Dealer offering to powdercoat
Discussion
piddy44 said:
Sister looking at a new (used) car. Dealer is offering to send the kerbed wheels for powder-coating & says could keep them silver or change to black if preferred.
I think gloss black would finish the car off nicely but read that it can show swirls & scratches much more than other colours so might best sticking with silver.
Anyone got experience of gloss black powdercoated wheels?
I've had black (powder coated) wheels on a couple of MINIs in the past, including having a set refurbished. What you do notice is that the brake dust you thought was 'black' on a silver wheel can actually be a brown colour and if you don't clean black wheels properly they will end up with a dirty sheen on them that is probably more noticeable than on a silver wheel.I think gloss black would finish the car off nicely but read that it can show swirls & scratches much more than other colours so might best sticking with silver.
Anyone got experience of gloss black powdercoated wheels?
Black wheels can look good as a contrast against the body colour, and equally awful against the wrong body colour (e.g. black, unless you like the ghetto look). Black has a big advantage over silver in that it is much easier to touch up small kerbing injuries later with generic black gloss paint without them sticking out like a sore thumb on a silver wheel.
I have had black powder coated wheels o a red Focus ST in the past and I did think they look good but i've since gone off black wheels in general as I think a lot of detail of the wheel design gets lost, sometimes thats a good thing though depending on the wheels. my preferencew these days is to have silver.
Powder coating as a process does seem to hold up very well though and i'd be happy to have wheels powder coated again.
Powder coating as a process does seem to hold up very well though and i'd be happy to have wheels powder coated again.
The reason he is suggesting the powder coat is its cheaper, plus it will last better.
Diamond cut wheels are painted/powdercoated, then cut afterwards. Just cuts out the cutting.
My wheels were so rotten, peeling and generally awful I decided not to get them redone so just went black.
Diamond cut wheels are painted/powdercoated, then cut afterwards. Just cuts out the cutting.
My wheels were so rotten, peeling and generally awful I decided not to get them redone so just went black.
piddy44 said:
Black will look great on the car. Question, for those with experience of gloss black powdercoated wheels, is about whether it shows scratches/swirls more easily than other colours?
If the wheels are kerbed when gloss black it does show up very obviously as you end up with a bare metal mark against black. In my experience I didn't have any issues with swirl marks or scratches other than when I did kerb one, I was gutted and took it straight for a refurb. Jamescrs said:
If the wheels are kerbed when gloss black it does show up very obviously as you end up with a bare metal mark against black. In my experience I didn't have any issues with swirl marks or scratches other than when I did kerb one, I was gutted and took it straight for a refurb.
I'm more than two years in on the car above, I have 100% avoided kerbs but you do slightly see swirl marks but only up close. I was going to look into a polish/wax protection for them. piddy44 said:
Joropug, your Merc's looking lovely on those gloss black rims. Much better than the standard diamond-cuts.
My sister's looking at an Aygo. Diamond-cut on it at present but they are shabby & I'm reluctant for her to accept a dealer refurb of the diamond-cut as they won't last. I really like some of the higher spec Aygos with the OE gloss black but appreciate they can easily look nasty if they're not kept spotlessly clean.
The wheels have quite a big 'face' & full silver paint/powder coated ones I've seen just look odd. Darker works better.
Maybe anthracite. Seems to be the 'go to' colour for a lot of people. Plus doesn't show the dirt & brake dust anywhere near as much as other colours.
I am just about to wash my car as the wheels look something like this ! It is the downside but keep on top of it and they look great on the right car. My Mercedes seems to create more brake dust than any other car I’ve owned. My sister's looking at an Aygo. Diamond-cut on it at present but they are shabby & I'm reluctant for her to accept a dealer refurb of the diamond-cut as they won't last. I really like some of the higher spec Aygos with the OE gloss black but appreciate they can easily look nasty if they're not kept spotlessly clean.
The wheels have quite a big 'face' & full silver paint/powder coated ones I've seen just look odd. Darker works better.
Maybe anthracite. Seems to be the 'go to' colour for a lot of people. Plus doesn't show the dirt & brake dust anywhere near as much as other colours.
LightningBlue said:
In some cases yes - when I asked Axa they said they’d cancel my insurance if I changed their colour
AXA have a 'is your car modified' box and if you select yes, there's a list of acceptable mods. one of them is alloy wheels, when I was with them, I selected yes. It is less of a modification than changing the wheels. Be a bit rich to kick out a claim because of it if you selected yes!
I phone my current insurer and they said I didn't need to class it as modification and they made a note of my call instead.
Tomanybikes said:
piddy44 said:
Ooh, oooh, yum yummm! Have just seen shadow chrome 
I like!
I have diamond cut alloys and I am thinking of shadow chrome as a good compromise. I like!There are some great colours out there.
OP powder coating is a more durable finish.
You have to be careful powder coating some alloy wheels as the temperature can affect the crystalline structure of the metal.
It’ll probably be fine but if the dealer is getting it done for you, you presumably can’t access recommendations from other customers, and any comeback would be complicated.
Probably not a big worry, but just saying.
It’ll probably be fine but if the dealer is getting it done for you, you presumably can’t access recommendations from other customers, and any comeback would be complicated.
Probably not a big worry, but just saying.
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