The mindset of the chroming process differs between Japan and other countries. U.S. specialty chrome wheel manufacturers tend to like their chrome to be thick while Japanese wheel companies tend to prefer their chrome to be thin. A clean, thin chrome look is much more difficult to achieve. Thicker chroming can hide imperfections of the raw wheel surface while thin chrome cannot. Thinner chroming can only appear successful on a very high quality wheel. Usually, Low Pressure cast wheels use a thick chrome to hide these imperfections while Gravity cast wheels can still appear flawless using thinner chrome.
In JWL/VIA standards testing, chrome wheels are treated differently from wheels with any other finish. When a specific non-chrome wheel undergoes JWL testing, that exact same wheel in a chrome finish must undergo and pass a stricter version of testing. Chrome is considered harder than aluminum, thus when chrome cracks it affects aluminum adversely. Aside from the weight factor, this is the reason Enkei and a handful of other reputable wheel makers use thin chrome. It has less adverse affects than thick chrome if cracking occurs.
Many times, chrome wheels utilize a plastic center cap, but AME actually uses a forged, chrome center cap, something that is not very often seen, to show off the quality of the wheel. A chrome, forged center cap tends to shine brilliantly and AME likes to show that there is relatively no difference in brilliance between its chrome, forged center cap and the chrome face of the wheel.
The term “3D” is simply used to express that the thin chrome quality can be seen from many dimensions of the wheel. Have you ever noticed creases within the crevices of certain chrome wheels? It’s very difficult to chrome non-flat surfaces if the wheel surface is not smooth. For AME branded chrome wheels, the process begins with a machine buffing. Then, the crevices are meticulously hand buffed. After the hand buffing process is complete, a base chemical treatment is used on the surface for the copper to stick. Finally, the dipping process is executed. Many times, the barrel of a chrome wheel will have undesirable clamp marks from the chrome dipping process. Enkei wheels are clamped on the inside of the center bore as to not produce any blemishes on the barrel of the wheel. Yes, the reflection is intentional.