Hey guys,

Need a little advice. My current wheels on my car are the 2006 18 inch rays. the previous owner of the car loved curbs and acidic wheel cleaner. Sad to say curb rash and the base layer showing kills me everytime i look at my car.

I got a quote from US Wheel repair for $500 for everything. More expensive because of the Hyper Silver color. Another company quoted me $400 for all of that but powder coated close to the same color. US Wheel repair them by painting them how they originally were. black base coat with silver on top with a clear coat. other company powdercoat with no clear coat.

Few Questions.

Powdercoat vs Paint with Clear Coat?

Keep Stock wheels or buy new wheels ( probably used since i dont want lose an arm and a leg)

I Also need new tires soon any good recommendations for something decent and not terribly expensive.

Thanks Guys!

Conner

 

Powder coat will be slightly more durable than paint/cc, but can still be damaged by cleaners or road hazards. Might be hard to find a larger selection of wheels that are p-coated due to cost involved in doing it. Tire options will really depend on what wheels you choose in the end.

 

there have been issues with oem wheels cracking due to powdercoating. at least one or two incidents that i've read on the forum... i'd stick to painting to be safe.

 

Buy some new 18" XXR rims for around $500 and ditch the stock wheels and get $200-300 back.

 

Powder coat will be more durable than paint, there's no doubt about that. Just make sure that the powder coat shop has experience powder coating wheels though. If they leave the wheels in the oven for too long they will essentially become more brittle, and could be more susceptible to damage caused by road hazards. I would not let this deter you though from considering powder coat, just be aware that it's a possibility.

There are powders on the market now that will cure at lower temperatures for shorter amounts of time, and it should be fine for most people. So my vote would be for this, assuming the shop knows what they're doing.

 

For what it's worth, I just received my XXR 530's, staggered 18's, shipped for around $650 or so, ordered Falken FK452's (F245/40/18 and R275/40/18) for another $650 shipped.

If you need/want to repair your rims, you are only a hundred or so off (if non-staggered) and about a hundred and some change for staggered over what you will pay for what appears to be a risky deal with a shop that you dont have experience with.

You also stated that you will need to buy tires soon. I would take both the wheel repair and cost of new tires into account as a whole and weigh it out.

I have photos (crappy res as I shrunk them down) on both the 18's and XXR threads I just added.