flyingchappy

Having my hollows stripped and refinished. I've heard it is very difficult to match the OEM color with powder coating. Is this true? Painting seems to be the easiest but I'd like them to be a bit more durable.
TIA.
Greg

CarreraX

What you said it correct. If you want them exactly correct you will need to paint.

certz

... and if you want it to last you need to powder coat. It's always a trade-off...

flyingchappy

Thanks. What is done at the factory?

1990-964

Fairly certain that OE rims are conventionally painted. The finish is no where near durable enough to reflect powder coating. Regular paint does seem to hold up very well though.

certz

If you go with paint be sure to use a quality shop that knows what they are doing. A friend had his wheels painted on the cheap and I suspect they did a poor job during the prep phase because the first time we took the wheels off the socket rubbed a hole right through the new paint. It just kind of peeled away.

H.H.Chinn

The hollow spoke are painted except for the ones for the TurboS which received a coating of depleted metal.

LexVan

I had a set of OEM wheels powdercoated last year. Look great. $150/wheel.

PAULUNM

When powdercoat chips- it tends to come off in chunks. I prefer painted wheels.

bella1

I used J&J Powder Coating in Virginia Beach and they are as close to the look of paint as I could ever imagine. $500 for all four wheeels.

Essexmetal

Wheels should be blasted for best adhesion. The powder does have a tough time completely coating into the wheel nut pocket, not a bad thing since it does not thickly cover the wheel nut seat. I have three sets that I track and I did have an issue with the tires shifting on the rim. I blasted the beads and it greatly reduced rotation. Either have the shop mask the bead or blast after the fact. The shop I use for my commercial powder coating handled it and did their usually perfect job. You don't need to go to a custom shop. If you want to purchase a minimum box of powder they can come very close to the factory color of Silver. If powder is done correctly it will stay fresh looking long after wet paint chips and scratches away. Powder will usually have a bit more orange peel than wet but the durability out weighs the peel. I have very light scoring from the countless tire changes but the power is still attached.
Rick

MishaDesigns

+1 for powdercoating if you want them to last