Wheel opinions for the IS

[WRXtranceformed]

Wow that sounds sweet.

I'd definitely prefer the powdercoating route, the only thing I'm contending with is whether or not the plastic centercaps would melt in the oven.

I guess I could get the wheels done then find a spraypaint to match them...spraying that plastic wouldn't turn out terrible if I prepped them right and hit them with a clearcoat (like I did on my old WRX headlight housings, minus the clearcoat).

[Evan]

If you pee on my rims I'm going to rub one out on one of your Miatas!

This is, of course, the natural intial reaction to one of my mad tiiiiiite miatas.

[Evan]

From a guy who tried to spray his rims - if you want them black just powder-coat them and do it right the first time. You will save a lot of time and heartache in the long-run.

No way, spray job done right is everybit as durable as an OE finish. If you halfass it with a coat of krylon, well no shit its going to suck. I have a set of wheels I painted that I tracked for 2 years and they still look great.

[WRXtranceformed]

From a guy who tried to spray his rims - if you want them black just powder-coat them and do it right the first time. You will save a lot of time and heartache in the long-run.

No way, spray job done right is everybit as durable as an OE finish. If you halfass it with a coat of krylon, well no shit its going to suck. I have a set of wheels I painted that I tracked for 2 years and they still look great.

I might ask your advice if I decide to go this route then Evan. What kind of prep work did you do on the wheels? I'm guessing you sanded them up a little to get the initial coats to stick?

I was thinking 2-3 coats of color per wheel then 1 coat of clear on top of that after some good prep. I guess the prepping is where my questions come in.

[Evan]

From a guy who tried to spray his rims - if you want them black just powder-coat them and do it right the first time. You will save a lot of time and heartache in the long-run.

No way, spray job done right is everybit as durable as an OE finish. If you halfass it with a coat of krylon, well no shit its going to suck. I have a set of wheels I painted that I tracked for 2 years and they still look great.

I might ask your advice if I decide to go this route then Evan. What kind of prep work did you do on the wheels? I'm guessing you sanded them up a little to get the initial coats to stick?

I was thinking 2-3 coats of color per wheel then 1 coat of clear on top of that after some good prep. I guess the prepping is where my questions come in.

Ive actually been meaning to start a thread on it, Ive painted 6 sets of wheels or so and Ive tried lots of different things to see what works best.
Like any kind of painting the prep work is the most important.
If the wheels are used, they need to be impeccably clean. Use naval jelly or rust remover gel to take any stuck on pad deposits.
Sand using fine sandpaper. Paint should be dulled but not scoured. Aim for a even flat finish. Cant be glass smooth or the paint wont stick though. 600-1000 grit maybe? I dont remember exactly. Get all the crevices and tight areas. This is what is going to dictate the smoothness of your final finish. This is the most time consuming process. On my ATS I took about 5 hours or so doing it.
Clean, dry, and wipe down with acetone
You can spray with primer here and re-sand but I dont think its necessary.
I spray with a light initial color coat, then 2 more medium coats. (Usually 2 cans of spray - maybe more for blingin 17s)
Then I do 2 coats of clear. 3 would be better in fact.

I like the Duplicolor wheel specific paint and clearcoat a lot. Shine is good and its super durable. And it comes in bronze
The ceramic engine paint that I use for gold is more matte and doesnt shine as well.

[WRXtranceformed]

Evan, would you be willing to help me do it if I bought the supplies and dinner / beer? Two working on it would go much faster than one, and it might save me some money. (powdercoating I would guess would be like what, $200-$250 at the cheapest?)

[D_Eclipse9916]

Evan, ive had the same results with painting my rims. I painted my 3000gt rims like 2 years ago, I Drop them ont heir face, dont give a shit about em, dont wash em, and they are great except for scratches, not ONE chip. the scratches are because I let them fall on their face.

[Evan]

Evan, would you be willing to help me do it if I bought the supplies and dinner / beer? Two working on it would go much faster than one, and it might save me some money. (powdercoating I would guess would be like what, $200-$250 at the cheapest?)

absolutely. bring em over and we can bling em out. It better be bronze though or gold. 8)
its not a good idea to paint until it warms up though. If its under 50 degrees the paint beads and doesnt go on very evenly or smoothly. I painted my rollbar when it was 55-60 deg and it looks ok but i wish i waited until 65-70 deg.

[Feersty]

Wheels look good Lee. A black or bronze powercoat would look good on those especially on a white car.

[WRXtranceformed]

absolutely. bring em over and we can bling em out. It better be bronze though or gold. 8)
its not a good idea to paint until it warms up though. If its under 50 degrees the paint beads and doesnt go on very evenly or smoothly. I painted my rollbar when it was 55-60 deg and it looks ok but i wish i waited until 65-70 deg.

Awesome, yeah that should be perfect anyway because I wasn't planning to put them on until spring / summer time. I dunno if the bronze would look good on my white car, but black... BLACK YO!

Thanks Rob ^_^

[Evan]

bronze on white makes women's clothes fall off

[Evan]

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[WRXtranceformed]

I found a pic of what the caliper paint + sticker combo that I like would look like on my car. This is only the front, but the rear looks the same except the caliper is shaped a little differently. It has a round circle that protrudes out in the middle and it will take the Lexus "L" symbol on it perfectly without the words.



I'll probably do this up in the spring when I throw those wheels on.

[Nis01]

Looks good. Looks like they painted the dust shield as well. :thumbup:

[Feersty]

Those will be some nice looking calipers, Lee.

[WRXtranceformed]

Thanks guys. I'm looking into some smoked Lamin-X for the rear tail and brake lights, and will probably spraypaint the inner housings of my headlights black when I take them apart for the angel eyes. I'm kind of going for that black on white look ^_^

[Nis01]

Panda style. :lol:

[WRXtranceformed]

Oh wow, I found some much better pics of what they'll look like when they're mounted.




Here's a set that's been chromed.


Here's the thread with some more pics. I can't wait!! Definitely want to paint them black though, I think it would look so much better in black or chrome.
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[CaptainHenreh]

Regarding the final picture (chrome):

Wow.

[Nis01]

Pretty awesome Lee. Hurry up and get those on the car.