Rims repaired ?? Powdercoated?

Has anyone ever had there rims repaired/repainted? Or Powdercoated?

Which is better? HELP

[ensteele]

Seasvx had his chromed. Check his locker, I think there are pictures of them there.

[lee]

Ask Todd, see this thread:

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...&threadid=3383

BTW, the search button is your friend

I am moving to fla in June, Tampa/st Pete area...

[Chicane]

It's REALLY expensive to get them redone, if they have any curb rash. However, if you wanted to do it cheap, I'd suggest getting the tires dismounted, sandblasting them, filling anything with JB weld, sanding it flat, and using 'high performance wheel paint', available at any car parts store. You can find a pretty close match to the original color, and the paint holds up well.

- Rob

[lee]

Originally posted by MikeInd
I am moving to fla in June, Tampa/st Pete area...

Advance welcome extended.

Randy ii (svxeno) lives in the Tampa area. I'm about 3-4 hours east depending on just where in Tampa/St Pete. Solarsvx sold his car and bought a WRX (but we try not to hold it against him) and relatively recently sponsored a mini-meet at his home - it's kinda central (Orlando). You're welcome over at my place - 4 blocks off the Atlantic - barrier island setting (it's tough living here but somebody's got to do it). There are a few guys willing to meet, check the SE forum.

Unbelievably cold tonite - gonna get down to 41 they say - brrrr!

June ought to be different, hot & humid, but if you're close to the water it's really no worse than a mid-west/mid-atlantic summer. BTW, I grew up in St Louis - wife born in Ohio, raised in IN & MO - I worked for a few years in Wash DC.

I repainted my wheels, I used a slightly darker Subaru color and used three coats of dupont premeir clear coat. They have been done for about 8 months or more and there is no sign of any problems. I love the new shiny finish and I imagine if you went to a closer to silver color they might appear to be chrome!
Good luck!

~G

Here's my post from the Yahoo site 'way back in April, 00 describing my re-finishing of my 'spare' rims:


Those that follow these posts may remember that I picked up a set of OEM SVX wheels on eBay a couple of months ago (at a very nice price). They were in very good condition, but had some scuffing on some of the outer spoke surfaces.

I have had a set of Pirelli 210P Winter tires for the snow and I finally tossed the original Bridgestones at the last "change-over". I got the "new" wheels so I could do easy seasonal changeovers- I'm really looking forward to 20 minute swaps when the weather changes- instead of dismount- remount- re-balance twice a year!

After reading a number of posts here confirming my intuition, I bought a set of Nitto 450 Extremes from Discount Tire. Even with shipping, the total was only about $411.

I had the wheels glass-bead blasted at a local shop to remove the original powder finish and the usual crud around the bead and inner surface and then had a near-by company powder-coat the wheels. I first looked through their color samples and thought I would look for something a little different than "stock" silver. I thought of going with a little darker color (contrasting nicely with my Barcelona Red finish) and fell in love with a neat color called "Black Chrome". It looks really shiny from some angles and looks darker from others. We couldn't get a small quantity from the supplier, so I looked around for alternatives and found some neat stuff from Eastwood online (Hot Coat). They have a color they call "Chrome Smoke" that sounded very similar to the original color I saw. It looks almost "chrome" in the sunlight and gray in the shadows for nice contrast- kind of like a hematite- (if you know what that "gemstone" looks like). They only painted the outside surface and then clear-coated the entire wheels afterwards with powder-coat.

The color is a little darker than I first imagined, but the finish is gorgeous! I used the original silver center caps.

I've only had them on a day so far, so I'm anxious to more thoroughly "try out" the Nitto's, but they are very quiet as others had said.

I'm looking forward to "showing off" the new stuff at the upcoming Duluth meet. I'll keep you posted. Hope to see a bunch of you there!

-Mark

(Here's a pic' from when they were 'new'- I've since picked up a 'early' set of center caps which more closely match the wheel cover- compared to the '94 stock ones)

[svxcess]

Check out this my post on this thread http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...ght=transwheel

It is the 5th post from the top.

I had my wheels done by Transwheel and they are wonderful to work with.

I had my wheels powder coated this past June thru my local mechanic while the my 94 LSI was in the shop for 5 weeks.

He did not mark anything up from an outfit called Keystone and it was $140 per wheel. They were pitted and had some rust but cam back NEW. Color matched to a new set of Caps I had previously ordered.

They re-machine trued the wheels as well. They look showroom new especially after my repaint this past Sept.

There are some pics in my locker.

[wawazat??]

Originally posted by lee
Ask Todd, see this thread:

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...&threadid=3383

BTW, the search button is your friend

Thanks Lee.

FWIW I paid $200 for the powdercoating and $110 to have two bent wheels straightened.

Todd

Originally posted by MikeInd
I am moving to fla in June, Tampa/st Pete area...

You're going to have to change you name. Might I suggest "MikeFla"?

Just a thought...

Anyway, premature welcome to Florida. Get ready for "older drivers" and driving styles from every part of the country. It gets UGLY on the roads here.

There are two shops locally who will 'restore' wheels. I'll post later as to why I know this. (NIGHTMARE) I was quoted $125 per wheel if all four are done or $155 each individually. The other shop quoted $179 period. (Makes me think I'm in the wrong business) Mine is an esthetics problem so I'm doing neither for the time being. I figure I'll get something aftermarket when I do move on this. Or maybe I'll try that JB weld thing. Just lost my job and the new one won't pay much for 6 months or so. $'s therefore are very tight right now.

Lastly, it's currently 74 degrees here. Just beautiful! You'll love it.


Randy ii