Hey all,

I am considering painting or powdercoating my wheels a dark gunmetal type color or perhaps a bronze color, and I've put together a quick little photoshop of the two options. I'm just kind of looking for people's opinions - whether I should just leave it with the factory finish, go to a dark gunmetal type, or go to a bronze finish. In addition to this, I'm not sure what the best way to do this would be - should I powdercoat or should I paint? I'll most likely have a shop do it, and I need to look into this too. If anybody knows of any good places around the Portland area, feel free to let me know.

Part of the reason I am considering doing this is because I get the wheels dirty with brakedust so damn fast, haha. I guess I am lazy, and it gets annoying having to clean the wheels all the time. In addition to this, I like the looks of dark wheels or bronze wheels on a white car, so it's not just because I don't want to clean my own car



If anyone has any input or opinions on the painting/powdercoating methods or the bronze/gunmetal color setups, I'm all ears. Thanks,

-Trevor

 

i would definitely powdercoat it if you are going to paint it at all...powder coating looks really good and quality in my opinion is better. go with the gunmetal between those two colors.

 

Hey man i have the smoked silver on mine original oz but it wont solve the prob i still get them dirty with breaking bowder so i am going for metalic black and ii think it will give it an agressive look as well mine and urs coz we have the light colours on the body and 1 more thing (its verey perssonal opinion) but never go for the golden colour it dosent look nice and its not an evo colour its a subaro all the best man take care

 

do a research on powder coating rims before you go ahead and do it.

i like the gunmetallic silver

 

DO NOT POWDERCOAT IT. I have done a lil research as a chemical engineer. Metal at high heat can change the bonding and structure of the molecules therefore producing uneven surfacing. Your wheels will not be the same strength. Just paint it.

 

Yep, I've heard horror stories from ppl who powercoated their wheels. Your best bet is to paint them.

 

Yeah, I've heard this too. A friend of mine powder coated the wheels on his car like 2-3 years ago though, and he hasn't had any issues. So the wheels will have less strength when powdercoated? Will any other issues arise..? I'm not trying to defend powdercoating wheels or anything, I'm just trying to figure out what would be best to do. Right now I am leaning towards painting the wheels either black or a gunmetal grey type color, I'm not 100% sure yet. I know that the bronze look is somewhat a 'subaru' look, but I will admit I do like the appearance of a white car w/ bronze colored wheels. Not sure if it's for me though.

I appreciate all the info and opinions so far. Keep 'em comin'!

 

Check the Show and shine section, i think there's a few good posts on the topic. There may be one in the how-to's also.

I plan on painting mine black, i hate the dust, and I have a few scuffs to clean up.
I've also heard to avoid powdercoating on wheels

 

Don't powdercoat the stock aluminum rims. The heat of the powdercoating makes the aluminum brittle and may cause the wheels to break under stress. That friend of yours obviously did not own an Evo ... an Evo with stock Advans can put enough stress on a powdercoated wheel to break it. As has been said, do a search for broken wheels. IIRC there's some pics floating around EvoM.

l8r)

 

Yeah I've found several threads regarding the painting / powdercoating of the stockers, and it's pretty obvious that painting is the way to go. Part of my reason for this post was just to see what color people think looks better, and as of now I am thinking of painting them black or doing a dark gunmetal type color. Now I've got myself thinking about if I do black, should I go with a flat black or a shiny / glossy type black.

And I'd be much more comfortable not doing it myself and having a professional paint the wheels, so if anybody knows of any good shops that could do this for a decent price anywhere in the northwest, please chime in! Thanks all for the info and input

 

Well I have mine powder coated for about 3 months now and no problems at all!! Love the finish very strong and have had 0 issues......I am at work so I can't post pics, but if youw ant some I can e-mail you some or post in here just pm me.

 

spray can them up

 

Get them painted by a shop or something. Most people have already talked about the risks in powdercoating. Personally I used a can and sand paper on mine for 26 bucks total. But itd suck if you messed it up. Get a shop to do it or something and go with bronze, darker than that picture.

 

Is there anyway to make the paint glossy?

 

Clearcoat, clearcoat, clearcoat...