Wheel refurb. Powdercoat or paint?

[X5Sport]

If powdercoting is as good as refurbers would like us to believe, why don't wheels come from the factory with it? What do refurbers know that vehicle and wheel manufacturers haven't realised??

Cost. Every extra penny/cent etc means less time on the luxury yacht for the bean-counters.

[StuBeeDoo]

The "gunmetal" grey they have used because.....

Ferric grey is a difficult colour to match should you damage a wheel in the future so we would recommend our Gun Metal Grey colour which is very similar and it’s an easier match should you require a single wheel fixing in the future

.....is more like a high-gloss anthracite. I appreciate that the wide, flat, areas on the spokes accentuate the colour but to me it's far darker than either shade of Ferric that I have seen. What I was after was darker than silver, but nowhere near anthracite. I see plenty of cars about with the sort of colour I wanted, so surely it can't be that difficult?

Finally............... I've managed to identify the colour I wanted. Ford (sorry...) Flash grey.

[Leslie]

I thought wheels on new cars where powder coated nowadays but I suppose with the inside of the rim being what looks like primer maybe not

[StuBeeDoo]

Finally............... I've managed to identify the colour I wanted. Ford (sorry...) Flash grey.

I had a rush of blood to the head, there ^^^

I've got hold of a couple of touch-ups of BMW colours. A80 Ferric grey (the original shade of Ferric) and A08 Silver grey, which is similar but slightly more silver than the Ferric is. I'm going to put some of each on pieces of plasticard to use as swatches.

The refurber I should have used has confirmed that they can mix any colour of paint I want from a colour-code. So once the powdercoated wheels are off the car for the summer I will be getting them done again.

From past experience I really shouldn't have let myself get talked into powdercoat. I'm itching to get the wheels back off the car because I don't like the colour.

[sapphireblack]

Go for your preferred paint as the base colour, but do have powder top coat/lacquer, its much more durable than wet lacquer which will chip easily like original finish wheels.

Powdercoat is only a process not a colour finish

[Wayfarer]

Watching and learning with interest, as hopefully picking up a set of wheels today that need a refurbishment, presently machine cut, but my aim is to paint / power coat to a robust silver grey colour or similar, that will hopefully last

[X5Sport]

I need to get a pair of diamond cut wheels redone - but that will need to be a BMW job as it’s their car, and a pair on the X6 redone as 10 years of use has meant a few dings and nicks. I can get those painted by BMW as they have a body shop or try to find a good local place that will do a ‘tyres off, proper job’.

[sapphireblack]

Surely tyres off and a full strip is the only real way to do this sort of work properly

I still have this set in need of some TLC but the move to Greece is on and off so frequently at the moment, nothing's getting sorted as i would like.

[X5Sport]

Surely tyres off and a full strip is the only real way to do this sort of work properly

You’d think......but apparently some companies fix em ‘tyre on’.

[sapphireblack]

Those companies don't 'fix them' they merely tart them up

[Wayfarer]

Mine haven't got any tyres on my, so that's one less bit to consider- never been keen on second hand tyres anyway, so a bonus as far as I am concerned.

Need to source a set of TPMS Valves (2018 f15 40d) if anyone has any pointers for a supplier, otherwise I suppose its searching BMW dealerships for deals on ebay etc.

Then do the research into who and what to use for the refurbishment, one thing for sure is that they wont be diamond cut, as I'd like a robust set of wheels, but fortunately in no great rush, a bit of an as and when project.

[StuBeeDoo]

I've got hold of a couple of touch-ups of BMW colours. A80 Ferric grey (the original shade of Ferric) and A08 Silver grey, which is similar but slightly more silver than the Ferric is. I'm going to put some of each on pieces of plasticard to use as swatches.

I've tried the A08 & A80 swatches against the powdercoated wheels. TBF to the bloke who did the coating, the actual colour of the coating isn't that far off Ferric grey. What is different is the coating has far larger flake in, and - as I posted when I got the wheels back - it's much glossier.

I thought I might have been warming to the look of the wheels, but I'm as disappointed now as I was back in August. I don't want to risk a second disappointment so I'll probably not have these wheels done in Ferric, but go for Silver grey. By the time I wear-out the tyres on my summer 304s, those will be ready for a refurb - and they are probably a more appropriate design for Ferric grey.

[Wayfarer]

Good luck in your quest to get your wheels as you want them, there is a massive almost infinite selection of colours, shades, finishes not to mention suppliers.

I am currently looking with a local supplier at a combination of silver shadow chrome and dark grey finish on my 468m alloys, to mimic the original finish but without any machined faces, which appears to be the source of a lot of BMW alloy corrosion, especially in the centres.

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[StuBeeDoo]

I had a light-bulb-moment recently and I might have saved myself the cost of another refurb.

I've sprayed the face of one wheel with clear PlastiDip, as an experiment. It's toned the finish down a fair bit and I actually quite like the way it looks. It's a lot nearer to how I think Ferric should look, so I'll probably get another tin and do the other three. I can't get at the other wheels to take a comparison pic for a couple of days, but when I do I'll post again.

[sapphireblack]

An interesting solution. Looking forward to seeing the results of your labours.

BTW, its good to know there's another OCD member here