Im thinking bout painting the stock 18's gunmetal. Or sanding the rims down to bare metal then polishing them up real well with a metal polish ... what do u think

 

hmm i cant really imagine how the metal polish looks but sounds much more original the painting.. id say polish if u got the funds and time..

 

If you want to polish them and you are in Socal, send me a PM

 

Im actually in Denver. SO that would be a hell of a drive to get it polished. Thanks. Thinking just sanding down clear coat and paint to bare metal then take metal polish and buffing them with and orbital. Seen it done on Hondas and Acuras. New to the G35 Scene so I'm not sure what it'll look like.

 

Which ever you do, I'd like to see some pictures These were both ideas that I have had as well. If I decide to paint them, I'll probably have them powder coated instead (gloss black and paint the center caps red). More money but I know they'll look better and last longer than if I painted them.

As for the polishing, you can make them look close to chrome with enough time and effort (which is the only way I would do it if I were to polish, they'd have to be super bling haha). Good luck with it all!

 

you can polish? what else can you do? i was thinking of clearcoating black and giving it a polish... am in l.a...

 

chrome/polished OEM rims = ugly
get it painted or powdercoated

 

powdercoat > paint

 

yeah I have painted numerous sets of rims...pretty much mastered painting them with a spray can....Tried to so it with a compressor and gun and it works decently but after so many cans of spray paint i think they turn out great. Time in between coats and getting the right thickness is key for the paint lasting. Last set I did was for a integra. Gloss black mesh with hand painted red lip wit a spounge. Turned out sick. Everyone thought they were done professionally powder coated. Lasted 2 winters in Colorado so not too bad. Didnt chip. Painting isnt so bad vs powdercoating just dont do a half *** job. Sanding and paint coating is key.

 

Have u seen a link to polished OEM 18's. I'm very curious to see what they look like. I hate chrome but I like the way polished machine metal looks.

This is a forum for hondas but you get the "look" of the rim.

http://forums.clubsi.com/ubbthreads....157218/fpart/2

 

The chrome stock 18s look much worse than the normal stock 18s , jmho

...so I vote against polish

 

Just saw your last post, still not sure how I think it would look tho! Could be aight

 

Powder all the way.

 

I painted my first set of rims for my '76 280Z and they looked great for "two years!" It was a set of MINI LITES, I painted the centers gold
and polished the lip....they looked great and got lots of attention. With
todays paint and clear coats the paint should last a long time. Painting rims
has always been a fun Sunday morning project....
Gary

 

thanks man for the support. Painting is all that bad. Reason people have bad luck with paint is because they don't know how and the lack of experience. Paint vs Powdercoating I think is a great debate. Powder coating is expensive like 70-150 a wheel plus you have at least 3-5 days of downtime cause the shop takes awhile. Powder coating most the time lasts just as long as a good spray paint. 1-3 years depending on road and weather conditions. You can spray all 4 rims for 75 bucks and use a heatgun to "bake" the paint and you can have you rims on the next day.