I know the pics aren't the greatest, but you get the idea. So, keep them, or paint them back to a more silver type color?

The new color is Duplicolor graphite wheel paint - same as ZeroBanger on his car.

So, have at it - all opinions welcome...

 

before




after

 

Keep the silver.

 

 

I'm not sure why the link died, but here it is again.

before


after

 

i think they look good. i'm considering the same color on my car (it's white). did you follow zerobanger's directions? my only concern is that it won't hold-up when i mount tires.

 

yeah, i followed it for the most part. Here is what I did:

1. remove the tires and wash them.
2. I used 240 grit sandpaper. I didn't go crazy. mainly smoothed out the paint chips and roughed it up.
3. rinsed with water and dried.
4. I used duct tape to cover the tires. I found it fits in between the lip and tire nicely, and then a second row covered up the outer part of the tire.
5. I did 3 coats of paint.
6. 3 coats of primer

The duplicolor stuff dries pretty quick. I was waiting about 30 minutes between coats. I bought 2 cans of paint and 2 cans of primer. One can will do all 3 coats - but I wanted to have the extra just in case, and for down the road if I need to do touch up.

As far as durability, I guess we'll see. I think zerobanger has a thread where he showed 8 months later and it was holding up nicely.

 

are the wheels painted from the factory or are they just the as-cast finish?

 

they're painted

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think so. I just went and lightly sanded on one of mine and it looks like no paint, just the cast aluminum.

 

They are painted for sure. I know this bec. some brake cleaner dripped onto one of my wheels recently and ate away the paint.

Also, I just recently refinished all of my wheels with Wurth Metalic Silver paint. It's the same paint used on all Euro car wheels Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Volvo etc.. The paint itself is about $17 a can and dries almost instantly with a very durable finish. Hit that with several clear coats and you are as good as new !

They came out nearly identical to the stock finish and I didn't even remove my tires. Just taped them off with blue tape and lightly sanded the rims.

 

Speaking of ZeroBanger, has anyone ever seen him post a picture of his car? Rumor has it that he's got a complete basket case that may or may not be multiple colors...

 

 

Why am I not surprised that he's an AOL member...

 

I'm an AOL member too. I don't get it

 

I think the silver wheels look a lot better on a silver car. If your car was montego blue or black I think I would like it.

 

You know it!!

Anyways, on topic... your rims look great!!

 

AOL is the ISP of the internet clueless. It's funny you say you, "don't get it", because it confirms that point.

 

Actually, i wouldn't classify myself as "internet clueless" by any means. The only reason i use AOL is because i don't have to pay for it. My parents have an account and i just created a screename off of that account, hence why it is free. So free = clueless? Sounds pretty smart to me...

 

The gunmetal look probably looks the best on Silver cars.

I don't like black wheels at all.

 

I like it ... big improvement in looks...

 

Not bad...

 

So you used 1 can per wheel or one can for all 4?
Do you know where to get bronze wheel paint? Does duplicolor make it? Anyone have pictures of bronze stock wheels?

BTW looks great.

 

Well I guess I can chime in here. Just a few points.

1) i'm not an AOL Member, I have my own web server. But thanks for asking

2) I use AOL IM, is that ok?

3) its been 2 years now since I painted my wheels. I have 2 chips in one wheel. No chips in any other wheel. They held up very well from daily driving. Its also very easy to run steel wool over the chip and repaint if you do get a chip...but again its pretty tough to chip.

4) my car is not a basket case, but yes, I am.

 

an air gun will scrape the paint off, you need to be careful. But even powercoating would do that too.