What's up Dakota forum, I recently picked up some '07 OEM chrome clad 18" wheels for my '06 Dakota R/T not realizing that a plastic hubcap was glued to an alloy rim and my question is has anybody ever removed this plastic cladding? If so what was found underneath and how do these wheels compare to the other two OEM 18" wheels versions (painted black with machined edge) and (painted silver). Are they plastic clad too? I really wanted the Painted black with machined edge thinking this would updated the look of my truck to current trends. I could not find a set that would ship to Canada

 

Removing the cladding basically destroys the wheel.

 

This is how factory wheels came, quite often Laramie trucks came with these wheels as they didn't tarnish or dull like the plain alloy wheels would. I think it was called bright wheel package or something on the build sheet. I don't remember exactly.

 

Do you know exactly how this would destroy the wheel, like structurally or appearance? Could they not then be machined and buffed?

 

does anyone have these 18" OEM wheels "painted black with Machined edge?"

 

I've never seen the black wheels like that in real life, only in pictures. Best as I can tell from the brochures, the wheels like your top picture were only offered as an optional package for the Sport trims of 2007 and 2008 Dakotas. So, if you can find them, they'll probably be pretty expensive.

2011 brought back the idea of a black wheel with a outer chrome ring but the spokes were different and it was sold as an accessory, not even a factory package option. Never seen one of those, either.

 

Here are a few examples of Dodge Ram wheels with the chrome cladding removed, Dakota wheels will be very similar. Basically there are areas that make room for the chrome cladding which look weird with the cladding missing. There is some crazy glue holding the part on also, and can be tough to remove. But if you can get past the look, I guess the wheels could be sand blasted and powder coated so they are at least functional.