Hi all - I'm in the process of doing a home paint job on my black powder coated 2004 AP2V1 wheels. Previous owner did the conversion to black and I prefer the stock silver look. I can't tell from photos online if the stock silver has some gloss to it, or if it is a matte finish. Appreciate any info.

Thanks,
KC2K

ps: Once done with the job, I'll post up some before, during, and after pictures under this thread.

 

It's a gloss on the painted parts, then a machined face.

 

OK, finished this little project. From what I can tell, wheels were powder coated gloss black some time ago by previous owner. I think the stock silver wheels with the rio yellow is a more elegant look so I wanted to get back to that. I didn't want pay for a full wheel refinish (about $200/wheel in my area), so went on the cheap (about $80). I used Duplicolor silver wheel coating (two cans) and Duplicolor gloss clear coat on top of that (two cans). I didn't strip them down, but used red scrubbing pads to knock the gloss black down. Then followed the paint instructions for painting (there are time constraints and coating thickness recommendations), did a little wet sanding with 3000 grit to smooth the paint before clear coat, then did the clear coat. Got a little spray ceramic wax on them also after they dried for a week. For the center caps, I removed the old yellow "H" sticker, sanded them down, resprayed them, then put a new black "H" sticker on them (Ebay), then shot a final coat of clear over that. New silver lug nuts and we're finished. It isn't perfect, but came out good for what I was after.

I couldn't sand the flat surfaces down to get the machined finish on those surfaces as that would have exposed the black edge of the powder coat. If I were to do it again, the first step would have been to sand off the black on those flat surfaces and then just a little bit past them down to the original metal. Then paint the wheels like I did, and then I think I could have carefully sanded the flat surfaces to get that machined look. Oh well, next time. :-) Here are some before, during, and after shots. (Don't make fun of my all season tires...those are getting replaced at some point!!!)

 

Beautiful!

-- Chuck