Thoughts on painting a set of Grand Tourings
 

Since I am going to have my GT wheels refinished anyway, I am considering having the faces powdercoated a dark gunmetal or black and leaving the outer edge/lip area silver. My only real issue is that there isn't a defined seperation between the lip area and the face, so if I were to do this, the color difference would be along the ridge...which I fear might look kinda tacky :(


EDIT: PICTURES OF ACTUAL POWDERCOATED WHEELS ADDED 2/11 (POST #28)
EDIT: PICTURES OF WHEELS ON CAR ADDED 3/2 (POST #47)


I photoshopped a pic of the wheel only:

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...d/IMAG0197.jpghttp://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...97gunmetal.jpg




And another photoshop that I did on my own car, here:

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2.../P1110026w.jpghttp://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...1110026GMw.jpg


I didn't do the rear wheel because the picture is of such poor quality that changing that to a dark gray or black looked like crap. Hopefully just the front wheel gives enough idea, I don't have a decent picture of my car that shows the rear wheels with any definition at the moment.



I think it would look good, so that isn't as much an issue as the color line is. What do you guys think??? Think I can pull off the color line on the ridge instead of on a defined line, like what is available on the 03-05 Track models, or would it just look tacky?

That will look great if it comes out like that

I'm not a fan of the dark face with polished lip so I say no. If I were to do it, I would just powdercoat the whole wheel.

i think it looks tight

I wouldn't do it man. Those GT wheels look great in the factory silver finish especially on SB.

I like

not bad.

Do the whole wheel in Gunmetal..

Thought about that, but I don't care for an all-black (or by extention all-dark) wheel on a black car.




Thanks for the feedback guys, but I'm really more interested in your opinions on the color line :) If I'm not explaining that clear enough, look at the edge area of the 03-05 Track wheel:

http://www.gunser.com/images/track3.jpg

There is a defined outer edge that makes an obvious color barrier (if someone chose to paint them) whereas the 06+ GTs don't really have that; if I paint these GTs, the color barrier would be at the base of the ridge, not on a defined break. I like the look on the photoshops I did; I'm just unsure if that would look "right" in person.

I think it would look really nice, per the photochop of the wheel on your car. I don't know the ins and outs of powdercoating, but I think they should be able to cut in along that line very cleanly if it is a reputable shop.

I wonder how Volk does their LE line of wheels? I know those lips are machined, but I wonder when the paint goes on? Seems like it would be the same process here.

i love it ( GM)

Take at these two replies to a thread I had earlier..they've got some pics of GT rims powdercoated in black...

https://my350z.com/forum/showpost.ph...0&postcount=26

https://my350z.com/forum/showpost.ph...9&postcount=27

Very nice..man i should have gotten a set of those..lol

don't want the whole wheel black. But thanks.

Dropped the wheels off yesterday to get powdercoated :) The lip will be a polished finish, and the center section will be a dark gunmetal color; the powder is actually called "black chrome", but it is more charcoal than black. Here's a picture of an SHO intake that was done by the same guy; the color of the tubes is the color that I'm using on the spokes:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g2...SHO-INTAKE.jpg

WOW!!

Can you p-shop mine like that in matte-black (Like the wheel pic above)?

I always thought about doing this - black center with polished lip on the GT rims, but I don't have your pshop skillz... I must say it looks hot! Oh, and subscribing... please post pics of your rims when they're done.

BTW, are you having them paint the inside of the barrel behind the spokes black too?

Thanks...

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...350/redz06.jpg

post pics when you are done.

Also, i've seen black chrome powder in person..looks great.

i can't remember, correct me if i'm wrong. Aren't GT wheels like almost 1k a piece. i think that's what i remember from the dealership.

Yes, barrels will be matched...I didn't even think about doing that until the powdercoat guy mentioned it! I can photoshop your picture no problem, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

RanFerr, yes the GT wheels are very expensive for a "stock" wheel, but keep in mind that they are Rays Forged. They show up in the FS section from time to time; expect to pay between $1500-$2000 depending on condition. If you can find a set with usable tires, I'd recommend it; the rears in particular are very pricey.

nice i like it with the silver lip!