I figure by the time anyone spends money to take the tires off the rims and then pay for powder coating (~$50 a wheel) and then pay to have the TPMS put back on and rebalanced ($170) you're halfway to a new set of rims w/ tires...

 

what did you guys do with the wheel weight? mine is mounted on the outside of the rim

 

mine is mounted on the inside of the rim, and i painted over it. i had thought about having it removed and rebalacing the wheels after but then decided it wasnt that big of a deal.

 

I had mine taken off the outside (stock on bridge spokes) and tape weights were applied inside the spokes - I painted right over them.

 

where did you get this done? is this something the dealer can do? preferably for free?

 

Dealer yes - Free no - $53 w/ tax

 

what the hell are you doing up at 4am?!

 

You must not be set in your settings for EST. It was 7 AM and I couldn't sleep. but I went back to bed at 7:15 and woke up at noon if it makes you feel better!

 

ok aparently my forum time-zone stuff is a little wacky. ANYWAY...! i got the centercaps from Lyle from Vinyl Styles - they look amazing. application on all 4 centercaps took MAYBE 10 minutes TOPS for all four. its very easy very simple.

i will take pics when i find my camera. otherwise it changed the entire appearance of the (already painted black) wheel

 

here are some pics of the centercaps

http://lylesvinylstyles.net/benji/centercap%201.JPG
http://lylesvinylstyles.net/benji/centercap%202.JPG
http://lylesvinylstyles.net/benji/centercap%204.JPG

 

Looks good! I'm confused on the before and after.

 

on the centercap the MINI was written in a silver and the black was painted black. the new ones are flat black for the backing and red text.

 

That was my initial guess and yet still looks good!

 

thanks. changes the entire look of the wheel. makes it look more aggressive. cant wait till i get my calipers painted!

 

I'm definitely doing this mod once it gets warm enough to paint again. I have the same rims as Spdu4ia and I love the way this is looking. I was just going to wait until I could afford some new aftermarket rims ... but this is a good compromise since all my money is going to pay off the car itself ... lol

 

def do this mod - very fun, very easy, very rewarding. in 6-7 hours time you can change the entire appearance of your car for under $50 (depending on paint selection etc). this is one of the most rewarding mods aside from tint that can be done within a few hours and is cheap. keep us posted with info and pics.

 

I agree with Ben and yes please keep us posted!

 

I'd love to hear if anyone has any tips on making the red lip like Spdu4ia's Mini. Just masking tape before painting? I'm not sure I would be able to get it to look right if I mask it myself.

I guess I can always try it and just black over it if I'm not happy. I've got a while to plan this out though before it's warm enough for paint here in Indiana.

 

That's a good question about the lip. It's hard to see which part of the rim the lip is on but if it's a 17" wheel then if you got a perfect circle that was 16.5" diameter then you could tape the center over the center of your wheelcap and spray paint the outside giving you .25 inches on each side all the way around? I'd bet you could find something at a crafts store like Michaels etc..

I'm just brainstorming here...Otherwise you might need to be an expert taper.

I have another set of bridgespokes to do in the spring...I am going to clear coat them for a gloss look this time and perhaps go for a lip...we'll see in the spring!

 

So it's been a few years... How did they hold up?

 

they held up great - I ran them for around 15k with no problems until I bought new rims and tires (wanted to get rid of the run-flats). Now they are sitting in my garage until I need to either trade in the car or sell it.