Superman09

iTrader: (65)

Hello. Well i am sort of wanting to powdercoat my privat fahrens black. Right now they are polished lip and centercap and spokes are silver. I want the silver spokes and what not black.

Can someone use this link provided and go to my cardomain page and use a pic of my car and photoshop the rims black and post it back up in this thread?> http://www.cardomain.com/ride/851616/1 . That would be awesome.

I am also making a poll for who thinks my car would look best as is or with powdercoated black rims.

Also does anyone know a good place near me (1 hour north of Detroit) that can powdercoat my rims for a decent price (post up a rough estimate) and does a good job?

TA4U2NV

iTrader: (1)

I say black, but i'm biased...

ZEEMAN

You need new wheels all together

Superman09

iTrader: (65)

Want to give me the few thousand dollars? Id really like some new ones with bigger rears but i finally realized..... who cares really the tire size for the street? Ill jsut keep these and spice em up.

JustAnIlluzion

iTrader: (60)

DIY black, PC kit is 60 bucks, find a old oven on the curb on garbage day, buy the black powder, mask the wheels, after they cure polish that lip a lil.

ShevrolayZ28

iTrader: (4)

I say PC them and leave the spokes and the lip polished but I may be bias.

ShevrolayZ28

iTrader: (4)

Also, you might want to have a durable clear finish on the unfinished areas so you won't have to constantly polish them.

Superman09

iTrader: (65)

Ok, well my spokes arent polished right now. They are silver, only the lips and center cap are polished. Im not sure if i can trust myself to do it myself. Id rather have it done professionally.

Superman09

iTrader: (65)

Hey JustAnIlluzion....you have the exact exhaust set up i am going to be ordering here in a little bit. Can you write me a PM or jsut post here... You ordered the True duals all made already from TSP with the sweet thunders? Price on those? Or how did you get the true duals, i want them with sweet thunders also but cant find anyplace to buy it from. Also what does your set up sound like if you can explain and idle, 2k and WOT.

Superman09

iTrader: (65)

Also could someone photoshop my rims black if they have a chance? I also have a question about the powdercoat..... will it be the same color as my paint or how dark?

Superman09

iTrader: (65)

Hmmmm got another idea. Anyone know if i can make my entire rims polished. Like turn the spokes that are silve rnow into polished so i can have all polished rims. That possible?

Superman09

iTrader: (65)

Anyone know how i can polish the silver part? I think i might like that best if my whole rims were polished. Can i do that and how?

phantomzer0

iTrader: (17)

sure you can,just go buy a dremel, so polishing bits, polishing compound and go at it, it will rpobably take you a week to do all 4.

JackZ28

Here's an idea of what it would look like!

SSilverSSurfer

iTrader: (8)

i just got my zr1's put on today...they were at the powdercoating place...and i ooculdnt be happier

Superman09

iTrader: (65)

Gracias. I think i would like them best if they were all polished. Anyway i can eff it up and scratch them all to hell or anything using the dremel?

Thanks for the photoshop Jack. Im leaning towards all polsihed now. What do you guys think about this and the best way to git r done?

SSilverSSurfer

iTrader: (8)

drop that 4x4!!!!!! lol

thesoundandthefury

iTrader: (3)

I'm right now in the process of polishing my HP Designs HPR5's. My wheels are very similar in design to yours, being that they're a 5 spoke design with the "rivets." I'll give you a rundown of what you're looking at to get this done:

First, you're gonna have to get the paint and clear off the wheels. I can tell you that on my wheels with the hypersilver finish, THIS PAINT IS FRIGGIN TOUGH! I **** you not, I bought two cans of that aircraft paint stripper thinking that would get all 4 wheels done, and I ended up using a whole can to do one wheel. Part of the reason you'll have to use so much is because these wheels are not polished or machined before they're painted...and because they have that rough cast finish to them, they have to lay that paint on pretty thick to fill out the cast and make the wheel look smooth. It's a cheaper way for the factory to make the wheels look smooth than for them to machine or polish them all. So in that regard, get LOTS of paint stripper.

Second, once you're down to bare metal, you're gonna have to sand. I don't advise using a dremel or a die grinder at this stage because it's too easy for you to end up with a wavy finish. On wheels, you have to pay really close attention to keeping all surfaces as true to form as possible, otherwise you could end up with one spoke being uneven with the rest or even get the "funhouse mirror" effect on it, and even if you're the most experienced person in the world with a die grinder this is almost impossible to avoid when using one of those. Just stick with regular sandpaper, as you'll have much better control over keeping all your surfaces even.

As for sandpaper, up until 1000 grit, I use standard aluminum oxide that can be found at just about any hardware store. Start with 120, then go to 220, 320, 400, 500, 600, 800, then 1000 grit. Normally you'd continue through to 1500 or even 2000 grit if you were following standard polishing protocol, but I'm gonna let you in on a little secret product that I discovered a few months ago. It's called MICROMESH. Basically this stuff looks and functions the same way as regular sandpaper, except the only difference is that this stuff goes all the way up to 12,000 GRIT. If you can get your hands on a set of this stuff I highly recommend you use it, because it's going to bring the finish on your wheels to an almost perfect mirror before you ever have to pick up a power tool. To give you an example, the 12,000 grit Micromesh has such a fine scratch pattern, you can use it to polish the lenses on a pair of glasses. The benefit of going this route using the Micromesh is that you'll have total control over your surface trueness for 95% of the polishing procedure.

The last step will require a power tool. This is where your dremel or die grinder will come into play. To bring out the final bling in the aluminum, you'll need to use a buffing compound. The stuff you're after can be found here: www.caswellplating.com . It's the white rouge buffing compound. Get some of that along with some tapered felt bobs and a mushroom buff, and you should be all set.

I've been around the metal polishing block a few times, so much so that I'm now in the process of turning it into a business, so if you have any more questions or problems feel free to ask. Also, be sure to post pics when you're done!

CrabhartLS1

Secksy!!!

Superman09

iTrader: (65)

Alright thanks man. So i use aircraft paint stripper first to get all the silver off. How does this work...? Spray and wipe down or what? Than once all the silver paint is off and i have bare metal i jsut sand paper up till 1000 grit and than try and use the micromesh? Than after i get that done, i use a dremel to buff in the polishing compound and im golden? Gracias