Downtuned

I am in the process of giving my rims some color, and was pretty set on powdercoating them, primarily becuase i have a bunch of heavy dings along the outside of my rim due to hitting curbs every once-in-a-while, and the powdercoating will help smooth those out.

However, I have a friend who is a professional painter, who I could most likely get a paint job done for my rims for very cheap. Im assuming painting the rims wont really fill in the dings very much. What are your all's thoughts?

FSportIS

iTrader: (13)

If you can spend a little more on powercoating, do it. It is much harder than paint so it is more resistant to chip, fade, crack than paint.

darkdream

Powdercoating is cheap enough...even in California where prices are usually more than most other states. I know some places that will do same day powercoating for $350. Prices in Tennessee should be even cheaper.

SeanO

iTrader: (1)

another for powder coating.. even if you can get it done for $100 a rim thats what i was quoted here in Canada where we pay more for everything.. it will always be better and last longer then paint

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

I'm sorta in the same boat right now on a new, used set of some "Track" wheels. But seeing how I can do the repair work on the wheels myself and paint, I'll be able to save hundreds. Yes, the powdercoating is a more protective surface coating AND now they're got just about everything color under the sun you might want. If you can afford powdercoating...do it. If not, then DIY for some sandpaper and some wheel paint.

RVCAis250

I would powder coat, it is way more resilient than paint and looks 100x better.

If you just want a decent to good enough job then go paint.

edgeucated

iTrader: (4)

If i were to put out any money, I would go with powdercoat. If you were to paint them, I would rather just DIY

Noeh

iTrader: (3)

I thought the heat process from powder coating can weaken aluminum wheels?

Pxnda

Powder coat if you're sticking with that color for a long time.
Paint, if its just for a little while.

I would first get all the curbing removed then powder coat them.

Downtuned

thanks for the advice.. guess im powder coating, but removing the curbing first.

flattire

If you want a cheap non-perminate choice then plasti dip is the way to go. If you want a perminate cheap method then spray paint them. But if you want an amazing perfected perminate painted wheel then get them powder coated. I did all 3 over the course of having my car and man it was so worth the $300 of getting them powder coated.

.They look good now but trust me they wont stay this nice for long. If you dont have "low dust" brake padds they will get insanely dirty and they are very hard to clean espically since they are BLACK. Also depending on where you live and how many coats you put on they will eventually start to fade and peel and crack.

Freshly plasti dipped.



PLasti dipped: After 3 months of not having "low dust brake pads" and not cleaned.



Here they are spray painted and this is more of a permainate solution, where as they will not peel and crack. How ever me living in FL where it is very very hot and humid they started to fade after 4 months.This was taken after 4 months.




Now here they are powder coated. I didnt have the center cap put in at the time because I was waiting for the center cap to dry, I had to spray it myself because its plasic and can not be powder coated. My stock rims were in pretty bad shape because the previous owner had curbed it a few times, but luckly for powder coating when they sand blast the rim to get rid of the imperfections and made them look brand new! Powder coating even makes the inside of the rim perfect which is amazing. Also, these are amazingly easy to clean you just take a micro fiber to them and the dirty and grime litterly just comes right off its awesome!

Downtuned

thanks for the write-up flattire, i will definitely have to get them powder-coated for sure. they look great, and easy clean is always a plus!

MEAHT

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the write up. What are the price differences?
Thanks
MEAHT

qoner

Wealth of first hand experience information right here! If you see this, I really appreciate the write up man.