Paint or powder coat?

[JungleJames]

I'm expecting some new wheels soon and am going to have them refinished.

At first I thought I would paint them myself. But after having some bad experiences and really wanting something else, I think I'll have a professional do it.

I like the idea of the strength of finish available with a quality powder coat and clear paint job. Does anyone have any feedback on powder jobs they have had done?

The other option is to have them painted (auto paint). This would give me a wider range of color options and a better visible finish.

How do normal manufacturers do it? Do I really need powder coat? Or can I just take it down to a body shop and have them spray a hard enamel type paint?

I've seen the wheels the Markus paints and am impressed. Of course I'm in love with the Nagaro color and would love to use it. Any suggestions on where to get that color. Does Markus spray his wheels?

Thanks for any input.

James

[needle332rur]

I'm sure that a lo of people are going to tell you to do the powder coat route.

But personally I would take them to a body shop and have them painted. Wheel manufacturers still paint there wheels, so the finish will be the quality of a new wheel if painted correctly.

[Mario L.]

I have had body shops and professional wheel shops refinish numerous styles of wheels, from a BBS Basket weaves, polished and clear coated and an Alpina fin style.
By far the best and most cost effective results were done by the wheel shop. They have the machine to media strip the existing finish, polish if needed and then paint as specified. Body shops canot do this effectively . . BTDT nad have redone some that body shops have done.

I also have a customer that had some silver alloys powdercoated . . the color was awesome, then it grayed . . . If your wheels had a metallic finish powdercoating likely can't give you the lustre of paint . . .

Mario L.

[///Mflossin]

I would highly recommend a powder finish

[UofOm3]

Originally posted by ///Mflossin
I would highly recommend a powder finish

elaborate for us....

I have a friend who painted the wheels on his vdub with auto paint at one of the local body shops. It seemed to hold up relatively well with the clear coat as far as brake dust corosion goes, but if you scratch the paint AT ALL it is noticeable just like any other automotive finish... so given that wheels might take a little bit more abuse i'm not certain that i could recomend the regular paint. I dont have any experience with powder coated wheels, but it would be my guess that they are heavier with that coating on there, and harder to ever re-refinish in the future.

It would be interesting to see what process and type of paint BBS uses - maybe Markus could tell us - he is the king of wheel restoration at this point for our cars.

[JungleJames]

Agreed! I would love to know the process manufacturers use... including Markus.

[Highrever]

Mine where painted by DAZZ motorsport 9 years ago, you curb it, you touch it up, isn't powdercoating harder to fix?

[///Mflossin]

Powder cures at a very high temperature and is resilient to all kinds of fallout. Impossible to chip which is going to happen to painted wheels. I painted mine and through one season of very little driving I have a about 3 or 4 pecks that need to be addressed. Overall, powder is more durable, lasts longer and you can polish and clean like paint. The new BMW's are powdered from the factory....they aren't painted anymore along with powder clear.

[cdeason]

I am going to gave the wheels media blasted, painted Nogaro Silver with Silken paint, and then powder coated clear. I think I will lose a little luster but gain in durability.

[1990m3]

I bought some Wurth Silver Wheel Laquer online somewhere about two months ago. I have 15 year old BBS RS wheels with original paint on the centers. The center cap I bought off ebay was gold and I repainted it silver to match the wheel. Almost perfect paint match, I can barely tell the difference. Finish is idnetical, that's great paint. Supposedly it's hard to find, maybe I just got lucky, but I'd try the Wurth paint, it's a perfect match to the original BBS silver wheel paint

Dave

[D///M3]

Dave-
The Wurth Silver is some tough stuff to come by.... Do you remember where you found it? I even had our Wurth rep. look into it & he "said" it was NLA......


Don

[///Mflossin]

I have about 5 cans of wurth silver in my basement. Never used.

[D///M3]

John- You know what... it is the GOLD I am thinking about duh!- I was checking out the gold for you a while back & it was NLA ---- DUH- nevermind- just having a MM (Monday Moment) :D


D

[JungleJames]

How do the powder coat colors look? Does anyone have an example of a job they have had done?