Painted wheels - opinion
 

My wheels need refinishing after 4 years of abuse, so I'm debating painting/powder coating them. Also looking for recommendations of where to take them to get them refinished.

They are polished right now, thinking of going black with red lips.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...ay_wheels2.jpg

This depends on what wheels do you have? do you have the same car and same wheels as in the picture?

What happened to your polished wheels? how is it abused?

I will recommend powder coating. it is just much more durable than paint is.

I polished up my polished aluminum wheels that has been eaten up by race pad dust. It polished right up after about 3 hours. looks new again. :)

There's only 3 in town apparently. Green's, Panther's and Nu Brite
Depending on size it can be pretty expensive, I wanted to get my 18's refinished and painted, Nu brite quoted me $700


And the black with red lip looks horrible on that car, just my .02

That's my car, the wheels have been photoshopped.

These are cheap replica wheels, and the clear coat has failed. I'd have to strip the clear coat to re-polish them, then have them recleared. I figured I could strip them myself, sand/polish to a good finish, then have a shop powercoat them.

I want to change up the look of the car.

Painting and powder coating are different; if you want the lips painted differently expect to shell out. Powder coating is (usually) cheaper.

I understand this.

I'm thinking of powercoating the wheels black (entire wheel, including lip) then having the lip painted.

That will more than likely be more expensive in the long run. It'll most likely be cheaper and have a more consistent look if you paint it.

Best bet? Call around to the three places and ask. The others are right, there are really only those three.

I know, yet the roads here really suck (and this is coming from someone that just moved here from Ontario). I cannot believe how dirty the roads are.

Powdercoating holds up better, and now that I have a condo without parking space, I don't have time/resources to take care of painted wheels.

Simple, buy a set of beater wheels for winter

Have them.

4 years of road abuse has still chipped/scratched the finish on my wheels. My car isn't a garage/show queen - my front bumper looks like someone took sandpaper to it!

powdercoating is super rough texture... doesnt look good and if u plan to paint on top of that afterwards it would really look like crap

refinish + custom paint (red/black) + amounting = $

you can pretty much buy a new set, not really worth it

that color combo is sick !!
definately do it black with red lip !
don't follow what others did, that's a unique combo !

^I don't think it'll amount up to a new set of Brabus 20" ers.....

for the OP that lip looks anodized instead of painted.... Have you looked into that yet?

This is a powder coated bracket, you be the judge. I'd be more than happy with this.
http://www.dragstuff.com/techarticle...c-135xmod2.jpg

I'm going to strip them and polish them myself, so its just paint or powder coat.

A new set is ~$1000, so anything less than that is a deal. Plus no-one will have a colour combo like that.

Its a photoshop, my friend just coloured the wheels. I guess he could use an effect and get more of a painted look.

They are replica Brabus 19s, real Brabus 19s are $1200/each! No way, not with our dirty/pothole roads.

why dont you just get your wheels replaced and sell the ones you have right now for cheap?

1. you get new wheels
2. you don't need to shell out 700 (should be more for 19s, they quoted me $200+ a wheel, my wheels are only 200USD each LOL, cant afford volks) when new only cost ~1200

Cause these wheels were cheap replicas, and the clear coat sucks on them. I don't want to buy cheap wheels again that will look terrible within a year or 2.

If I powercoat these, they'll look like new and the finish will be much more durable.

If I went looking it would be for more expensive used wheels, like $2-3K, and I'm trying avoid that trap :D I've dumped too much money into this POS already.

It sounds like you've basically made up your mind on what you want to do. The best thing to do is call or visit the shops and ask for advice based on cost and practicality.

Also remember that unless you have a set of spare wheels, they'll be keeping your car while you get your wheels refinished.

Quite the opposite! I've made up my mind on what I don't want to do: ie no more cheap replica wheels with clear coat that will fail, no spending more than $1000.

Now I just need to decide what to do... might powdercoat them Vodafone orange/red!

you got your logic crooked. What you need is a set of replica wheels fresh from Taiwan, and paint them professionally for a lasting paint job.

And this is a taste/opinion thing. Colours. It seemed to me your initial question was "Paint or powdercoat?"

Like I said, call the shops, find out what is best for you, and then go with that. Better than that, go in and see what those finishes and coats look like, whta your options are, and how much it'll cost.

Ding ding!

I wish I could get wheels with good paint/powdercoat without having to buy expensive 3-piece wheels.