Powder coat my wheels?

[SSLance]

Alright, someone needs to talk me back off the ledge here, I'm having crazy thoughts...



I have a custom fit set of Billet Specialties Rally wheels on my car that I like and they fit the car very well, 17x8s front, 17x9.5s rear. I'm getting ready to order another pair of matching 17x9.5s to run on the front for a square setup on autocross days.

My thing is, my only complaint about these wheels is the work it takes to keep them clean. Brake dust from track pads make a mess on the wheels and if left on too long means a deep clean and polish, not just a wash and dry...to get them looking "Billet Special" looking again.

I'm considering having them powder coated to make them a bit easier to care for and keep clean. Am I crazy?

Here's a picture of what they looked like when they were brand new.





And here's what the 17x9.5s look like on the front in their current condition





There is no other real chrome or shiny substances on the car to go with the wheels, surely I can come up with a powder coat color that gives a bit of a more modern pro- touring looks to the car while keeping these wheels...no?

What do you guys think?

[srh3trinity]

Buy a few cans of plasti-dip and see how you like the wheels a different color. HD or lowes will have black. You can get glossifiers and silver metalizer plastidip online. Look on youtube and there are tons of videos about getting different finishes. Peels off easily whenever you want and you can do your wheels for cheap. I did my dd wheels about three months ago. Still looks great.

[rustomatic]

I have an anonymous blog that directly references chrome wheels (unfavorably) in the title . . . I will accept all hate that this implies...

Do it (the color), and while you're at it, cinch up those fender gaps. The closer your fenders come to the wheels, the more quickly the colors blend/contrast; enough has been said for the attitude adjustment (and decreased distance for body roll at your favorite autocross event). Lower height in addition to a dark wheel color would just completely change the character your car suggests. Chicks will dig it, or perhaps be turned off...

I'm one for gloss black wheels...

[silvermonte]

I got my rims from Billet Specialties also and they look amazing right now but they are also brand new and havnt started to dull. Ive thought about what Im going to do also for cleaning my wheels and havnt came up with a good option, either spend forever cleaning them or hope that the company will polish them back to new for a small fee if I sent them back. I took them to a few body shops and asked about putting a clear coat on them to keep them looking that way and I was told in no certain terms that the clear would not stick and it would prolly make them look horrible.

[SSLance]

I used Mothers Billet Polish and their cone on a drill to clean mine up this spring. It worked very well and they came out looking great, but it involved taking the wheels off the car, removing the screw on center caps and quite an investment of time. Then a few weeks later I got caught out in the rain and they spotted up real well, the kind of spots that don't come back off without some work.

That's what I'm talking about. I'd like to be able to drive this car in all kinds of weather or conditions without worrying about the task at hand that will be required next to get the wheels looking good again.

Plasti-dip looks interesting. I might try that on them and see how it looks. Might even try leaving the hoops and caps polished and plasti-dipping the rest or some combination like that.

[srh3trinity]

Plastidip them for a month and then you will know without going all in. Very easy and cheap. It probably takes about three quarters of a can per wheel

[SSLance]

I'm leaning that way, it looks pretty interesting. Now just need to find the right color combination.

[83hurstguy]

I had my billet specialties wheels zoop sealed when new... after three years, I just went through and shine sealed them this summer (the new product that replaced zoop seal). You can just wash them with soap and water, no polishing required. If you like the shiny look and just wanted extra protection against corrosion, I'd give that a shot. They also now have a product that goes with it so you can "wax" them occasionally to renew the shine and keep them slick. It takes the billet wheel maintenance down significantly.

I just went through this whole thing... the mother's billet polish by hand works better than the cone polishing with the other liquid. I used the billet polish, then shine sealed. I still have a bunch of shine seal left if you want to try it out.

[hifi875]

brush them. I did my budniks(the hoop). totally changed the looks of the car and I get more complements on my rims once I brushed than I ever did when they were polished.

[SSLance]

I have heard of Zoop seal...does it really cut down on the spotting of the aluminum as advertised?

The brushed look looks nice as well, how does it hold up? What is maintenance like with that finish? Also how do you go about doing it, just sanding them with the right grit of paper in a certain pattern?

Wonder what a brushed hoop would look and work like if shine or zoop sealed?

I used shark hide on the aluminum pontoons on my pontoon boat. They were a little over a year old and I sanded\polished them clean and shark hided them with two coats. 3 years later with the boat sitting out on my lift on the water all summer long they still look great. The coating has kept them from oxidizing up for sure. I never clean them up the way I would a wheel though and don't worry about spotting on them, so I'm not sure how the shark hide works in that regard. I know it keeps them from oxidizing for sure though.

[83hurstguy]

You'll still get hard water spots if you don't dry the wheels after washing, but they come right off with a damp towel. The wheels bead water like crazy.

Here's a review of it: http://www.svtperformance.com/forums...al-review.html

[SSLance]

goes on kind of like Rain-x

It sounds very similar to Shark Hide... http://www.sharkhide.com/

Toon with back part polished, front what it started out like



Whole toon after Sharkhide treatment



Two years later without ever touching the toons again...




There are places around the ends of the toons where I missed with the sharkhide and you can plainly see how much they have oxidized where they weren't protected.

[83hurstguy]

Those are some good looking toons! Yeah, sounds like a similar product. The nice part about the shine seal is that you get a final step polish after sealing that won't mess up the sealer but you can use for maintenance work.

[hifi875]

I used a green scotchbrite pad and yes only went in one direction. as far as maintnence there isn't any. when it dulls alittle I just get the scotchbrite pad out and lightly brush them.

[TheJDMan]

Take a look at Alsa Corp. They sell a line of "paint wrap" which is similar to Plasti-Dip in that it can be peeled off but they have a much wider selection of colors.

http://www.alsacorp.com/

[instro84]

brush them. I did my budniks(the hoop). totally changed the looks of the car and I get more complements on my rims once I brushed than I ever did when they were polished.

did you brush yourself, how bout some pics.

[SSLance]

Yeah, the brushed look on at least part of the rims is interesting to me as well, would love to see some before and after pics if you have them of this process.

Kind of goes against the grain if you will...taking a scuff pad to shiny billet rim surfaces...but if it looks good and eases up on the maintenance required to keep the rims looking nice, I might be a fan.

[67rally]

Here's a few super quick photoshops. I color matched the first one, and hate it. The color isn't perfect, but I don't think it's a winner regardless:




Here's one with the wheels powdercoated black:




And my favorite with the centers black and the hoops left silver. I think brushed would look great like this:

[67rally]

And one kind of brushed:

[BonzoHansen]

Winner: "centers black and the hoops left silver"