Mad prof,
My advice is not to jump in the deep end. Start out simple and small. The most important thing is cleaning and prep of the part. It's hard to realize this until you try it for yourself. I was getting disappointing results until I realized that prep and cleaning is the whole game.
Also, get good at doing small to medium size parts and stay away from pot metal (like car door handles) initially.
Focus on getting a process that works. Study the Caswell manual, then try some things. Read some more, try some more. Use the Internet to fill in the missing pieces. Caswell's tech support can help when you get stuck.
Ultimately, once you get started, be careful not to dump chemicals down the drain. You (and your neighbors) will eventually end up drinking what goes into that water. Nasty stuff.
If all you ever plan on doing is chroming one set of wheels, you might be better off just paying someone to do that for you. For one project it might cost you more to get started and learn than to have it done. Also realize that you will need gigantic tanks to plate wheels. If you never use the tanks after that, you have a huge disposal problem.
Ken