Wheels refurb & maybe colour change

[Gee0]

Well the subject says it all,

I think its time th refurb my wheels, The body looking sooooooooooo good i feel the wheels let it down.

Question is

Respray or powder coating?

Colour change ?

What colour?

Any Ideas?

[theelanman]

Id go the paint route rather than powder coat....powder coat can chip and flake...and if it does I think it looks worse than scratched paint.....similarly you'll need to be really careful with kerbs

as for colour...erm...not sure black would work....
bright silver or a matt gold.....?
chrome spokes with a black rim?

just thoughts

[MattDon]

Anthracite.... you must go for anthracite, it would look awsome!!! will go with your indicators too.

[thewheelrestorer]

Hi GeeO,

I think its time to refurb my wheels

I'd like to offer you my advice and suggestions on this if possible.......as it's my daily profession:

http://www.thewheelrestorer.co.uk

and more importantlyconsidering your question of colours..... our bespoke division:

http://www.twrcustom.co.uk


Depending on how keen you are, and if you have a spare set of wheels, or can sit the car on some stands etc......

We offer a UK, Europe & Worldwide wheel collection service.


Nitty Gritty

Powder coating is quite a fashionable buzz word............

Climbing frames, toolboxes, Computer casings all get powder coated................because the process is quick, easy and relatively cheap to produce

Car bonnets, roofs, doors or wings do not get powder coated.......................do not because the finish would look as good as Paint and Lacquer.

Car Paint comes in a huge spectrum of colours......hence the paint codes on every car needed to identify the exact pigements etc...

Powder for powder coating is not available in such nice colours, the suppliers will and do produce some nice colours but Silver is especially difficult to produce a bright nice colour or even mettalic.

Powder coating can be brittle, but it's dependant where the force is applied to break it.......you can hit it a rim edge with a Hammer and it won't break !
(Don't try this at home)

Painted and lacquered surfaces hit by a hammer will look pretty awful................so it's a matter of finish really the best is paint and lacquer.

similarly you'll need to be really careful with kerbs

Simple...........if you hit a wheel on a kerb it doesn't really matter which finish you have......it's going to mark it somehow, and it will look a mess..

theelanman has a good point with the repair aspect:

If a wheel or all 4 need repairing and repainting at some point only the front face needs to be prepared, painted and lacquered.
If the finish is powder coated, the tyres need to come off and the wheel chemically stripped, and re-powder coated, it can't be recoated in one spot.

anthracite

is a popular choice as is black at the moment, I think also Black with a diamond cut outer rim would look really nice , but then I've got this design on my Elan on a set of 17" wheels (see my avatar image)...... so I'm biased!

I have over 3000 images of refurbished wheels on my PC, If somebody can tell me how to attach them (Computer iliterate sometimes) then I can show you and others some examples..........

Regards
Roger

[tweetdriver63]

I have over 3000 images of refurbished wheels on my PC, If somebody can tell me how to attach them (Computer iliterate sometimes) then I can show you and others some examples..........

Regards
Roger

You just go to the bottom of the page and click the tab that says "Upload attachment." Then you browse to the pic and it's pretty easy from there. If, after you upload it, you want to put it in a specific place in the text, click the "place inline" button, and that will put it at the spot where you have the cursor (best to make sure the cursor is in the right place first). I think the image has to be 640x480 or smaller too.

For GeeO, I'm not a fan of completely black wheels. To me, they look like empty holes, or like old wheels when the wheel cover has come off. They're OK on a black car, and look good with the rim treatment like Roger's. I'm a big fan of wheels with some body-color trimming (see pic below of mine), but not everybody is. Bottom line: What do you like??

[MattDon]

sorry for the naff effort but this illustrates it....

[Doug]

I agree with Matt that I would check into Anthracite, but to me his pic above is more smoke matte than Anthracite

to me I'd go for a mid grey metallic to see how that looks


how bout some yellow wheels like Simon ??

[tweetdriver63]

This thread has got me thinking about my wheels too. I like the look I have, but I think I can do better, and they're in need of refurb. I did the red accents myself, using a brush, just to test the look, knowing I would be doing them for real before too long. Anyway, I'm thinking about this (sorry for the naff photoshop job):

elan2-1-2.jpg

You can see my current look on the rear wheel. As I said, not a great photoshop job, but I think the idea gets across. I understand if it's not everybody's taste, but I'm open to comments. Sorry GeeO, I don't mean to hijack the thread. I just thought if I put this here, it might help you too.

[Jackonicko]

It's all down to personal taste, of course, but in my view 'funky wheels' go best with 'funky' colours (eg primary or Pistachio). On more traditional colours, black or anthracite wheels just look as if they're steel wheels that have lost their 'hub caps'.

On a silk red car, I think the stock wheels or S2 alloys look the dog's doodads.

Peter Stevens knew his stuff, and the original wheel complements the Elan shape in a way that most of the aftermarket wheels simply don't. If I bought an S2, I'd want SE wheels on it.

I might be tempted to body-key the word Lotus on a standard wheel.

[theelanman]

Peter Stevens knew his stuff, and the original wheel complements the Elan shape in a way that most of the aftermarket wheels simply don't.

ah well.....having seen PS several times and at his 'chat' he explained that the SE wheels were an after thought...after the original design was revised and changed about 3 times........lol

[Monty]

Have a look through this thread viewtopic.php?f=45&t=4706


At one time had mine done in 2 tone but then i scuffed them so i just spray paint them myself now



how they are now

[Doug]

Nice spray job, Montrose!

is that from a shaker can? you got any wheel painting tips? I need to repaint some curb rash on my car sometime soon . .

[Jackonicko]

Hey Monty,

The mix of dark grey 'buttercup' and aluminium rims looks very classy, I must say.

[ektrolleyboy]

I think Matt black would look good, whilst keeping the thin very outer part of the rim silver.
My wheels were re-done in 'sparkling silver' which if you stay standard is highly preferrable over the standard silver LOTUS colour in my opinion. You should see them when the sun shines on them. And they still look standard unless next to a real standard Elan.

[tweetdriver63]

I think Matt black would look good, whilst keeping the thin very outer part of the rim silver.
My wheels were re-done in 'sparkling silver' which if you stay standard is highly preferrable over the standard silver LOTUS colour in my opinion. You should see them when the sun shines on them. And they still look standard unless next to a real standard Elan.

Pic?

[ektrolleyboy]

There's a pic of in my 'minor' project thread... Not sure if you can see the difference in a photo' though...

[thewheelrestorer]

A few examples:

The 7.5 x17" AC Schnitzer Rim black powder coated / diamond cut CNC lathe outer Rim & Gloss powder clear lacquer

wheels 141 (Small).jpg

Audi TT 17" Rim in Honda Athlete Grey & polished outer lip

wheels 307 (Small).jpg

Porsche Boxster S 17" - Colour coded Porsche Lapis Blue middle / brush polished outer lip

Porsche Boxster crop 08 (Small).jpg

18" Vivaro van wheels - custom paintwork

Wheels & Tyres 034 (Small).jpg

Wheels & Tyres 187 (Medium) (Small).jpg

16" Land rover wheels! Painted Satin Black & Polished outer lip

Wheels & Tyres 106 (Medium) (Small).jpg

Audi Coupe 15" - Volvo Light grey inner, Silver outer & Gloss lacquer

Wheels & Tyres 316 (Small).jpg

[thewheelrestorer]

More ideas........

Fiat Coupe 16" wheel in a Fiat Grey

Wheels & Tyres 290 (Small).jpg

MG 16" Custom paintwork athlete grey / airbrushed silver spokes

Wheels & Tyres 324 (Small).jpg

BMW 17" Satin Powder coated black

Wheels & Tyres 347 (Small).jpg

Nissan Skyline 16" athlete grey & polished lip

Wheels & Tyres 357 (Small).jpg

Ferrari F355 18" Argento Silver

Wheels & Tyres 507 (Small).jpg

Porsche 911 (Before........)

Wheels & Tyres 560 (Small).jpg

And After........A full Restoration: Chemical strip / powder coat polyester / hand prep / solvent paint silver / gloss 2 pack lacquer

Wheels & Tyres 633 (Small).jpg

Bentley Continetal Gt Flyin spur 20" Painted / polished top spokes

Wheels & Tyres 726 (Small).jpg

Porsche 19" 3 piece split Rim Custom Blue /silver painted & Lacquered

Wheels & Tyres 779 (Small).jpg

A large dumper truck...........

wheels crop 050 (Small).jpg

[paulwatkins]

Heres a couple of pics of mine that I had refurbed last year.

www.wheelstyles.co.uk/galpopup.php?gal_id=95

www.wheelstyles.co.uk/galpopup.php?gal_id=94

www.wheelstyles.co.uk/galpopup.php?gal_id=93

[Enright]

Nice contribution Paul - it contrasts very well with the Mustard. I don't think it would work quite so well with Silk Red - in fact my first thought after seeing MattDon's artist's impression was "for the same results at a fraction of the price, simply don't bend down as far when washing your Elan"!
However Monty's 2 tone version looks great - I wonder if GeeO agrees? If so, maybe another artist's impression might be in order...