putting together my order.... I know I want my wheels black, but I also know I dont want to pay Porsche the absurd amount of $1600 to do it.... so Ive been planning on taking the stock colored wheels and have them powder coated to my specs.

however, one thought that Ive had is about the center caps. those will obviously be black as well when you order the option from the factory. I would assume that the center caps are going to be a little bit different than the traditional caps because the wheels are center locking.

heres the situation... Im afraid that if I plan on doing the painting (powder coating) on my own, Ill be stuck with the stock color center caps with no way of making them black. (assuming they are plastic). And I also assume there will be no easy or cheap way to get them in black from porsche.

did I make any sense??

Also, Ive seen a few 911's with black wheels, but only the center (hub) area of the wheel is black. The lip and barrel are just clearcoat over metal. Is this the way it would come with the "wheels painted black" option?

thanks!

 

Wow, you are ordering a $100K+ car and want to save a few hundred dollars painting the wheels. I am sure that by the time you get everything done to your liking you will be close in $.

I would order what you want and work the dealer for a better deal. It is a buyers market.

BTW I am envious that you are buying a new GT3.

 

I have been a victim of Porsche's ridiculous option pricing in the past! My turbo priced out at almost 150k for all of the nickel and dime add ons.... just trying to play it smart this time

Just trying to get the most value out of it. I figure I can have all 4 wheels powder coated for less than half of what they are asking.

 

I have oem black wheels and center caps.
Trust me, let Porsche do it from factory. It's worth it.

 

From your pic, it looks like the lip is still silver. Is this the case for all that are ordered with this option? I have seen a few with the lip in silver and a few with the entire wheel painted black.

thanks!

 

Those are my Techart wheels.
But my oem wheels also have the polished lip look.
I'm sure you can have it done either way.
It'll cost you as much in the end with the center caps and it won't look as good as when Porsche does them. My opinion.

 

I too am considering factory black wheels on my GT3.2 order.

I hear what you are saying and completly understand the logic of not getting ripped off by the factory price BUT... If Im not mistaken powder coating will give a matt finish, whereas the factory wheels are high gloss black. I just dont think matt black will look anything like as nice as high gloss.

Also on the new GT3 wheels due to the design its effectively only the spokes that get painted as the outer rim is left silver. This gives a very striking effect and Im sure a third party trying to get the same effect wont get the finish to be quite the same quality as the factory can. As pointed out earlier these cars arnt cheap anyway so why scrimp and scrape to save a few hundred dollars when the real mccoy will in all likelyhood look so much better.

To the best of my knowledge the centre caps are silver anyway with factory black wheels. With GT3 logos (on silver) if you get titanium wheels, or with porsche crests (on silver) if you get black or silver wheels. Checkout the online configurator!

Ive decided that Im either going to stick with the titanium wheels if I think they look dark enough when i finally get to see them for real (cant decide from the various pics so far) or get factory black wheels. I wont be cutting corners with aftermarket mods.

 

Like Avi8tir I thought it was a total rip off. So I took mine like they came from the factory and took it to my local body shop and for $400 they did the rims, centercaps and even added a pinstripe when I thought the wheel was to much black. No ones knows the differance but me and my bank account.

My 2 cents.

 

When I got my GT3 this was a car already ordered by the dealer and came with silver wheels, I got the whe wheels powdercoated to a glossy black finish, that cost me $500.00 the initial result was excellent!!, I also ordered a set of beautiful black center caps with red "GT3" legend from Bumperplugs (another $100, they are vendors at this forum), but I'm sorry to inform that after a year and especially after 10+ track days the finish has lost some of the nice gloss, I believe the combination of high temperatures (track braking) and brake dust has damaged the finish, I want to point out that I always keep the wheels clean even waxed them from time to time, I believe the factory finished will resist and last much better to this conditions. If I were in the position to order a car at this moment I will spend the extra money and get them from the factory, I had no other choice at the moment.

 

You can't beat the factory finish and I bet it's part of warranty if the finish doesn't stand up to abuse.

 

I don't disagree that Porsche charges a lot for the options, but they are just that options. I just think that by the time you get the wheels done (especially the centre looking wheels) it is going to save a few hundred dollars. To do this you need to get your car to the paint shop for a few days, screw around with getting everything just right at the paint shop, go back if there is a problem. If you get it from the factory, it is an arrive and drive!

 

If it was up to me, I would let the factory do it. Also, the centerlock OEM wheels look a tad more involved to paint/powdercoat. I certainly wouldn't want to be the first guy having a powerdercoat shop trying it out on the new wheel design. My $0.02.

 

on these new "fancy" wheels -- factory

 

What color GT3 are you ordering?

 

don't forget about remounting & balancing...another
couple of hundred bucks.

I went through this when I bought my used RS
in April. Just have them done with the order.