I have the stock 03-05 enkeis and i wanna repaint them. The owner before me had painted them black and did kind of a crappy job with runs and the paint is already flaking off. Ive been reading a lot of threads about which is better, plastidip or paint. Im just trying to find the differences between the two really and then whats gonna be the easiest way to strip the old paint off the wheels. I was thinking aircraft remover but im not sure how well it will work on the wheels. And would i be able to use aircraft while the tires are still on the wheels? Just need some help and im new to this kinda stuff

 

Imo, plasty dip is tacky. Just repaint it. Only Pros for plasty dip is you can peel it off if you f**ck up.

 

Yeah thats why i was honestly thinking plastidip, kuz ive never really painted before ao i just dont wanna mess up the paint. I just want it to look clean without really breakingg the bank and getting them powder coated. Do you have any recomsndations on removing the previous paint?

 

Remove tires. Sand blast. Use your mamas oven and learn how to powder coat lol

 

The stock wheels are easy to take off the plasti dip. Do it for fun, but it won't be as nice as a powder coated set.

With that said, anyone reading this don't be like me and plasti dip a 2 or 3 piece wheel. It's a pain to get all of it off!!! Peels off nicely on the flat parts, but where the bolts are and tight spaces it's stuck in there.

 

I plasti-dipped my stock BBS for winter. Best $40 ever spent. You can mess with the color. You don't like it...pull it off and do it again. Change colors, do whatever. If it is something you only want to do once...and dead set on black..and want it for life of car.....then save the money and do powder coating. Just my .02 cents.

 

Well thats the thing, my wheels are already black and kinda crappy and they are chipping. So i was thinking whote, and i kinda just wanna see how it looks first before i would commit to spending the money to have them powder coated

 

Sand them down and paint them. Easiest way to learn is just go do it. Just remember to do different steps while sanding. You can use aircraft stripper and it won't hurt the tires, but PROTECT yourself, mask gloves and well ventilated area. Personally I prefer to sand them. Choose your paint and then clear them after you have painted them. Do not get them wet for at least 24 hours after the final coat.

If you don't want to do this yourself contact one of these guys;

http://www.awrswheelrepair.com/locator.html#Kansas

I used to work for this company in Atlanta and the prices are reasonable. I can't speak for these guys directly on price but the quality should be good.

 

As someone who recently inherited a set of Enkeis that were spray painted twice, I can tell you air craft remover will eat through the original finish, and inconsistently. Anticipate having the wheels bead blasted if you start with the air craft remover unless you aren't terribly picky about appearance. I wish people wouldn't get spray paint happy. It really ruins shiat long term.
Someone here bought a few of them, they'll probably corroborate.