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Old 07-18-2012, 03:51 PM   #1
phenryiv1
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Default Painting "rare" white wheels red: Sacrilegious?

Sorry if this belongs in exterior appearance...

I have a SWP 2011 WRX that I took to my first HPDE. My winter wheels are the OEM WRX wheels. My summer wheels are OZ Ultraleggeras in nearly the same gunmetal color as the OEM wheels.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up some "rare" JDM Enkei Competition Tarmac wheels in 17x8. I considered running them as my summer wheels after the AD08s that they are currently wearing are spent, but several things have led me away from that option.

First, while they look great in pictures, they are a definate 10-foot finish. If I was going to run them daily, I'd probably want to get the refinished some way, somehow.





Second, the pearl white of the car and the non-pearl of the wheels looks a bit off:



The other issue is the brake dust (worse with track pads than my street pads):



Lastly, they lack center caps. I could get around that, but the long story short is that these will probably be my track wheels.

So given the fact that I want to repaint them at some point and given that white seems to be pretty unforgiving for brake dust (and they will be track wheels), I was thinking of painting them a different color. Having 2 sets of grey-ish wheels, I was thinking red...something like the OZ red here:



Or like this:



So opinions on red wheels in general aside, is it a crime againt humanity to take a rare (white) wheel and paint it a different color?
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Old 07-18-2012, 03:58 PM   #2
colin1234567
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I don't think so, it's not like original paint on a Ferrari California and you're doing a rattle can job.

Red may not be super great about hiding dust though
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Old 07-18-2012, 04:21 PM   #3
blaze wrx
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paint or finish is hardly permanent

(withholding comment on red wheels)
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Old 07-20-2012, 10:01 AM   #4
phenryiv1
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Not sold on going red, but white is a huge PITA to keep looking even remotely clean and I already have 2 sets of grey/gunmetal wheels. I considered black or bronze, but every time I see red wheels on a nice looking car I find myself wondering how I'd like them on my GR.
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Old 07-20-2012, 12:42 PM   #5
sc00by4life
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phenryiv1
Not sold on going red, but white is a huge PITA to keep looking even remotely clean and I already have 2 sets of grey/gunmetal wheels. I considered black or bronze, but every time I see red wheels on a nice looking car I find myself wondering how I'd like them on my GR.
White is not hard to keep clean at all you just have to know what you're doing. Wax the **** out of them with a high quality wax.

I ran white wheels for 2 years, and was able to hose them off once a week. Looked brand new everytime.
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Old 07-20-2012, 01:11 PM   #6
phenryiv1
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The white ones already have some paint blemishes, but maybe I can clean the hell out of them again and have a go at it with the wax.
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Old 08-24-2012, 12:52 AM   #7
Insomniatic
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Hopefully you haven't painted them yet but I would suggest doing a few base coats of plastidip before spraying your red. That way if you ever change your mind you can peel it all off with no effect on the original paint. As someone who has painted his stock wheels I wish I had done this in the first place.
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Old 08-24-2012, 09:08 AM   #8
phenryiv1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Insomniatic View Post
Hopefully you haven't painted them yet but I would suggest doing a few base coats of plastidip before spraying your red. That way if you ever change your mind you can peel it all off with no effect on the original paint. As someone who has painted his stock wheels I wish I had done this in the first place.
I have not done anything so far. These are my track wheels and while I spent a lot of money to get ready fro my first track day, I bought an(other) e30 as a toy. This one will be for rallycross, but it is consuming money at a rapid rate.

I plan to do another track day in October, but I don't know if I will do anything to the wheels before then.

Good idea, though. I'll probaby try plastidip first.
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Old 08-24-2012, 10:19 AM   #9
sjs0433
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go ahead and paint them. It's not like they are $3000 wheels either. Just make sure you paint them not powdercoat. I'm with you that the plain white looks really off on pearl white.
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Old 08-24-2012, 02:54 PM   #10
Ernest
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I say paint, but maybe another color - Bronze would look real nice.
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Old 08-24-2012, 03:01 PM   #11
07VTRex
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i wouldnt consider those wheels "rare" enough to b e concerned with paint.

Now if you had limited edition STI/RAYS wheels, like the RS Zeros i had at one point, then that would be a crime against humanity!!!
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Old 08-24-2012, 05:30 PM   #12
swede978
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I liked the aspen white on aspen white I had, but despised cleaning them. I am for the rust color on white or safety cone orange. on white, but that is me.
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Old 08-25-2012, 12:26 AM   #13
Insomniatic
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I agree you should paint them. Using plastidip will make it easy to experiment though if you're unsure of what you want.
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Old 08-27-2012, 10:29 AM   #14
itsmerce
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powder coat them if your going to change the color!
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Old 08-27-2012, 11:44 AM   #15
phenryiv1
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I understand that they are not a limited editin wheel so it isn't like they have some huge value atached to their original color, just the idea that sometimes people want wheels with the original paint and not a strip-and-repaint job.

Of course, I'd think that people (myself included) would prefer a good paint/pc job in a non-original color over a blemished original color coat.
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Old 08-27-2012, 12:08 PM   #16
phenryiv1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ernest View Post
I say paint, but maybe another color - Bronze would look real nice.
If the full royal sports bronze from some of the Rota wheels was available, i'd be all over that.
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