Magnum 500 silver finish question.

[Arnie Cunningham]

Question on 69 Magnum 500s

Car was built in April of 69

A search shows that Magnum 500s had a nickel finish on the spokes.
Is this correct?

Can anyone give an overview of their knowledge of the magnum 500s that came on Daytonas?

[Mytur Binsdirti]

It's brushed chrome. The black is painted.

[moparstuart]

 these were on my car in 84 when i bought it , I assume they are original to the 69 , its codes for them

 brushed trim rings , painted black insets , and the spokes are just the bright polished rim .  

[resq302]

Im leaning more towards the nickel also as I don't think (and Im not 100% certain) that you can brush chrome due to actual chrome being extremely soft.

[hemigeno]

I've been told it's not a nickel plating since that ends up having a different tint to it, and I wouldn't call it brushed chrome either... more like really, really crappy chrome.  The stainless trim rings did have a light brushed finish to them though.

Original wheel centers I've scrutinized almost always had grinding marks from the prep process still visible in the chromed area, and they appeared to have been shot peened prior to treatment in the plating tanks.  It is anything BUT a smooth, "show-quality" finish, for sure.

When I restored my car's center sections (you have to separate them from the rim, restore the two sections separately and then have the centers welded back to the rim using the same process Motor Wheel used), we told the chrome shop to "flash chrome" the centers - which I understand to be the equivalent of the aforementioned really, really crappy chrome look.

[moparstuart]

Im leaning more towards the nickel also as I don't think (and Im not 100% certain) that you can brush chrome due to actual chrome being extremely soft.

the spokes are not brushed , just the trim ring that pops on and off

  if the spokes where chromes or nickeled wouldnt they peel ? when weathered  ? I have never seen any peel .
Im sticking to polished steel spokes  .  ?  but i am rarely correct  

[resq302]

Maybe it is like a "satin" chrome if there is such a thing.  I know they are not polished as they would be a lot smoother like regular chrome is.  Also, if they were bare steel, they would rust in an instant like anything else steel which they do not.  I also know that there is some kind of plating or process on it as I did not scuff up good enough the black recessed centers on my rims and had to strip the paint off and then scuff them up really good with a bit of sand blasting in order to get the paint to stick nice.

[471_Magnum]

"Brushed chrome" use to be a very common finish. It's done by brushing the nickle prior to the chrome stage in the plating process.