Advice on painted wheels
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 12,634
Likes: 15
From: IL, Chicago area.
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16
Advice on painted wheels
Just a word of advice if your considering buying painted wheels. I have black painted wheels I bought from a forum vendor. I wont name them because I am not looking to bash just warn others of potential problems.
Painted wheels chip very very easily, the clear coat chips then of course flakes when the wheels get hit by stones and such much more than you think. If your going with colored wheels like I did go for powder coated not painted.
The vendor I bought from warranties the wheels for 3 years however wont cover damage done by debris chipping them and just about anything that hits them chips them. Mine look like crap in one year.
You have been warned and good luck.
Painted wheels chip very very easily, the clear coat chips then of course flakes when the wheels get hit by stones and such much more than you think. If your going with colored wheels like I did go for powder coated not painted.
The vendor I bought from warranties the wheels for 3 years however wont cover damage done by debris chipping them and just about anything that hits them chips them. Mine look like crap in one year.
You have been warned and good luck.
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 167
Likes: 0
From: Hamilton Ontario
I had my Zo6 wheels painted a couple shades darker a my tire shop last year with aftermarket base /clear.I avoid gravel roads and have been very lucky not to have any road debris damage the clearcoat.I agree with what you are saying ...I am obsessive about cleaning the car and wheels after road trips and keep a touch up bottle handy just in case to fix any chips ...(example)I did barely nudge a curb once ,and the touch up paint matched perfectly on the lip of the rim.I also put a dab of clearcoat over the touched up area.Later I waxed the wheels.Nothing is noticable and there has been no peeling.That was over a year ago... repainting a wheel is only a $100. where I go to.They are professional wheel dealers and refinishers/repairers .I also have seen some unavoidable installation scratches on the inner lip of my rear rims because I went to very large width on my last set of tires(335's on a 10.5 inch rim).I also touched those up with good results. 
