I saw a Jag with chrome wheels last month in Oakville parked on the street and am thinking about having my 18" OEM 'Rapier' alloy wheels chrome plated. Still haven't decided.

What is the general opinion on here about this? Does it make the car look more distinctive, or not.

 

Personally I'm not a fan of any sort of bling on a Jaguar, but each to their own I guess!

 

Jaguars were once renowned for "bling" or chrome as it was called. Just have a look at a Mark 2 or any Jaguar saloon of the 60s.

My Rover 75 I had before the Jaguar was very similar to a Mark 2 in the amount of chrome it had. I think that was why I liked it so much, but it was also a superb car too.

 

Too flashy.

A Jaguar XJ should be an example of understated elegance, not flamboyance.

 

Take a photo and photoshop chrome wheels on it, to see if it looks ok or not.

 

Ah but chrome in the 60s was a whole different thing to bling in the naughties!
For a start good taste was employed back then, but hey, if you like bling in the naughties then good for you. However, I don't..

 

I'm not sold on the idea - just asking opinion. Here is a pic of a chrome wheel for the Jaguar Rapier 18" from a shop in LA.

My 2000 Cadillac STS I bought with the OEM chrome wheel option from the factory, and I think it really suited that car. However, whether it suits a car or not I think is very specific to the car. On the wrong car chrome wheels would look bad,; on the right car, they look good. Jaguar doesn't to my knowledge offer a chrome wheel option currently. Maybe too flashy for the XJ350, but as I said, it really improved the Cadillac, but that car might have been designed with the chrome wheels in mind as they were a factory option. Also, the Cadillac has sterling silver color paint, so the chrome wheels play visually off the silver paint -it was the silver and chrome 'millennium package' back in 1999 when I bought it I think . My XJ350 VDP is black, so the contrast would be more stark, and might be 'too much'.

The Jag I saw in Oakville was not black (that had chrome wheels).

 

Was driving in Thornhill today and parked in a parking lot. Car comes in next to me is Chrysler 300 in black with OEM chrome wheels. So I got to see what chrome wheels look like on a black sedan. Of course I wouldn't trade my Jag for three 300's, but I was curious to see what chrome wheels would look like on a full size black car, so this was my chance for a side by side comparison. I agree with my previous thought - my silver Cadillac suits the chrome as it blends in, but on a black car those chrome wheels really draw attention to themselves. Not sure I want to be that flashy. The Cadillac doesn't look flashy with the silver/chrome combo. Here is a cell phone snap. It isn't as clear here as it was standing there.

 

I have to say that from what I have seen, chrome plated aluminium wheels never seem to last long, the plating seems very prone to peeling off. Maybe I've just seen bad examples. Chrome on brass can be very long lived, of course, and if done right, long lived on steel if the plating shop uses copper loading before the nickel and chromium.

 

Yes, I agree that poor quality can wear off fast. The chrome wheels on my 2000 Cadillac that were ordered as a factory option were very high quality. They are original to the car (which I've had since it was new) and are thus 14 years old and have been driven in Toronto in the winter with salt and sand on the roads. They have not rusted or pitted or suffered any chrome loss. I do hose them off in winter after driving in the salt. Now the LA chroming place says not to drive their chrome plated wheels in snow and salt as they won't last 2 years if you do, which worries me, seeing as the Cadillac OEM chrome wheels have survived in the salt for 14 years.

 

Just too flashy for the Jag IMHO

You mention that the Chrome looks good on a Cadillac, I would say it probably fits right in with that look / style, but just not on the Jag.

I'm trying to tone down my comments here to be honest as I'm also highly aware that the Chrome look is much more in fashion or liked / loved even, by America.

Its just not really that big a deal over here in the UK

 

Just to illustrate my point, here is a photo of the same 2000 Cadillac STS in silver with factory chrome wheels that I have. While I think it suits the chrome, I can see the point made by many that the Jag VDP doesn't suit chrome wheels, especially with black exterior paint. My 2005 Jag is shown in the other photo.

I think I will stick with the standard wheels for now on my Jag. I do think the VDP is the more flashier car of the two even without the chrome. It gets far more looks than the Cadillac when I drive it around town. Perhaps it is the lines, the leaper on the hood, but it attracts far more attention.

 

It truly depends on the color, wheels etc. I've had chrome on some cars and painted alloys on others... I prefer painted but if the combo is nice chrome doesn't hurt.

 

Well, in the old days, used Jaguars here in the UK could be seen advertised with words at the end - "lots of flash, little cash" !!

 

Haha - yes, my father and grandfather were both very fond of Jaguar cars. I recall that my dad's 1988 XJ40 Sovereign (XJ6) never met an electrical problem it didn't like. At one year of age when he offered to drive me to school I recall thinking "Will it start today?" At least once per week it wouldn't. The warning lights were always going off too - the dealer said "Just ignore them".

Fortunatley Jaguar quality has improved since the 1980s. The PO of my 2005 said it never once (in nearly 9 years and 117K) wouldn't start or left him stuck somewhere.

That said, when I was a lad one of my dream cars was the previous generation Jag - the 1983 Series III 5.3L V-12 Sovereign HE. If that was still being made new today I would want one, more so than the newest X351. Of course back in 1983 I was a schoolboy too young to drive, but I remember drooling over the 1983 V-12 Jag.

 

So what did you decide..? Chrome or not?

 

I'm the second owner but I'm pretty sure my 07 XJR came with chrome wheels.
2X

 

Chrome is always in good fashion.

Our two Jags really belong to my wife … who loves chrome.

Check out her Harley … yes, Jags and a Harley in the same garage!

 

Oh yea,
Jags and Harley's go very nicely together in the garage. I've got two of each in mine.
As for the chrome wheels on the Jag, both of mine came with them and I think they look great but I could really take or leave them. Probably like them better on the XK8.
2X

 

Here's mine. I exchanged my factory wheels for chrome through California Chrome Exchange. Also inflated them with nitrogen as that prevents moisture from building up and damaging the wheels. They seem to fit right in here in Los Angeles and I get a huge amount of compliments. But then, I am in Los Angeles.