Cool Wheel Mod Options

[KarlT10]

Have to wonder how these home-brew paint jobs will look after just one run through a tire-mounting machine....

[Angel120]

Have to wonder how these home-brew paint jobs will look after just one run through a tire-mounting machine....

I'm sure it depends on how long you let the paint cure, the quality of the paint, how many clear coats, and how well you sanded.

Powdercoating is probably like $200, and a can of paint is what, $20? IF that much. I'd rather save the $180 lol.

[KarlT10]

I'm sure it depends on how long you let the paint cure, the quality of the paint, how many clear coats, and how well you sanded.

Powdercoating is probably like $200, and a can of paint is what, $20? IF that much. I'd rather save the $180 lol.

No thanks. Do it right. Do it once.

[MrTea]

in all honestly, i was expecting some good chips when getting the tires put on. suprisingly, there was not a single issue on any of the 3 wheels that looked good to start. the only bad wheel was the one that my gf ran into the day i was paining them.

i'll get some shots in the next week of my wheels. about 800 miles on the steet, and roughly 50 laps around Laguna Seca.

again, i didn't use much clear to protect anything either, so we'll see.

[6GT]

Have to wonder how these home-brew paint jobs will look after just one run through a tire-mounting machine....

I change from Nitto 555 to Hankook Ventus Hr2 to Perilli Winter 210 and the paint still look the same. Tire shop now a days are doing it carefully because they are tired of being sued for scratching rims or chipping rims.

[Bocksie]

I would feel sorry for the poor sonbitch who messes up doing this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/1.gif)

[sport6]

i did this on my stock 17s so i could live with them for the time being.
I used the Duplicolor wheel paint that was the gunmetal color.
I first washed the rims then wet sanded them.
Then the girl that had the girl before me must have used the rims to find the curb often and so i filled it with body filler and sanded it down.
then I put 3 coats on each wheel. 2 cans of the duplicolor.

The only thing i am worried about is when i have to buy new tires (soon), the tire machine will no doubt take off the body filler. But thats not a probably because of how easy this was.
I wish i had pics off had but i am at work. (and have my snow tires on so will have to go out to the barn to do it)

[Angel120]

i did this on my stock 17s so i could live with them for the time being.
I used the Duplicolor wheel paint that was the gunmetal color.
I first washed the rims then wet sanded them.
Then the girl that had the girl before me must have used the rims to find the curb often and so i filled it with body filler and sanded it down.
then I put 3 coats on each wheel. 2 cans of the duplicolor.

The only thing i am worried about is when i have to buy new tires (soon), the tire machine will no doubt take off the body filler. But thats not a probably because of how easy this was.
I wish i had pics off had but i am at work. (and have my snow tires on so will have to go out to the barn to do it)

Post pics whenever you get the chance! I want to see the stock 17's in gunmetal. Does it have a flake finish?

[drew6]

Here is a photo-chop of the stock wheels done with the redstripe. I think it looks good. What does everyone else think?

I fixed the curb rash to my rims before, and when I had new tires put on this past spring, it knocked off a few of my touch-ups. So I could fix those spots, and have new "looking" rims!

I wish it wasn't so cold out, I think I'll have to wait until this spring to do this.

Attached File(s)

 My6_June28_Rimstripes.jpg ( 210.98K ) Number of downloads: 105

 

[Angel120]

Here is a photo-chop of the stock wheels done with the redstripe.

Looks really good.... Damn, now I wanna do this lol.

[drew6]

Looks really good.... Damn, now I wanna do this lol.

I know, me too. I think your idea for gunmetal would look good on your white car. But I want something with a little more contrast to the gray of my car, and the red. So I'd probably go with gloss black.

It would be cheap, just pay for supplies and a full day of work. I would use those "rim stripes" for the red lip. That would make the whole process easier, painting the wheel only one color. Plus you could take them off, or change them if you wanted to.

[07silver6]

ive done this 2 my 6 also i just sanded them with a scotchbrite and wiped them down with paint thinner and used vht black caliper paint. they look good as far as im concerned. i on the otherhand would not use the duplicolor wheel paint it does look good but they chip after a while. i had a 04 silver saturn ion redline and i painted them black in the spring and by winter they looked like shit. but its all up to you i recomend the vht caliper paint.

[06mazdasports]

before you guys all start painting your rims, here are a few things I gained from when I did it myself:

1) The finished product takes A LOT of work.

2) painting with masking your tires is only going to get the face of the rim and chances of exposing some "old paint" is pretty high.

3) the rim must be baked for the paint to have any kind of stability. AKA if a stone hits the wheel it will chip the paint in a heartbeat.

4) The center caps are made of plastic, and over time the materials in plastic vs metal(the wheel) will have a color gap

5) the paint can fade quite easily

6) when you take your car to the tire shop, the careless auto shop workers will just throw the lugs in the holes and if they hit your rim(likely) it will scratch the paint. Any tire shop place with an alignment machine clamping onto your rim will leave abrasion because of the weak paint.

All of the above factors affect the look of the rim greatly, and the primary reason many people paint the rim is for looks anyway. Those reasons above are why I think its worth it to spend on aftermarket wheels.

Save your money!!

How many of you think those "red" calipers look cool and look like those porsche calipers? 3 months later they become a faint orange and they look like garbage. Tellin ya, its worth it not to do it.

[Revenant]

My stock rims on the 3 have been painted for almost a year now. No problems whatsoever, but we've been looking at changing it up a little bit. Might have to try something like this

[sport6]

had to pull out some pictures from the summer since i have the winter wheels on now.
but here is it

steel grey with the graphite color (or do they call it gunmetal?) from duplicolor. I didnt want to paint the center cap so they stand out a little bit.

(IMG:http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2009/2109371233_3bca0b296c_o.jpg)
(IMG:http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2060/2109371467_3ddfc1073a_o.jpg)

sorry i dont have a closer shot but they are in winter storage...

[USAF 6S]

And.............duplicolor........... How long have you had them painted? How many Coats?
They look good from a far.

[sport6]

i have had them painted since probably late april. 3 coats of the duplicolor wheel paint on each, 2 clear.

[Angel120]

Can you take a close up pic?

[6GT]

i have had them painted since probably late april. 3 coats of the duplicolor wheel paint on each, 2 clear.

I was going to do that but I decided to go black since it would stand out more. My stock rims with brake dust already look gunmetal-ish already.

[Marko343]

Wish I saw this like 2 months ago before I put my stocks back on for winter lol. I definetly would have done the same... maybe w/o the red stripe but something similar.