I have RV-Fs in a dark silver color and I am thinking of painting/powder coating them some shade of black...... anyone have experience with either and will it chip etc.....

 

good shops who do the prep work shouldn't chip, so make sure you ask around who's got the best equipment to powdercoat...

 

let me ask you this..... what "color" black.....my top is not black but rather a metalic black......custom color..... there is flat black, semi gloss, gloss, grey black..... I'm open to suggestions.....

 

Contact a wheel repair company. It won't be cheap. The company that was recommended to me charged $150 per wheel for painting.

Powdercoating is another option that may not be the best thing for alloy wheels (not sure why, but that's what I heard "someone" say). I had my Panasports powdercoated anyway. $75 per wheel with clearcoat.

Drawback to powdercoating is they have to do the entire wheel, so if you want to keep the lip machined or polished, you have to do that after the entire wheel is powdercoated. You have a lot more options if you go the painting route.

Whichever way you go, you'll be able to look at samples of different colors and finishes - only you will know what will look best to you! Flat black is very racy, good for a lowered, sporty Mini. I think a not-quite-black might look better than a true black.

 

some of the cars with flat black the wheels seem to go away.... I don't think I want that on my car but on some of the cars the black wheels really look nice..... I think I want some form of gloss....no hurry just thinking out loud

 

You can go see mine in gloss black in my gallery. I like the look, but they only look good for a short while before they turn flat black/brownish in a couple days of driving. If it rains, they're flat until the next wash. I did them myself last winter and wouldn't do that again. I'll pay someone.

btw, these are S-Lites. I spent money on a winter set, so maybe some racier summer wheels next year.

Good luck figuring out what you want to do.

 

powdercoating a forged BBS is not recommended. A cast one would be ok. This is due to the baking of the coating to melt it. Forged wheels are generally damaged by this. I think the issue is that the melting point of the coating is very close to the point where the metal structure of a forged wheel is affected. So, if you decided to powdercoat, make sure they use only enough heat to melt the coating and not any more.

We've got BBS wheels on our Subaru...a bit banged up. We'd like to get them mediablasted and then resprayed a dark metallic grey. Most shops will charge about $400-500 for the complete service.

 

The heating to set a tradional powedercoating actually reverses heat treaments. If your wheel has been T6 treaded, baking it would deactivate the T6. Ultraviolet powercoating is more expensive, but its set with light not heat.

As a rule of thumb : Hi tech = dont reheat.

Alex

 

side question then Alex - what temps do wheels see upon heavy braking like a racing scenario or mountain road? low enough not to affect the wheels I'd hope?

 

I would have no concern, Quench phase alots 920 degrees Fahrenheit.

For 9 hours.... I'd have to say that would be a long time to run @ blackhawk farms!

I'd have to default to Todd @ TCE on brake opertaing temps, this would be he arena of expertise.

Alex