No I don't know him. I found his number on a forum somewhere!

Still planning on doing it this weekend? It might be the last weekend you'll see 60 degrees in a while. The paint needs 60 degrees minimum. Good luck and I can't wait to see results!

yeah im prepping (washing/sanding) the wheels today and then jumping into it tomorrow! ill have pics up at the end of the weekend hopefully

Excellent - throw up pics asap!

do you guys strip the clear coat first?

Goodluck

Yes with normal dish washing soap - it has ammonia in it...whatever residue is left disappears (for a lack of better word) when you sand them down

ok so i went to autobarn and bought my supplies:

2 cans duplicolor sandable primer
4 cans duplicolor engine enamel low gloss black
4 duplicolor prep-wipe towelette things
1 package of 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper

i swapped my wheels over to my summer rims (the enkeis), and washed the crown spokes really well with dishwasher soap and the whole nine. im sanding the wheels now (yay for laptops and wireless internet) and im just wondering how much i sand them. about how much time did you spend sanding each wheel? i feel like im gonna need a lott more sandpaper at the rate im going. three spokes done and almost thru an entire sheet already. only 5 in the package.

I needed 2 packages of the 320 grit. I wet it pretty good too. My advice is to get another can of primer if you plan on doing both sides of the rims.

And I sanded them down enough that you can definately see the swirl marks on the rim.

i guess im making a run to the store. haha.

i was going to get the gunmetal wheel paint they had but they only had 2 cans of it so i figured id just do the low gloss black. hopefully theyll turn out nice. will keep ya posted.

Sounds good. Others have used the engine paint that you have. I used the wheel paint. I'm sure they should both be very similar. The wheel paint says flat black but it's satin black - I called them and they told me.

ah alright well i guess ill deal. it was all they had and i really want to get it done this weekend before it gets too cold out to do it.

i will do my summer rims in the spring when its nicer out (no need to do it then have them sit in the garage collecting dust on the brand new paint all winter)

i got the face of the first rim sanded down pretty nicely. its hard to tell on the inside of the rim when its properly sanded. i guess ill just go till i think its done. haha

ok..just finished.

i started around noon today with masking, then primer and paint. i did 3 primer coats and 4 paint coats on the face and three on the back. i have plently of paint to spare but it looks really good. this was pretty easy to do. all in all it took me about 8 hours from washing, sanding, washing, masking, primer and paint. now the hard part....waiting for them to dry!!

thanks for the help steve

Anytime bro! Can't wait to see the pics!

here are a few pictures


also shown here for the first time on NAM - i installed a base line rear bumper (to better fit my exhaust).

hope you like!

http://lylesvinylstyles.net/benji/188.JPG
http://lylesvinylstyles.net/benji/197.jpg
http://lylesvinylstyles.net/benji/202.JPG

It looks sick bro. Nice job! and the base line bumper blends in nice w/ the black wheel arches!

In your opinion, would you say you're glad that you did the mod?

absolutely. ive gotten so many compliments and its been....2 days?! everywhere i go people compliment me on them and then i tell them i did it in under 9 hours with spray paint and theyre astounded. there are a few spots (the taping of the tire didnt go as well as i thought) that need to be touched up as the tape covered part of the lip but that ill save for a rainy day and soem markers hahaha. otherwise, it changed the entire appearance of the car. im glad i chose the paint color i did and that i actually went through with it


this mod (to anyone who is reading and deciding weather or not to do it) is COMPLETELY worth it and its much easier than i expected it to be. the hardest part was the masking of things i didnt want to paint, and the sanding, but once that was done the fun began (yay for spray paint fumes!)

and to anyone (again) who is considering doing this mod - USE SAFETY EQUIPTMENT!!

I researched a bit on how to paint the rims when i had my maxima. one thing i notice nobody mentioned was aircraft stripper seen in this article, http://www.vqpower.com/v2/articles.php?article_id=164

seems like it would make the sanding part much easier.

Everyones pics of their wheels looks great. Now I am wondering how S-winders would look in black...

give it a shot - im excited to see the outcome! make sure to do sufficient prep work! thats the important thing (as everyone else has noted already)

Hey Benji - you got a picture of those center cap overlays from Lyle you were talking about on an earlier post?

theyll be here in a couple of days. i didnt get anything TOO crazy (i know, weird considering how "loud" my car is in terms of looks......and volume ) BUTTTTT i got satin black with the gloss red MINI lettering, just like stock except different colors. ill post some pics up when i get them in and installed. should be a breeze.

im not sure what wheels you have (i know what they look like but not the style) and i believe the center cap size may be different, but check just to be sure. mine were exactly 2 inches in diameter.

Looks good - how much did it cost you to powder coat?

those are some good looking wheels. im going to be re-painting my summer wheels (the enkeis) in the spring/summer and hope to do somethign custom like that......dark silver face with a black lip and black inside the wheel (the back side), with a red center cap.

i hope to be able to fix the curb rash on those bad boys too. theyre pretty bad.