I tried to find the name of the co that did the hexevalent but could not find it..though they may have a new name.. From google it appears hexavalent has all but been banned in CA. I have the co's name at home somewhere. Yes you have to cut out the center and after chroming have it welded back together.
I had mine lathed out by a competant shop and then had the steel on the spokes built up by weld and then machined back down for a tight fit but not too tight-slightly snug. make sure you have the chroming co cover the steel tabs or the two pieces will never go back together and they can't make the chrome on the rim to thick. on one wheel I had to grind down the chrome on the backside of the steel rim to make it fit but you would never see this once on the car.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: TheNovaMan</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: whitetop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I would suspect Cragar is having their chrome done offshore and the wheels are welded together in the US.</div></div> In 2006, Cragar started casting their aluminum centers and wheels "offshore" but welding the centers into the rims in the USA. However, they are now switching back to all made in USA (if the scuttlebutt I've heard is correct).
I called Stockton Wheel Service (Stockton, CA) in early 2010 about re-chroming a pair of Cragars, and IIRC they were still using the hexavalent chroming process at that time. That was almost 5 years ago, so they may have switched to trivalent by now.
When you re-chrome a Cragar, do you have to cut the center out of the rim shell before chroming? </div></div>