ZLover4Life

Regular old-fashioned rattle-cans. Dupli-color gold, chrome (for the centers), and a clearcoat meant for wheels. They're not as smooth as the pics portray - the finish on these wheels was 16 years old, there are a lot of pits I couldn't get out and the lips have scuffs from douchebags putting the weights on the outside (so retarded to do with powdercoated wheels).

snwbrderphat540

hmmm.. in that picture maybe its just the contrast but the lip/rim looked ..... i dont know how to phrase this, more shiney? shineier? lol than the others but mustve just been my imagination

KasbeKZ

wow they do look pretty good now. you sure had a vision that i didn't to begin with! at first i couldn't stop thinking of the 90's 5 spoke explorer rims when i looked at the picture of them silver
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:...xplorer_94.jpg
eeeeeew.
but good stuff. can't wait to see them on the car

ZLover4Life

That picture best demonstrates their luster, actually. On the other ones, the camera adjusted to the flash in such a way that it doesn't show it well.

I didn't really have to bring the shine back out on the lips of these two wheels - I just cleaned them up. The centers were done with chrome spray paint to try to match the lips. The front two wheels will be another story... they're in sh*tty condition by comparison, and I may have to have the outer lips professionally powdercoated to get them looking like those two.

snwbrderphat540

yeah you can tell the centers were sprayed but looked unavoidable so w/e. im curious to see the fronts now though

ZLover4Life

I'll have pics of one of the fronts soon (every day when I finish one, I head to storage to grab another). The last owner pressure-washed his Z... including these powdercoated wheels, hence why they needed so much work. Since the fronts get unavoidably more dirty, he spent more time with the pressure washer aimed at the fronts. :::sigh:::

snwbrderphat540

pressure washers are wonderful at distances. lol. people think they can just get close to the car to get some scrub going on from laziness and it either does damage, or does what my dad did to the van and put spirals in the paint where ALL the dirt was removed so the color is lighter in a certain pattern and darker around it. lol.

Sweets

I thikn the wheels would look more at home on a z31. Not bad looking on a z32 though.

Great job on the wheels, they look amazing!

ZLover4Life

The finished rears...


Next up (I may have to have this one professionally done, we'll see how it turns out)




This one will most likely need new powdercoating... and is a STERLING example of WHY PEOPLE SHOULD NOT USE PRESSURE WASHERS ON ANY PART OF THEIR CARS.






Please, I implore you, do not ever use pressure washers on your cars. People use them to strip paint off the siding of their house for a reason!

I'm gonna sand and primer the hell out of it and see if the chrome paint will be a good substitute before I dish out $100+ for new powdercoating. As usual, I'll keep this thread updated.

snwbrderphat540

looks like a fun project there and nice job on the rears though i didnt notice it before looks like the lips on them are all bent up huh?

260zturbo

nothing wrong with pressure washer and using it on car. it depends on how you use it.

ZLover4Life

Not really, the one just has some really bad scuffing from wheel weights and a slight curb check (from what I can tell) - the lack of reflection in that pic makes it look really bent, but I assure you, the lips are all acceptably round. The previous owners really didn't take the best care of these. lol

Yeah... from 15 feet away where the actual water velocity is no different than a regular hose when it hits the paint. It should never be used in attempt to blast dirt and grime off a surface. Thus, there is no reason to use a power washer when you could just disconnect it and use the hose - it'll be just as effective without risking your finish. (For what it's worth, I was a professional detailer once upon a time.)


Back to the progress...
Primer


Almost makes me wish my Z would look cool with green wheels.

We'll see how the chrome paint matches up with the powdercoating on the other wheels. Worst case, I still have to powdercoat it and I've only wasted some effort.

ZLover4Life

oh yeah... 1000th post bitches!

SpeciallySpiked

Instead of sanding, you should pressure wash it

ZLover4Life

You know, I was thinking the exact same thing. lol

But I'm in Chicago and my house is still winterized... thus, no hoses are connected so I would've had to dig out the hoses and the power washer. But it's already sanded... all that's left is to paint it.

ZLover4Life

so... I think the chrome is gonna work just fine. I may even paint the lip of the other front wheel (the rears are perfect, so they don't need it).

KasbeKZ

a thought just came to me... i hope you got your preffered tires on the wheels befrore all this... i've had the shop scratch my fresh wheels TWICE! on 2 different cars!

ZLover4Life

They have relatively new Yokohama ES100's on them, and I'm satisfied with that. I had the same problem when I powdercoated my black wheels... they mounted the tires fine the first try, but I had to have them flip one of the directional tires and they forgot to use the plastic cover on the mounting arm and they stripped the powdercoat from the outer lip in the process.

I had to have one of the tires flipped (directional, again), and they did that this afternoon without any issue. I also had to have the tire on the really bad wheel removed before painting, so I'll have that tire reinstalled soon. Surprisingly, the guys at my local Pep Boys can be very careful when they're asked to be.

KasbeKZ

haha lucky. the place that i go, there's only one guy that i trust any. it looks like i have to get a lot of front end work done there soon, so i'll tell them to be careful!!
but those wheels are looking good! and i had the same feeling about wishing my car looked good in green when i sprayed the primer on my midget lol.

snwbrderphat540

idk if youve ventured outside in the past three days but ummm. winter is over lol. i was rocking no coat today and yesterday it was awesome

ZLover4Life

Hence the word *still* before winterized.

Are you telling me that your house has been de-winterized already?

snwbrderphat540

mmmm..... maybe a little. lol. but its cold again anyways. gotta wait a few days for the warmth to come back.

KasbeKZ

winterized. pft. i pity the fool. the only winterizing i need to do is closing the vents under the house and turning off the hose right where it comes out of the house.

ZLover4Life

I was so damn close to being done, and now we're gonna have highs in the 40's all week, so I can't finish the gold on the last wheel. :frustrated:

I brought the Z home today too... could've had the wheels on tomorrow if we had nice weather today.

b300z

lol its snowing here