I have been seriously considering p-coating my rims a nice gunmetal. Firstly, take a look at these photochops by SuperMachoMan...I love them:




So anyways, today I went down to a local powdercoating shop which specializes in doing vehicles (mainly car rims). We picked out a color that best resembles the gunmetal seen in Machomans photoshops. It is called "Misty Lava", and it looks very nice. So anyways, I encountered some unexpected news:

First, he can't mask off the polished lip. He said it would be way to hard to try to p-coat the rim without ruining the lip, so I'd have to get it powdercoated as well. He told me it would cost around 100 bucks for a polisher to re-polish EACH lip! That is rediculous. So for now the whole rim would be p-coated.

Second, he said he couldn't paint my center caps becuase they are plastic. He said i'd have to take it to a body shop and have them liquid paint it. He said it will match perfectly, but this means more $$ for me to spend.

Thirdly, he would have to rip off the valve stems. Can't keep 'em on cause they'd melt otherwise.

Fourth, I can't hand my car over, gotta turn just the rims over. This means my car sits in my garage on jack stands for a week. I'd have to take the rims to discount tires to get the tires taken off..I bought em there so maybe it'll be free?

Fifth, the price. It's gonna cost $100 a rim to powdercoat them. Keep in mind this is w/o the centercaps. I have no choice but to have my lips painted as well. And there is no way I can pay some guy 100 each rim to polish the friggin' lips..what a rip.

Please give me your feedback...is the price good? How much would the centercaps cost to get liquid painted? Is the polishing price accurate? Any feedback is greatly appriciated.

 

not worht the hassle ..

 

Nuttin beats a set of new wheels ...just IMHO

 

My guy in florida (orange park) charges like $75 or less a wheel...

The caps should be like $50 for all 4 to be color matched, unless the color is too hard to match and then you run into labor fees.

Polishing the lip is around $100 for each wheel, it takes some work to get just the lip polished.



Put your wheels up for sale, save up whatever you need to get some new wheels that you already like.. car won't have to be on jackstands if you can plan everything out right and you get new wheels.. or just save up the $1000.00 it will be to get yours done.

 

The thing is, these are my only rims...I wouldn't know how to go about selling them. I think finding rims/tires of my choice, putting them on hold, selling my rims, getting that money, buying the new rims, THEN shipping out the guy his rims is too much. But, do you know of any 17x8 or 18x8 (thinner/wider within reason) rim that is in gunmetal/polished lip that can be had with tires for cheaper then $1500?(have $500 right now). I like the bullit GT rims on the new stang in gunmetal, and that's the look I was going for..my caffeines are 5spoked that flare, and in gunmetal I think they look killer.

One rim is scratched really bad. The other lip was hit on a curb and has rash on about 3/5ths the rim. And there is no way in hell i'd get then repolished so, I guess I am screwed.

 

I got my Bronze TE-37 repaired, painted, and tires mounted for a total of $350. One of the wheels had some damage from a tire mounter on the lip that they fixed. Once that was fixed, they were able to paint the whole wheel the dark color on the Bullitt wheels (argent metallic = gun metal) and machine (looks same as polish) the lip. Once everything was painted they put a powder clear coat on it, mounted my tires and away I went. So now I have a set of wheels that is almost identical to the LE37 and has a lifetime warrantee.

I would suggest maybe shopping around. You do have to give them your wheels though. So unless you have another set lying around, things will be a little difficult.

Brian

 

save your 17's for winter and get 18's!!

Ant

 

When I had my old 17" Tantrums powercoated, it costed me $200 for all four. It was worth it for me because after the powercoat, any little scratches and dings weren't there anymore. Plus it only costed $200.

 

thats just crazy! too much work, NOT worth the hassle...way not worth it.
SELL THE RIMS! someone will buy them, no matter what. just make sure you tell them all the details about the scratches and such.

but if youre stuck on getting them powedercoated....try looking for gxe steelies with rubber in a junkyard. i was quoted for $96 for 4 steelies with 4 ****ty tires for $96....

but then again, thats MORE money to spend.

count all this up, is it worth dropping $1100 into powdercoating or $1700 into some nice 18's???

 

If you're in Illinois or near Chicago, I know a place that does good work for about $60 a rim.

PM me if interested.

Good luck.

Mike

 

Who's your daddy? The reason I knew is because I looked into it myself at one point. That's the standard going price. I didn't have to worry about a polished lip, but if I had one I would expect it to be masked over or something. Anyways it's not worth the money Craig, but a new set of wheels.
-Cyrus

 

i know in atlanta kids were getting'em done for 60 bucks a pop.

 

It sounds like this guy is either full of it, or he doesn't know how to powdercoat rims. Most places will do the entire rim, without melting anything, and being able to restore the rim to it's original appearance. Go somewhere else.

 

$75 a wheel

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=42802

 

Check this out...

You can get these rims for less than $450 shipped on eBay. Size: 17x7
---------------------
Rota Subzero (black w/polished lip)

They come in 45mm bolt pattern, you may require a 5mm spacer, so add another $100 for the spacers. Size: 17x7.5
These are $585 shipped from http://www.ninosautoaccesories.com/
---------------------
Rota Subzero (black w/polished lip)

These are 17x7.5 & $550 shipped from: http://www.revolutionsmotorsports.com/
Same as above with Yokohama AVS intermidiate tires in 215 45/17 tires mounted and balanced for only 835.00+ shipping from: http://www.ninosautoaccesories.com/
-----------------------
Good Luck

 

Thank you boys for the feedback and thx Mr. Dash for showing me those rims. However, I am REALLY picky about rims. I like the 5 spoked look like mine, and I'd like it in gunmetal not black, and no slimmer then 8 inches wide. Oh and reasonably light.


I felt like I was getting hosed...I am young and they were probubly trying to take advantage of me. The thing is I popped them questions that they werent expecting. I told them about people getting the job done for $50-70 a rim, and they were like "Ohhhhhhh No way buddy".

I just re-calculated my $$ and only have around $400 for maxima mods DAMN this car is eating a hole into my wallet. Looks like I'll be sporting my caffeines in oogly aluminum for a while.

I have looked all over the internet and in the yellow pages, and have only found this one place who will p-coat rims. If someone knows a place around Central Florida that will hook me up with a better price without all that nonsense, please let me know! To tell the truth i'd rather have my caffeines gunmetaled then get new rims, even if I had the money. (and if I find a good price, i'll do it)