I want to replace the wheels on my 04MCS with easier to clean white wheels. I like the Gram Lights 57maximums, but they are way more expensive than I am willing to pay.

I thought I'd get something less expensive (and heavier, I realize) and have it powdercoated. Only problem is, I have no idea where to do that, or what to look for in a potential service provider.

I live in DC and soon will work in Rockville. Any suggestions on where to take my soon to be selected wheels?

Phil

 

ASCO in Manassas (www.ascoweb.com). Be prepared for $115/wheel after you've removed any tires. It almost makes buying new ones palatable, especially if you need to remount tires.

 

Whoa! I did some general reading in the wheel and tire forum, and got the impression it should cost $25/50 wheel. I'd read about ASCO here on the DC Metro Mini forum before, but thought the $115 price was that high because the wheels in question were beat up and needed rehabbing before being powdercoated.

I just called ASCO, where they certainly seem to know their stuff, and I learned that even brand new wheels can pose a variety of problems for powdercoating. I am glad i learned that before pulling the trigger on some wheels I've found. A cost of $115 per wheel for powdercoating makes the already-white Gram Lights a lot more palatable, but they still run more than $270 per wheel.

Thr guy at ASCO suggested as an alternative a place in Manassas Park called Mr Spoiler that paints wheels.

I stopped in the middle of typing this reply to follow the MU link in your sig. Wow, that is one hellacious ride. I see that wheels are among your many obsessions on that car. How is the DIY paint job holding up on your wheels? Its a great look on a gray car.

 

also - factor in what you'll get for your stock wheels when you sell them. $270/wheel times 4 = $1080. if you have SLites, maybe $300/set. So, $1080 - $300 - $460 for powdercoating = $320 more to get GramLights vs. refinishing. Not so bad eh? That's how I justify too many wheels in my head...

so far, so good on my satin black set! here are the R91's I just painted for their new owner.

 

I can't find the thread right now, but there was some information saying that powdercoating was very bad for certain types of alloy and it had to do with the high temperatures required to cure the coating that would change the tensile strength of the wheels. Better check up before you pull the trigger.

 

Let me add 2 little words.......BRAKE DUST. NJP

 

100% right, but that's for forged wheels, which are heat-treated. cast wheels, it's ok to powdercoat. the issue is the melting temp of the powder is very close to the point at which you undo the heat treatment of the forged wheel. If the shop doing the work doesn't have a good handle on the real temp, it could be bad. The exception is IR cured powdercoating which doesn't use heat.

 

The white wheels on my 04 MCS have 125,000 miles on them. Trust me, I know from brake dust. I want white wheels, but I want them to be easy to clean as well.

If and when I order a Clubman, I probably won't get the white roof and mirrors again. So long as I have both, however, I really feel the obsessive need to have white wheels as well.

 

My wheels have 125,000 miles on them, and I cannot imagine they have much resale value at all. My thought was to mount snow tires on them.

The more I look at your wheel painting exploits, the more I think that may be the way for me to go. I am still going to look at new wheels because mine (I think they are called X-Lights) are just too hard to clean. My hands are too big to get into some of the spaces. Further, I will probably have them painted professionally rather than do it myself, unless that turns out to run $115 per wheel as well!

 

A weird aside. I just tried to follow up on ASCO's painter suggestion by Googling "Mr Spoiler Manassas Park."

The fifth hit from that search was the note I wrote here earlier this afternoon. I've never stumbled onto my own writing via Google before.

 

$150/per at wheel shops. a paintshop might do better for you

 

I will try contacting Mr Spoiler tomorrow.

If that doesn't work out, maybe I can have my roof and mirrors painted the color of brake dust....

 

Then there are these R91's....




I only paid $75 a wheel for powder coating... I think $115 would have scared me away. A quick google search brought up several powder coaters in the MD 'burbs. Maybe another company wants to be competitive.

Good luck... as you can see, I wholly endorse custom wheels!

 

I see you got the Wet Okeles as well. Nice. My BRG seems a lot more limiting when it comes to custom touches like that. I'm not sure how far off my next Mini may be, but I am definitely going to consider not only how much I like the color (BRG is beautiful), but how well it plays nice with others when it comes time to customize.

Google Maps turned up a whole passel of powder coaters. With luck, this will be a short work day and I can make some calls.

 

Check out Ye Ole Wheel. I heard tons of good words about them.

 

If it's cleaner wheels you're really after, consider staying with what you've got and swtiching to Hawk ceramic pads. They produce drastically less dust. The dust is also a very light grey color and doesn't show as quickly. With stock pads I wanted to clean the wheels every few days. (Light grey/ silver wheels). With the Hawks I can go a few weeks and you have to look at them really closely to see theres a layer of brake dust on them.

That said I did buy the K1 wheels partly because they are so easy to clean. Very open and no little nooks or crevices.

 

What I've got seems to be past the point of being really cleanable anymore. In 125,000 miles I've amassed a bit of curb rash as well. This car is parked on the streets of DC and almost never garaged. It looks awful good for what it is, but what it is is a truly used car. The wheels (R-84 X-Lites, aka Vspokes) have sections that are just too small for my big clumsy hands to clean.

I switched to GreenStuff pads at the first opportunity. They are better than stock, but definitely not a cure for the brake dust problem.

I made some calls today, and learned that whether I am having my current wheels recoated, or I start with new wheels, the cost of powdercoating will be pretty much the same. One person told me that almost every wheel sold in the past ten years has some sort of powdercoat. If you want to change the color of the wheel, you have to start by removing the existing coat. That is never easy and never cheap. As a result, I've been getting prices anywhere from $80 to as much as $300 per wheel.

One of the places I called suggested Ye Ole Wheel as a painting alternative, just as ASCO in Manassas suggested Mr Spoiler to do the same thing. I will probably try to pin down that possibility tomorrow.

Still, just breaking down and spending the extra money on the Gram Lights 57Maximums is looking more appealing all the time.

I guess it is time I learned about offsets as well, but perhaps that is a question for another forum... The Grams weigh 15 pounds, have a 38mm offset, and a 4-100 bolt pattern. The Tire Rack includes the required 'wheel specific hardware, i.e. lugbolts and centering rings, but I am not at all sure what a centering ring does.

 

just matches up the inner diameter of the wheel (say 67mm) to the outer diameter of your hub (56.15mm). This transfers the load to the hub instead of your wheel bolts. OEM wheels are 'hubcentric', or 56.15mm (perfect fit). Most aftermarket wheels use larger center bores to accomodate multiple applications - easier than making 5 versions of a wheel. BBS started this I believe and calls it PFS - Precision Fit System.