Hey everyone,

I just bought a 2012 WW GSR EVO over the weekend. I dont have the money to drop $2500 on new rims right now. So, I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to DIY painting jobs for rims. My local buddies told me to plati dip my rims but I heard it chips and flakes easy. I dont want anything getting onto my brakes or rotors. If anyone has suggestions I am all ears. I am trying to spend under $200 on the whole job.

Thanks!
Ryan

 

I would recommend PC or plastidip, PC is gonna run less the $500 for all four and is permanent. Plastidip is like $15-$20 for three to four cans and can be peeled off. I'm gonna plastidip mine when I get the chance. From others I have seen it's not all that bad it actually looks pretty good if prep'd/done right. I'm doing it until I get the funds in 6 months for Eneki Raijins or RPF1's. Regadless, cheap, easy and if they start to look like crap, peel and re-do or just peel and leave it off. Additionally, plastidip makes a ton of colors. Im' going black...although I know WW and black is hella played out...lol.

 

i powder coated mine for 250 bucks they sand blasted and powder coated and cleared my wheels they look awesome and don't rally chip at all..

 

I was thinking of powder coating mine. I got a quote from a shop down the street. They said $100 per wheel. But they need the wheels for almost a week and I would need to bring in the rim only.

I decided not to cause it would be a pain for me since my Evo is my ride to and from work/school.

Also I didnt know what color to do for the AS.

 

I powder coated my stock rims and then 5 of my spokes cracked within 1 year. So I would be careful with that, cuz that was an extremely unpleasant surprise.

 

I just did Plasi Dip over the weekend and looks great. I will see how they hold up overtime, but for the price you cant beat it. The great part about it is you can take it off if you dont like it. Pretty cool stuff!

 

I'm about to plastidip mine this weekend

 

I painted mine a while back (about a year and a half ago). It's held up pretty well, but I want to do it again. I bought some wheel paint and clear coat ( about $30ish) and took all the wheels off and REALLY cleaned and painted them. It worked very well and took one day. You might need two days though just in case. The cleaning and prep work takes forever. You don't need to take the tires off either.

No mess, only costs around 30-35 bucks and looks good. Either way, I would suggest taking the wheels off the car when you do it so you don't get crap/overspray everywhere.

 

I painted mine. First I sanded with the Red Scotch Brite pad, then cleaned with thinner. I put 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of the color of choice, then 3 coats of clear. I have had them for 2+ yrs and no issues! I did use a paint gun but Im sure a rattle can can do a nice job to. I got all my paint for free so it was worth it for me. here are some pics






I know these look pink but they are red

 

I like that gunmetal color. Nice work ugakirk!

 

I've done 2 sets of wheels with wheel paint rattle cans and clear coat. If you do good prep work it will come out good. When I bought my VIII the wheels were rashed to hell. I sanded then bondo then sanded again then painted they came out great. Since rattle can tends to come out a bit rough use some steel wool before the clear coat. Make sure the color is completely dry like 12 hours or so before the steel wool and just lightly rub. Then clear coat, the clear coat will be a little rough when dry but will smooth out over time. (a few car washes). Take your time and avoid screw ups.

 

The thing about painted wheels tho is finding a shop that wont scratch the paint off the lip when mounting tires. It can be especially hard to do when mounting very stiff low profile tires.

There is one shop in my area with a European "touchless" tire mounting machine which I use after having a few bad experiences with other shops and painted wheels. It just seems like another thing to worry about that I'd rather not.

I wonder how well the powdercoats hold up to a standard tire mounting machine. I imagine the plasti dip doesn't hold up at all.

can anybody else chime in on this? Getting tires mounted on my oem painted BBSs is my least favorite thing to do after the experiences I've had.

 

I will state the ovious and say just exchange your wheel with someone that has gotten them powder coated. If you are going to do it yourself then PC is way to go. You don't have to worry about chipping as much as painting them.

 

I plastidip about 2 weeks ago. took me about hour to prep 3 hours of coating. cheap and great! went thru car washing fine no peeling!!