Oyagi

Hey guys,

Just picked up a set of TE37s 17" +63 and +45 to fit stock, unmodded fenders.

They are in good shape with minor scratches and some mild curbing. Frankly I thought they'd be worse and was planning to have them refinished in GPW from their factory silver finish right now. Now that I have them, I'm debating just leaving them the way they are and maybe plastidip ping them matte white. If I do, will the finish be hard to wash the brake dust off? Any advice on this? Should I just repainted them gloss GPW?

s2jizzer

Personally, I would mount them on the car to the selected height u prefer the way they are. Plastidip two rims ( both on the same side of the car) and see how u like it. Personally I would powder coat the rims because in Toronto where I am you can get a set of 4 wheels powder coated any color with any type of clear (high gloss, semi gloss, matte etc) you prefer for $280. Plastidip averages 15-20 a can and you'll end up spending around $100, the only benefit is you will have the option of peeling it off and having the rim look like it always did.

To answer your question, yes the brake dust will be a bit harder to wipe off because of the matte finish but te37 have a pretty open spoke concept so it won't be all that bad. Plastidip sells a gloss enhancer that you spray on after you've painted it to make it glossy, but I don't personally know how this would effect the texture of the rim.

If you don't feel like spending $20 on a can of plastidip to test out if you even want them in black do a google search of that setup/rim/color combo, I'm sure it's been done before or get someone to photoshop it for you. Good luck

zeroptzero

Powder coat them or even go with regular paint and be done with it. Brake dust will stick to the plastidip. Painting is a better long term option IMO, plastidip seems to be best suited to people who like to change up the look of their rims every few months.

Oyagi

Thanks, great suggestions. The local wheel refinisher here charges $125/wheel (Alloy Wheel Repair), which is why I'm thinking plastidip. Of course that was a few yea ago when I had my 3 piece HREs done and they had to dissemble them completely. I should bring them over there for an estimate. If I can get them done in GTA for your price, it would be worth it for me to come to TO with them and have them done.

Oyagi

I wonder how hard it'd be to remove the oem Volk decals off them if I decide to try and re spray them myself...

C63AMG

The powder coating baking process can affect the structural integrity of the wheel.

afzan

also if you plan on tracking at all - brake dust can embed itself into the powder coat

BigE19

I own 3 sets of rims which were powder coated white, tracked, daily driven, sometimes gone a month without being washed. Never had any issues. 3 years strong.

zeroptzero

My local wheel refinishing shop charges about the same price as that ^. I've had 3 sets of wheels done from shops like that, with the latest being my Jdm ap1's. IMO it's worth the price, they strip the wheels, repair all of the road rash, prime, paint, and clearcoat them. I just drop off the rims and they remove the tires and re-install the tires after it's done, that makes it simple. When it comes to future paint chips you can easily touch them up.

The Powder coating prices wouldn't include curb rash repairs, not sure if it includes bead/sand blasting either, but it might. If you have rubber on the rims you'll have to get them removed and re-installed by a tire shop. Powder coating is harder to touch up in the future for stone chips unless you can match an existing colour code as you can't get touch up powder paint. The clear that is used on powder coating is a bit different than regular clearcoat used with automotive paint. I've heard some people recommend to avoid powedercoating forged wheels due to the heat process, even though many forged wheels come powdercoated from the manufacturer, others say it's fine. I've done it on aluminum cast wheels just fine, given the cost of forged Rays I'd probably avoid it.

I've had wheels powdercoated and refinished, I prefer the refinishing process a bit better.

Oyagi

To be clear I plan to have them refinished/repainted. I'm not keen on powder coating.