I am wondering is it possible tp paint the wheels that come in the sports package? Would it stick? Would the brake dust chip off the paint? I want black wheels to go with my DS/B and newly tinted windows. I do not have the money right now for new wheels though, do you think it would work? Would it look cheep like a hand painted car?

 

it will not last.....even if you get a body shop to do it....it may look nice but will chip......The best way to go is get them powder coated. powder coats are 10 times better than paint in that application

 

Groovedaddy just posted pictures in the "Please Post Pictures of Your R56 Here..." thread and he has factory Bridge Spokes that have been painted black. It looks great.

As far as making the paint last - you need polyurethane paint. I bought used factory wheels for my acura and painted them with a can of wheel paint from the auto parts store. After a thorough cleaning and overnight to dry they painted up well and looked great, and it never chipped or pealed in the 5 years I used them.

 

isn't polyurethane great? bushings, paint...

 

Dont even try it.!!

 

What does powder coating cost?

 

A powdercoating facility will strip off the old finish before applying the new color. The new finish will be at least as durable as the original. I've seen prices from 50-100 dollars a wheel. I paid 80/wheel, and they did an amazing job on them.

Are you thinking of going matte black or gloss black?

 

Matt black is my choice, but what do you have? Would you post pics? thanks

 

I love groovedaddies wheels! How did he paint them?

 

Mine are Chili Red. They hide brake dust fairly well, but matte black would do a LOT better

All I have right now is a really bad picture of them. I'm going to take more once the painting and vinyl work is finished.

 

Powder coat, this is off a mini on sale from ebay. looks good

 

There are proffesionals out there that refinish wheels, find a good one and the paint is very durable. had my "s-lites" painted

 

Yes, with the Dark Silver paint the wheels look awesome black. Mine are the stock 16" bridge spokes powder coated glossy black. I have a friend in the tire business and one in the powder coating business. I took the wheels off and had the tires, wheel weights and valve stems removed. Since the stock wheels are already powder coated, there is no need to have them sand blasted. I cleaned them up and dropped them off with Jason at A-1 Paint and Body in Granbury Texas (shameless plug for my bud). I picked up the wheels that afternoon, had the tires remounted and balanced ( I used the adhesive wheel weights behind the spokes because the ones they hammer on to the outer lip can nick the powder coating) had them back on the car that afternoon. Jason says if the wheels are stripped and cleaned (less prep work for him) when brought in, he can coat them for about $25 per rim. They look great and should stay that way as long as I keep it off the curbs. I think the black rims put a little hair on the car's chest, lol. Thanks for the comments

 

But the way, I went with the glossy black because after a few miles the brake dust is going to make them look flat black anyway.

 

I will be doing the same powder coating to my wheels but need to know where to get the middle MINI cap?

 

http://www.aestheticreations.net/centercaps.htm

 

I'm thinking of powdercoating the centers of my web spoke wheels. Anybody know of a good place that does powdercoating, preferably in eastern PA?

 

Thanks Robin, I just placed the order