IcemanG17

There is a place in Stockton called "Stockton Wheel" that does powdercoating for about $100 per wheel..... I also heard good things about a business out of the east bay called "Pacific Wheel" that does good work.....

If you go with paint, then any body shop can do it....however I recommend powder coating...since brake dust is extremely abrasive....but if your careful with quality paint it should be okay

Jadz928

For my early car, I've chosen to pcoat. I believe a two-stage coat will be durable and match the original finish. And since I the car will be driven and showed, that seems to be be the best choice for me.
As long as I can match the quality of finish and color.

I think autobody paint can be a good choice, but has as many variables to control, if not more. Color, and quality of finish, but also quality of the prep (ie paint/primer to achieve equiv. durability to original finish or pcoat), and proper paint curing.

If you rattle can it, you will be challenged to properly strip the top-coat silver to the OE primer.
You def. wouldn't wait to try and recreate the OE prep primer w/a rattle can. Just won't happen.
Then plan to buy and oven for a decent cure...

To me, even at $150 a wheel to pcoat... would be a steal. IMHO.

EDIT: I believe the most difficult hurdle with pcoat will be matching the original color. I have ordered a sample from NIC, and will compare it to NOS painted center caps (the ones with the black debossed crest, p/n 928 361 032 01).

3000teeth

Couple of great recommendations. Thanks guys! I'll check 'em out.

Sounds like almost everyone thinks powder-coating is the way to go. I'll definitely do a little more research on that. My main goal is to get them (center caps and all) to look like they did when they came off the lot in 1979. I know that's a challenge with the phone-dials, but I've seen them on a concourse 924 and don't want anything else.

Podguy

I think the original wheels - 78 and 79 were anodized and not painted. At least the ones that came on my car were annodised with a slighly rough finish. I think the painted wheels came later

linderpat

Mine (a 78) are original and were painted originally (silver). I have the 16" wheels, maybe the 15" wheels were different? Anyway, powder coating is the way to go - mine look brand new and the brake dust hoses right off with minimal effort to keep them clean. I do wax them too.

risaac928

Here in San Antonio I have been quoted 125 per wheel, I want to pay less than 100 per wheel. Those hand painted caps look really good.

Podguy

I bought my 78 in 1979 as the second owner. There was no paint on the wheels. When I had them polished (a good option) the annodized surface hard to be removed before they could be polished. Polish is a good way to go followed by a clear coat from the POR people.

3000teeth

OK, I've decided to paint. The painter who is doing my car offered to do them at $50 a wheel, matching the original color. He'll have them done when I pick up my car next Saturday. I'm going to top them off with the new center caps that Jadz is showing. I'll probably order those this week and have him match the color.

whiteNSXs

Whatever you do, DO NOT use Wheel America. These people are liars, cannot follow instructions and do lousy works.
Steve

Nicole

Relax, and tell us how you really feel, Steve!

Is that Wheels America in Hayward, on Whipple? What did they not do?

3000teeth

Hey Jim, are you positive these are the same color as the original phone dials?

Jadz928

No, but it is likely, as long as the OEM paint spec. did not change.
The center cap in that pic was mfg'd near 2004.
The only way to be more certain is to find NOS of the same p/n, with a date nearer 1977.

You could contact Porsche Classic and ask them. Technically, the 928 falls on their list of Porsche classics. But I don't think they have much interest in them.
Maybe you'll have better luck getting a response.

whiteNSXs

Nicole,
If you care to read my deal with Wheel America, yes, it is the one on Whipple. I have nothing against the owner, Bob, who appears to be a great guy. I have never met him in person but he is quite gracious online.
I have had a few wheels repainted by them in the past. The jobs needed to be redone due to color mismatch. But eventually to my satisfaction. That was a few years ago and they were mainly doing wheel painting instead of powdercoating.
One time Bob gave me a voucher to have a freebie because his worker had a mix up with my orders. I used the freebie last year but the wheel was not painted very well. I did not ask them to re-do the wheel since it was a freebie and I am grateful of Bob's nice gesture. I still wanted to give him more business in the future.

Fast forward to this year. A few months ago, I needed to have a grey wheel refinished to the NH-565 Grand Prix White color on my NSX so I SPECIFICALLY asked them to PAINT the wheel and the center cap to that color. The manager there wanted to powdercoat the wheel since they don't paint much anymore nowadays. However, he did not have the exact color match which I require. So he agreed on PAINTING the wheel and cap in the NH-565 color. Simple enough and we put that in the work order.
I gave them all 2 weeks to take their time to do the wheel. To drop off and pick up the wheel, I had to block off my work time to go over to Hayward both ways.
On the promised day that I was to pick up the wheel, I called to make sure the wheel was done before I drove over. A worker there told me that they nicked the paint right by the valve stem when they remounted the tire so they needed to re-do the rim. I agreed on the delay and I was promised the wheel in one more week. To be safe, I blocked my schedule off 2 weeks from then.
A week later, I called and they said the wheel was ready and I told them that I would pick up the wheel a week later.

So I went over to pick up the wheel a week later. The wheel was done in a tannish white color in POWDERCOAT. There was a nick by the valve stem (remember they said the wheel needed to be redone due to a nick?). The cap was PAINTED in NH-565 and the paint was messed up. They even POWDERCOATED the hup surface AND the hup bore so I could not even put the hubring back on the wheel!

The manager was not there at the time. The worker said that the manager already called me to informed me that they would powdercoat the wheel instead because of some compatibility issue.
They asked me to call in the morning when the manager was there. I told them that I would not be coming back again since I did not want anymore of their delays and mess ups. I took the wheel and I told them that I was not going to pay for the job. The workers there were apologetic and asked me to sign a paper to prove that I took the wheel.

The next day. I called the manager. He said he called me and I agreed to have it powdercoated. I told him and assured him that he and I NEVER had that conversation. He then said he must have had told his worker to call me that he was going to powdercoat the wheel instead and he thought I agreed to it. I told him that not only did I not receive such a call, I never wanted to have powdercoating the wheel in the first place because the color would not match. Then he gave me all kinds of excuses why the wheel was powdercoated and the cap was painted. I did not even bother telling him that the wheel was not even redone, as I was told, for the nick on the paint since I knew it was going to be a bunch of lies afterwards. I told him that I would be taking the wheel somewhere else and I would not pay for the job. He remembered the freebie Bob gave me a year ago and said, "that's fine. You have not spent any money on us anyway!"

I think they used to do decent paint work but they mostly did not get it right the first time. I knew Bob took pride of his business but his crews there, at least the Hayward brance, just could not care less about doing a good job or stand behind their works.

I still have the wheel and cap untouched. I tried to remove the powdercoating off the hub and bore but it was harder than I thought. It probably needs to be sandblasted. The wheel is on the car without the hubring. I drive my Porsches as DD anyway.

Steve

3000teeth

I tried looking it up on a few Porsche parts sites and found that Pelican lists it as "OEM Hubcap for Phone Dial Type Wheel": http://bit.ly/m4cpM1

Jadz928

^^^
So it's NLA from Porsche, but available from the OEM.
So the only difference is it doesn't have to meet Porsche quality specs.
In this case, why would they deviate the paint spec they'd supplied for years to Porsche.
If you wanted to play it safe, find NOS Geniune Porsche parts.
However, be aware there may be no discernible difference... just trying to eliminate variables.