I'm lucky, my 04 has the aluminum rims, not the chrome clad. And yes, the plastic covers are the whole basis behind the chrome clad. Thay are aluminum rims with a chrome plated plastic shell.

 

I have the chrome clads on my '02 that came off my dad's '04. I think the key to keeping them bright is to keep them clean before they start to get dull. When my dad had them he kept the very clean and I clean them at least a couple times a week (I used to clean them every other day.) I only use the soap I wash the whole truck with and they really look good. I also remove any conditioner I use for the tires right away if some gets on the wheel.

 

Washing/cleaningwill not make the wheels brighter, othen than remove loose dirt (it would work on chrome clad though). On the polished alum (non-clad) rims your only option to make them brighter is use a fine polish and a lotof time! Do a small area first to make sure your polish is not to abrasive and make bad scratches. Also note, they will NEVER be as bright as the chrome clad wheels.

The difference between a Dodge polished wheel and a chrome finish below and in the first ppic I had spent a long time to get them to look that good and they only had 10K on them.



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