My TD pro race 1's are white, and even with EBC red pads I still have to clean them once a week or else the look like complete crap.. Thats why for my winter wheels I got a cheap set of Borbets and spray painted them flat black (they were silver) so I dont have to be bothered with cleaning them when it's cold out.

 

Obviously personal taste.. I happen to think that pure black is a cool idea, but in real life they just end up looking like steelies. They work on some cars... I happen to like one shade lighter - gunmetal or whatever you call it. I think its a good balance.

 

Not a fan of black wheels either. There's needs to be some detail there.

 

Look at my gallery and I find it hard to belive that my car looks better with the silver wheels. The black wheels just fits it well.

 

Love those OZ's with that color combo.

 

 

Yours are thin and angled, so they pick up the light better giving it more detail. Also, with you color scheme, it'd be difficult to go with any other color. Your rims look great! I think if you had no stripes and painted fenders, you could go with a dark grey wheel as well as black.

 

Yes, it is personal taste. However, there are some color combinations that work better than others. If you have a white roof, then the lighter color wheels probably look better. Those of us with black-roofed vehicles are generally better off with black. I happened to go with gunmetal gray (which looks black) with a silver lip for my CR/B, and matte black with a silver lip for my SS/B. The silver/chrome/whateveryouwannacallit, with the CR/B looked okay, but black looks MUCH better. However, if my car was CR/W, I doubt I'd have gone with a dark rim. On the SS/B, the silver/chrome just looked odd; the black with a silver lip just goes so much better with the black roof and the tinted windows.

And I don't think either set of my wheels look like steelies either. Pics are in the gallery.

 

I think it was partially a reaction to excessive bling on wheels, and partially an extension of the black-out fad. You can now order black OEM wheels when you order a new MINI, so you know the fad has gotten old.

With the black fenders on the MINI, black wheels just seem to vanish into the shadows, but look good with a bright ring.

If dust bothers you, use Carbotech 1521 Bobcat pads.

 

totally agree with you on this. i was even contemplating on making the roof of my EB/B R53 white & taking out ALL the tint in my car in an effort to try & make silver wheels look the part on my MINI but i DO need the tint in the back so i can put all my junk there & didn't want to have the roof repainted so i went with black wheels

Smacky on temporary Volk Racing GT-7 (silver spokes/polished lip)



and Smacky now with Volk Racing SE37K

 

Not True! I have Gloss Black Rims and I wash them every 3 days. Oh! You did say, "...some of us are just to lazy..." I digress.

 

See....to me, this looks much better. Just my 2 cents. The wheels add a great highlighted detail to the car. Ties in nicely to the chrome accents and accentuates the EB. The black wheels look very track oriented, but the silvers look better.

 

I should've said in my post that while I like black rims, I like them A LOT better when you have a silver lip for some contrast. To me, when it is all black, it is too much black. I really think the silver lip helps set it off, and that is why I spent months looking for black wheels with a lip that I liked.

 

It apears as though my car, on order, will have the same color combination as JAS76. Apparently, like JAS76, I think that black wheels with red looks better. It is not an anti bling, anti crome or anti anything thing. Isn't this why Mini advertises that there are so many different combinations and that no two Minis are exactly alike. Choice, it is great isn't it.

 

I'm in your same camp. In my case, I purposefully keep the OEM look of the belt line and door handles and let the wheel rings tie the whole appearance together.



In any event, I agree with GN2 that it's all a matter of personal preference. You-ification is a wonderful thing.

 

Dark wheels for racing- flat black, glossy black, red stripe on rim edge- time attack, dark anthracite. All more aggressive look

Light colored wheels- chrome, silver, white, etc for street use

 

That's why I don't like the MINI black rims, too glossy. A nice satin black might make a good looking wheel, and hide the dust nicely. My track wheels are halfway there, gunmetal, and not glossy. They look great on Shawn (Dark Silver/Black), they look less convincing on Tristan (Lightning Blue/White), who usually has white wheels.

Black will look good with some colour combos, and not so good with others.

 

I think of the MINI as a piece of fine art, so in selecting wheels for it after the fact, I'd like to think that yes on the first glance it looks good, but then as you look at it you start to appreciate the finer details, and with the gloss black car and flat black wheels they compliment the car in a subtle manner.

My car is very muted, a few small parts with a slightly more pronounce appearance, but much of the sliver and white has gone yellow and the Chrome to black the wheels are black as well, so there's the subtle details that you appreciate the longer you look at the car.

And flat black IMO does a very good job inn the right light of bringing all of the lines and curves out in the shape of the wheels so when you're actually looking at them you're not losing any of the details.



It compliments the car instead of having large black rotating orbs floating around. But it all opinion, in the end and people need to do what they like with their cars.

 

When I bought my '03 MCS it came with some bling bling chrome wheels. I just finally got rid of them. Which looks better, it depends. I think my Mini looks more aggressive with the black wheels and I much prefer them over the original gangster chrome bling.

Before:

After:

 

Although I'm not a fan of black wheels, changing your chrome rims was a great move.

 

Come on, anything would look better than those chromies, but the blacks look great because you don't have a white roof or mirror caps and you chose a classic wheel design.

 

I've never been a fan of dark coloured wheels either, however it seems to be de-rigeur these days, and I'm almost sold on a set of Rota RBs in gunmetal (not quite black).

Since my car has a white roof/mirrors/stripes, and consensus is black wheels might not look so good, does anyone have any pics of such a combo that may prove otherwise?

Cheers
Asif

 

A little late here, but...

Its all personal opinion. I chose black rims because they A. hide brake dust better. B. make our 'Cute' little minis look more aggressive and bad a$$. C. black wheels look 100 times better while moving. Light colored wheels just look like a white blur while moving. Black wheels while moving draw attention to the brakes. Which in my opinion looks way better than a light blur.

 

Black wheels match wheelgap nicely

 

I change my wheels a few times a day based on what opinion others have about them...

I've had black with a polished lip on my last three cars. I just like the way it typically gives any car a bit of an attitude. Doesn't bother me if it's getting "played out" or too common, so long as I enjoy the way it makes my car look.