Well I recently purchased a set of Work VSXX wheels off of a fellow 6speedster. They have a silver mesh face and I wanted to paint the face gold or bronze to add a little contrast to my triple black 996TT- keeping the lip machine polished.

I like to do as many things as I can myself and have good mechanical skills and tools.

Should I take the wheels to a paint shop or try and paint them myself? I was thinking maybe buy some high temperature brake/ engine block paint and clear coat....

Thoughts?

Thanks

Sameer

 

dunno if there are nuts/bolts on the rim but these are pretty difficult to tape off. if the plan is to seperate the pieces, make sure the gaskets are reuseable, some aren't. being the rim remains polished, there's a stronger case for DIY, as long as you've got the skills/patience to properly prepp and coat properly. regardless, can't beat a proper powder coat and bake, which is less likely to chip.

couple cans of paint are cheap, if it's worth your time why not try, can always get the paintshop to take over if doesn't work out.

 

Paint Shop will run you about $900+ for the set. DIY about $50 in supplies. Spray Can paint is OK for normal use, but don't expect the "as new" look. Hi temp paint gives you only limited colors and is not really necessary. For masking off exact lines, buy Blue Tape in a professional automotive paint supply store. They will also give you tips for best prepping processes. You can look one up by asking some local Body Shops, where they buy their supplies. Enjoy the project.

 

What about powdercoating? We poadercoat in m plant. Is there anything special about powdercoating wheels?

 

I've paid $750 for painting centers, cleaning up road rash and polishing barrels on a set of 19" Champion RG5s.

 

Painted wheels chip easily, even if they are clearcoated. Powdercoating is much more durable. HOWEVER, if you have 3 piece wheel that needs to be taken apart, heed all warnings from the manufacturer. There are plenty of threads here on cracked wheels from guys who had their wheels powdercoated by "XYZ" company and they baked them too hot, too long, etc... Do a search here...

 

I had my Iforged wheels powdercoated for $190. All black everything.

 

Powdercoat is the way to go. Better finish than paint IMHO.

 

I've painted wheels in the past, but only track wheels. Def powdercoat for street looks and durability.

 

I think you may tackle the paint work yourself no problem.

When you dissasemble your wheels remember to mark your mounting points, in other words that your center is equally positioned to the rims as they came from the factory and torque to factory specs.

Let us know this project goes, good luck.

BTW I'm lazy and sent the oems to paint shop

and got the hre's painted already

 

i powdercoated my 3 peice iforged essen wheels. Gloss black lips, satin black inner barrels and graphite black face. Left all the little bolts that run around the parimeter chrome the center cap chrome and got some chrome lug bolts. Best $300 bucks I ever spend. Just becareful when you cut apart the wheels that you use lots of silicone between the barrels halves and locite on the bolts. But its super easy and super durable. Tire shine doesn't even ruin the gloss black but it does stain my driveway go figure. Go powdercoat, heres a link to rebuilting 3 peice wheels the videos really helped me.
http://www.ccwheel.com/files/technical.php

 

I have both polished and painted wheels, as a DIY. I used a HVLP gun and cleared the rims after.

They looked great for about two weeks. Powdercoat = the way to go.

Polishing on the other hand, is a DIY for sure.

Tom

 

When powder coating, do you coat the entire wheel or just the face?

 

Can you powder coat in any color?

When I had to do mine they said they could only powder coat in one white color whereas if I went with painted they could do an exact match (Carrera white). The powder coast white was too bright for my taste and the center caps wouldn't match.

It's been three months and they still look great - paint and clear powder coat I believe.