buy will peel like crazy when road chemicals hit them.

skupko9680

Hope things work out since almost every chrome wheel from Ford, GM, and Chrysler in the last 5+ years are chrome clad. All you need to do is look at the valve stem and you can see the area underneath is recessed. You can still find a number of wheels that are polished aluminum, but if you want chrome it is almost certainly aftermarket. The great thing about clad wheels is that if you treat them like a painted part they clean easily and are pretty much trouble free for many years.

Brutus Jr.

Chrome is garbage. Regardless of what it's sticking to. End of story. I understand it on old cars, but when there are powder coatings that will get you close to the shine of chrome, and anodized clear coats for polished aluminum, I just don't see the need.

Bottom Dollah

If my XLT's were metal chromed, they'd be rusty too.

Like the OP, I didn't realize they were plastic chromed until after owning it about 3 months.

They get wiped when washing and that's about it. Still look new after 14 months and two winters.

Maybe you can return the polish!

2009XLTBFF1fitty

I LOVE my chrome clad rims - I wash my rims every weekend and they still look brand new after 18 months and 18k miles.