Paint vs. Powdercoat Rims - HELP
 

Trying to decide if I should have my rims painted & clear coated or powder coated? I think my Silver AFS Style 87's came powder coated. I will say they seem pretty durable but are certainly not scratch-proof. I hear powder coating is more durable and actually bonds to the metal, however I have heard some folks say the temps can harm (and even crack) the wheel by changing the characteristics of the alloy. Another thing to keep in mind is that these wheels are Chinese made. Supposedly their standard wheel painter does a super good job. I would think powder coating would last a lot longer than regular painted rims.,

Paint / Clear coat - $500, 2 days
Powder coat - $650, 4 days

This is the price out the door including tax and hunter laser road force mount / balance and sitting the car on the rack for a couple days.

My passenger side front rim has some slight curbage rash on it, i think they are just going to sand it down or fill and sand it. Wondering if it makes the job any harder the fact that they are already powder coated?

https://plus.google.com/photos/11535...521?banner=pwa

Here is the color I am going for (dark grey):

http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...r-poll-x53.jpg

I had my 132 powder coat and I am loving it. $365 for all 4, just the coating.

Mine are PC. I have painted wheels myself in the past, very easy. Plasti-dip is another cheap option and easily reversible.

Not a fan of plastic dip thing ... Feel too cheap and rubbery ...
Can't go wrong with PC with clear coat.

I just had my set of 168's PC'd They wont be installed until friday. Cost $400 for the sanding and PC

If you regularly clean your wheels and treat them with a nice wheel sealant I don't see why painting them with Clearcoat would be any less durable than powdercoating.

Its only 150 difference so not a huge deal, you've probably had the silver painted wheels for a while now and how has the paint job on them held up? Any clearcoat peeling? If not, I don't see why repainting them would be any less durable.

Paint & Clearcoat just like factory finish.

Here is how I painted wheels in the past:

Sand wheels, start with 150 grit, move the grit up slowly, and finish with wet sand 1000 grit.

Mask off tires, or remove tires.

Use spray cans of heavy duty primer. Sand between coats. 2 coats is enough.

Find your wheel paint color, in a spray can, I used VHT high temp wheel paint. Spray evenly, sand between coats, do at least 3 coats.

Wet sand with 1000 grit at the end.

Total cost should be well under $50.

The results held up great for 3 years until I sold the car, only one small chip on one wheel over that time.

Damn that seems like a nice price. What do you mean just the coating? No media blasting? So you still had to pay for mount and balance?

So powder coat plus clear coat on top? Is the clearcoat sprayed on I take it? What color do you have? I am looking for something close to that. What did you pay?

Yeah I keep the wheels pretty clean. I scratched up the rears using my spikes spiders traction control devices in the snow since i didn't have them mounted far enough off the hub and my toyo's don't have that rubber lip.

These rims are already powder coated silver from the factory. I would say they are pretty durable but of course you can stil scratch the surface. I have some minor curb rash on the passenger front wheel.

I had some painted wheels before, they were cheap but the paint knocked right off when they hit it with the air wrench by mistake... This makes me weary about paint, but I'm sure if it's done properly it should be much more durable.

I think for $150 I got to go with the PC...

Nice z32! Check out my '93!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-U...019_160350.jpg

PC is more durable than paint will ever be. Nothing will survive a curb jumping into the way. A good painter could touch up paint but not PC. I have never tried plasticote but working through the website it seems like a very inexpensive and a easy DIY. They have a charcoal gray that may be close to what you want. Plasitcote is also very easy to redo or repair a defect. You can purchase a kit to fix road rash. I would look around for other PC providers if that is the route you go. In Dallas the cost to repair road rash and/or bent rims, coat and clearcoat and balance tires is $125 per wheel and you can pick up the X the next day. Seems to me the value equation is cost, durability, cost to repair, beauty. ie--PC would be high cost, best durability, high cost of repair, and best looking (subjective).

I had mine done in anthracite .
They did PC with clear coat bake it on ..
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...eels-done.html

Ok screw the pc I'm going to plastidip instead!