Hi All,

Sorry to barge in on you guys but I have a question about the finish on the outer section of the 3.6 turbo wheel. Recently, I decided to have my RH wheel centers painted to match the exterior of my car and the genius at the tire store damaged two of the lips on the fronts. I now have to have them refinished. Here is my question(s):

Does the stock Speedline wheel have a clear coat on the outer polished lip or is it simply polished with no protective coating on top?

If it does have a clear coat, is it the same clear as is on the center of the wheel or is it a powder coat clear?

What might you recommend I do? Polish with no clear? Polish with regular clear coat? Polish with powder coat clear? Why?

Many thanks in advance for any assist you might lend.

BTW, I am a HUGE fan of the 3.6 turbo!

 

Yes, they rock!

Btw, the GTS is no slouch, either. Nice garage!

 

The Speedlines look great on the GTS.

Nice Pcar. Had a 5.0 euro 928 fun car until it developed electrical problems. The GTS must be to the 928 what the 3.6 was to the single turbo cars.

To answer your questions. The Speedline has a clear coat, appears to be standard clear, several coats. I would not polish and leave them unfinished unless you plan on garaging the car and hand polishing them with Blue Magic or equivalent pretty often. They will loose their brilliance once the elements hit them. I would separate the wheel sections and clear coat them separately and then assemble.

BTW your never barging in, this is an open forum and any enthusiast is always welcome. I don't know about the rest but I love all Porsches, some more than others but all are good.

Good Luck

 

I have Kinesis 18" on my Supra TT and i opted for custom highly polished centers and the outer lips without any clearcoat.The only reason i went with polished wheels were 'coz i don't drive the car much ( 2-3,000 miles/year ) and yes i can hand polish them when ever i need the shine.
However if it was a daily driven car than non clearcoated wheels would be pain to clean'em but than they are not as shiny as the polished version either I'll try to post some picts later.

 

Guys,

Thanks for the nice words about the cars, I also really appreciate the info and you're opinions.

Here's where I'm at with the project. Right now, I'm having the outer pcs. of the wheels polished. Last night I received the following email from a powder coating outfit in the area. "Plugging all holes as specified and clear coating with powder. We Have an exterior grade polyester clear called "Crystal Clear", is virtually undetectable over a polished surface. I would suggest this clear. 30.00 per unit piece or 120.00+ tax"

To me this sounds like a pretty good way to go especially since the Speedline wheel has a clear coat and powder coating is so much more durable. I was leaning toward not leaving the polished surface exposed for two reasons. First, the original 17's on this car had been polished and even though they do not see a lot of use, have faded/tarnished. Second, given my first reason and the fact that I am dreading polishing those wheels, I would most certainly not enjoy polishing around all the bolts on a 3 pc wheel even if I only had to do it every so often.

This week, I'll be taking the centers and caps to the body shop to have them painted midnight blue metallic to match the exterior of my GTS. I realize this is a matter of personal taste and that not everyone will appreciate the colored center like I do. Here is a picture of my inspiration to do this. I'll post pics when I get everything back together.

 

Here's another pic of the wheel:

 

Chuck,
Yes it is a Personal pref but if i was you i will not polish the whole lip,i'll only go for the outer most part.The problem with the wheels above is its making the centers looking relatively smaller and kinda out of proportion.

 

Chuck,

I am not sure by the photos but If any car can carry it off I would say the 928 can. I have seen the centers on other 928's color coded and found the look to be stunning. I thought your car was Black. Now that you tell us it is Beautiful Marathon Blue (one of my favorite colors) I like the car even more. I would go with the Color coding. I think if you high Polish the entire lip it would offset the darker center.

$120.00 is worth having them powder coated. However I have found that paint scratches and powder coating chips. Six of one? I would also have them show you how little change it makes. I have been promised by these places only to find out its not quite what I expected.

Good Luck

 

Here's the car that pushed me over the top on painting the centers.

 

Here's another.

 

One last one of the wheel.

 

Thats a tough one. The S looks nice with the painted centers but your car looks very nice with the silver centered three piece alloys. The more I look at it I am beginning to think the Silver is better. The other point is if you leave them silver you may decide to change rims again later and If you want to sell them you will have a harder time with the painted centers.

 

I think its going to look incredible with the body colored centers, good luck with the project Chuck, who in charlotte is doing the painting / powdercoating?

And if all works out an I get my fathers C2 Turbo it might go the same route, I would love to see oak green metlalic centers on some speedlines / speedline looking wheels.....

 

Hi Ian,

Good to hear from you.

Import Paint and Body on Independence is doing the centers and Crosslink in Mooresville is doing the powder coating. Mirror Image is polishing the outer pcs now.

BTW, I love the Oak Green turbo and it would look awesome with 3.6 wheels and painted to match centers!

 

Chuck,

Thanks for the info, I can't wait to see the results, I guess it might not be till next years autofair that I see them in person, but I'm sure they will really set your 928 apart even more.

I hope to have two sets of wheels for the 965, 1 set of silver or polished and the 2nd set with the Oak green centers, but right now getting the car and selling my 951 are the more important details....