We have a Japanese car that recently developed a slow leak in the right rear tire. One tire shop told us that we needed new tires on the back, but the justification sounded weak so I drove it for a while longer until I got fed up with pumping air into the tire every weekend.
When I took the tires to another shop, the technician pointed out chrome that was coming off the bead seat of the rim. These are factory stock rims on a six-year-old luxury sedan, so I didn't expect these kind of problems.
Some might contend that this could have been mechanical damage during a tire replacement, or residual issues after someone tried to seal the tire against the flaking rim (only causing more damage later); regardless of the cause, I'm loosing my desire to continue using chrome rims.
That said, are there disadvantages of going with aluminum alloy rims? I hope to pull some off a similar model from a junkyard if possible, but I want to be sure I'm not getting a different kind of problem going this route.