Dale760

Hi all

I ordered my car with the standard silver Z51 wheels since the factory black paint chips up easy, and to pick my own color.

Yesterday I had my dealer remove the tires for me after I pulled the wheels from my car. Well sure enough their machine touched and damaged the outer bead a little on both from rims.

I stayed calm since I knew I may be able to clean them up myself before taking to the powder coating shop

Ive read a few older threads and some insist they are powder coated from GM ........ Nope they are in fact painted, and I was able to sand right through it by hand with 220 grit in about 5 minutes.

The grey base coat is a but tougher but still easily hand sanded through to the aluminum of the wheel.

I make motorcycle parts and do allot of powder coating, and wanted to show you these pictures I took yesterday after hand sanding a few nicks out of my brand new 2015 Z51 silver rims

This is not powder coat from the factory like some claim

Cheers Dale

Glen e

I don't think I've seen anybody recently say the wheels are powder coated… They are absolutely automotive paint.....powder coat is the long term solution.

I've seen good results with DuPont imron paint too.

sam90lx

It's unfortunate GM choose to paint the C7 wheels, the C6's were powdered coated and looked great even under harsh conditions. The ones on my GS were flawless for 3-4 years that I owned it.

VETJAZZ

Definitely paint, as I've repaired several instances of curb rash.

TennisFreak

So if you'r dealer damaged them why would you not make them fix it?

Red C8 of Jax

Are you going to let your dealer place your tires back on your powder coated wheels? I had a tire shop remove and replace my tires on my powder coated wheels and they did a perfect job. I guess they get a lot of practice.

Dale760

I went back and read a few threads, maybe older > of guys going back and forth, since I had to sand on them to smooth the nicks I wanted to show the wheels. Not often someone will sand a new C7 rim, so thought Id show the photos is all.

Luckily I was able to get the nicks out, and took them to the powder coater today in Sparks NV

Your right Imron is also very tough for wet paint, Ive shot motorcycle rims with it in the past

Never want to be around that paint now though ........ toxic

Cheers D

Dale760

Because in general I like the guys at my dealership, and the tire guy is usually very good. Also I new I could most likely fix them in about an hour or so with less chance of anymore damage from the next guy.

But he was in a hurry even with me standing right there and their machine is really not great for run flats after I saw what happened. It did have the protector on it, but flexed enough so the rest of the metal shoe climbed up on top of the outer bead and did some damage.

I was to far away or I would have put the brakes on him, then I looked and the rim sitting on the floor and about Shi$$$T

I talked and showed the service manager and he said let me know what it cost to fix them. I let him know I will try to hand sand them or use palm sander carefully to see what I could do. Luckily I made them go away and after media blasted should hopefully not show any marks after powder coating

I could have been a dick and said order me two new wheels, but I live in a small town and they would have done something for me if it came to that.

I did stop at discount tire today on the way to the powder coater, both about 1 1/2 hour drive from my place. I know the guys there and they will be mounting the tires back on the rims for me with one of their newest machines in about a week.

It should all work out fine, fingers crossed the rest goes smooth

D

3 Z06ZR1

I always had the painted GM C6 Wheels powder coated.
They didn't sell them powder coated!

Dale760

I may be senile ......... but Im not stupid .... ha ha

Nope they will never touch my C7 rims again

sam90lx

Wrong, do some research...my GS wheels from the factory were powder coated as well as the OEM comp gray Speedline's I purchased after I pulled the silver ones off.

Red C8 of Jax

Discount Tire should do a good job putting your tires back on your rims. They get a lot of practice. They WILL over tighten your lug nuts so check them and make sure they are not over 100 lbs.

3 Z06ZR1

Not sure you know the difference. Plenty of research myself GM speedline Comp grays I bought for my z06 were not powder coat nor were any of the other 10 sets or so of all Corvette wheels I have had and I always get them stripped and powder coated.
Why would the GS wheels be powder coat when base, Z06 and ZR1 were not?

sam90lx

Search this thread in the C6 section,
2010 GS wheels- paint or powder coat

Kinda of strange that the C7 wheels are getting scratched and paint coming off very easy yet no cases of this in the C6 section.

Dale760

I powder coat motorcycle parts I make every couple weeks, and though the C7 wheels look good from the factory, the paint is soft and cheap crap IMO.

I used 220 grit paper dry by hand, and literally had it to the Aluminum wheel in minutes

The base darker grey is tougher but still very thin sand able by hand through to the wheel

It must just be a baked acrylic paint of some sort on the C7 rims

As you know you cannot touch powder coat by hand with paper like I did

DW

Dale760

Hi Red

Ive given them allot of business at this store buying a few set of tires and had a special set of American rims made for my Camaro & tires for my 80 C3 Ive been working on now a few years.

They have the good machines and I do know one of the best guys there that does my tire mounting and balancing for special projects. Will I let them touch my car, no thanks I have my own car lift and will bring them my wheels straight from the powder coater along with my tires. I will install my TPMs myself right there and hand them one wheel at a time.

Good call on proper torque, I had my Tundra and the dealer a few years ago and I saw the guy practically jumping on the wonderful Snap on electric wrench waiting for the beep. I yelled wait wait, and right then he snapped the stud off and I watched it roll across the floor with the lug nut on it ........ IDIOT .... zero common sense. The service manager swore the Snap on torque wrench was properly calibrated ......... I said BS, and your tech should know better the way he was reefing on the thing. Had to leave my truck to pull the hubs and install 2 new studs


Now I just pray no one at the powder coater does something stupid to my new Z51 rims that have 300 miles on them

Hopefully I get it all back by the end of next week. I have my car on my lift and will remove the front calipers and install the cooling rings along with a good caliper dust cleaning.

I have a front and rear set of Power stop Evolution Z26 ceramic pads coming I ordered from Summit I want to try, low dust and good reviews at a much lower cost of $140 total ........ but we will see how they pan out.

If I track the car I will buy good race pads for at least the front, or just put the Z51s back in and let them dust away the first time out


Cheers Dale

Dale760

Hi Guys

Picked up my wheels today and they did a good job with the powder coat. 80% gloss black with clear coat $450 total, including media blasting.

Took my tires and rims over to Discount tire in Sparks NV, they took their time and did not make a mark

The boo boos the dealer put in the fronts I cleaned up went away, and cant be seen

Hope to get the pads changed and wheels back on the car this weekend

Cheers Dale

Dale760

Got my new Powerstop ceramic / carbon Z26 evolution low dust pads installed yesterday and wheels detailed and back on the car today.

Pads fit great and look good, fronts had the weights just like the Brembo pads. They have great reviews, for the money and a street pad I'm going to give them a try. They claim they resist brake fade up to 1500 degrees ....... which I question

$146 for all 4 corners including 2 day shipping from Summit, they were drop shipped from Powerstop directly

Here are a few pictures

Dale760

4 more

I didn't use the rear retainers, they were wrong and no need to change from stock anyway

Dale760

Wheels turned out nice, I like the standard dark silver Z51 center cap better than black as well

Cheers Dale