I am planning on painting my rims black with 1200 degree high heat paint, and am also planning on leaving the rims with the hub covers on (these are 15" rotator spoke rims). Is it ok to ride with the center piece exposed, or should I buy those covers that only cover that hole?

Also I am planning on spraying the part of the rotor where the brakes do not touch...the area that is visible where the wheels mount...can the area that the wheels actually touch be painted, or should I mask that off? Also I heard something that there should be some sort of grease between this area and the wheels? if I painted would I need to regrease?

 

About the worst thing that can happen with no center caps is a little surface rust. And in a way, having no caps may not be a bad idea. Without the caps on, no water can collect anywhere. And as far as the rotor goes, I would reccomend painting that. The "hats" as their called, can also rust over time. If you want, just put a little anti-seize on there to keep the rotor from sticking to the wheel.

 

Cool thank you...I will be using that high heat paint so I'm sure it will help stop rusting as well

 

sounds like you're planning on painting the wheels without taking them off...

 

haha no no way at all...the car is hitting the jacks for about 2-3 days in a few weeks once finals are done for a good list of DIY things

-rims (black...rebalanced with sticky weights)
-calipers (orange...G2 kit from Minspeed)
-rotor "hats" (matching black as wheels)
-door handles (black...those will still be on the car haha)
-oil change

boy can I not wait for school to end so I can begin my fun

 

just out of curiosity, why are you painting the "hats"? it's kinda hard to see once the wheels are on

 

Well with my wheels I can see them when looking down and since my goal is to get rid of all things shinny it will bug me
(too bad they don't make actual rotors in black haha)

 

Close:
http://www.txwerks.com/servlet/Detail?no=73

 

^^^Ignore that. That's a listing for the R50/53. Not the newest gen. MINI.

 

wow those are nice!!! I may have to use those once my free maintenance runs out and they stop replacing the rotors for free

Thanks

 

darn...well hopefully by the time it runs out they will make them for the R56

 

actually, they DO make black rotors, but when i did a search online for them a while back people on various forums were saying that the black doesnt hold very long

 

just curious...why orange for the calipers?? i've painted my calipers and rotor hats both black and it looks great

 

Im doing the orange cuz ever since I got the car orange has kinda shown itself as my unexpected accent color...the orange tach lights...orange mood lighting...orange turn signals (which really stick out now from the joey mod and I really like it and feel like it will work well with the black out of the rims

heres a photoshop pic of what it should all look like together

 

You really dont need high heat paint for the rims. They dont get that hot.

 

Yeah but I used it on my exhaust system and the black is almost a perfect matt match to the body trim...so this way the wheels will blend well and that paint holds on really well...I'm not much of a fan of gloss black wheels

 

orange gives u an additional 10hp.....just joking....good luck with yer project!

 

haha that was my other reason for doing it
thanks I can't wait to do it all