Tier1Terrier

I love my wheels just not the color. I could live with it for a while but at some point I’m going to want to change the color to black.

So I read a lot of posts about powder coating and painting wheels and don’t really understand which is the best option. What’s the difference? Which is the most durable option (withstand chemical cleaning & pressure washing)? Which would be most equivalent to factory finish/application? Can the process be reversed (ie stripped) if desired to go back to original?

Next question I have is which black do people think looks best? Satin? Gloss? Or something else? Which color hides brake dust best? (Might be what I have now actually).

Any downsides to having the wheel color changed over time? Not talking about resale. More about maintaining the finish vs factory colored.

Lastly, these are my wheels (PFA). If I’m not mistaken, they are called “RS Spider Design” but I have no idea what their color is called. Anyone know?

LexVan

Tell your wife you need safer wheels. And the safest wheels always come painted black. She'll thank you for being so considerate.

SConn

Changed mine from black to bronze powder coat. I'm kind of over black wheels, so I wanted something different. Powder coating will be much more durable than paint. There are 100's of colors to choose from.


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mc3456

You have the same RS Spyder wheels I have. Mine were slightly scratched on the face when I bought my car with 8k miles. Had them professionally stripped, machined, and powder coated one shade darker to better hide brake dust, yet still lighter than black. The original satin platinum color and matte black both really show brake dust a lot more whereas my slightly darker color hides it really well. Maybe something to consider. I now have HREs for Summer, so these are now going to be my Winter rims. The company that makes the powder coat colors, Prismatic Powders, has over 6,500 colors to choose from. You can order swatches of the pigment colors to see a range of potential options. Very inexpensive and they ship out the samples super fast. Something to consider.

DanQ

Have you thought about Plasti Dip? This way you can return the wheels to stock when you sell it.
I have black carrera 2 wheels and prefer silver. I think I'm going to try Plasti Dip Bright Aluminum metalizer.
Its about $80 for a kit. 4 cans of black, 3 cans silver, dip release, etc. The more coats you put on the easier it is to peel off.

I'm sure it is not as robust as auto paint, but it looks repairable at home if it gets dinged or dirty.

rugu6869

I just saw this.

Yes, powdercoating is more durable, but you need to make sure they know what they are doing. It needs to be a low-temp powdercoating so you don't affect the strength of the wheels (yes, baking wheels at over 400 degrees could weaken your wheels).
I got blasted on the BMW forum for making this statement. Alex from HRE chimed in on behalf. He said they researched low temp powdercoats for a long time before they started to offer it.

Color wise, I have to be honest, black is a PITA! I had dark gun metallic wheels for a long time on my BMW. It came time where I needed to have them refinished and I went for a satin black. They looked stellar...for about 5 minutes until I drove it and all the brake dust and other dirt showed up clear as day. They never looked clean or good if I drove the car.
IMHO, go for a dark grey. It's almost the same color as brake dust, which is a major bonus.

Guards_Red_991

I love your wheels mate, color and all.

Jack F

Find a GTS on a Porsche lot so you can see what Satin black looks like. I think the wheels look great. My winter wheelset is silver spoked so the change is nice.

Hedge Hog

I liked the satin black oem finish but as others have said its a pain to keep clean and also fancied something different. Changed mine from satin black to satin stealth copper (bronze ish) powder coat and its a lot easier to keep clean and doesn’t show the dirt so much when its not.

davidgriffith

@Tier1Terrier where in S Florida are you? I'm in Miami and I've been looking for a set of RS Spyders for a narrow body 991.2. I've unmarked Carrera S wheels in Silver. Let me know if you want to discuss.

Greg D.

I plastidipped mine. Found it durable, easy to patch, 100% reversible in about 30 minutes of peeling (have the kids do it).
Cost - $40 ;-)