So I have always been that guy to bother people about poweder coating their rims during the process of getting new tires and brakes. Sure enough, my time came for new tires (Bridgestone Potenza S-04's) and I thought I would use my local shop to do the tire install and orchestrate the powder coating. I was going after a gunmetal/anthracite color that comes stock on Nissan GTR's, Shelby Cobra's, and new'ish Lexus IS350's. I chose a sample that I thought looked pretty close and brought it home to verify this via google images. It was way off and thus created the powder coating fiasco of 2014. What I learned is that essentially, powder coating companies are all over the place. They are coating wheels, bikes, tables, chairs, sculptures, etc so their core competency is not only wheels. This created a problem because I was looking for a relatively quick 10 day or less turnaround time while ordering the tires to arrive at the exact time during the process. After a bunch of calls, and going to different places, no one had the color I wanted and no one wanted to buy the powder I found on the internet. Beyond that, properly coating wheels to look like the high end cars of the present requires expensive powder and clear coat, so you end up paying $500-$600 to do it correctly per my experience with the specific type of gunmetal/anthracite I was going after. At that point, why not just get new wheels? And I was getting fearful of spending that money and not ending up liking the color.

Long story short, I saw some videos on the internet about plastidip as well as some posts online about people "Dipping" various things on their car. I quickly found the video showing how to dip your wheels and found the exact color I was looking for. I used the Anthracite color linked below:

https://www.dipyourcar.com/True-Meta...Dip-Spray.html

The process is straight forward and the videos are abundant showing how to do it correctly via youtube. In summary, clean your wheels really well, remove them if you have the means, place index cards between the tires and the rim, and dip away per the instructions, then top off with some gloss if you want shine. Set aside 1 day per side of the car unless you want to do it on the car which seems risky. The whole process took two days plus reinstalling the final side on the third day. The harbor freight low profile jack really came in handy, so I would recommend buying one of those.

Overall, I give it an A-, with the color being a bit lighter than what I was going for. However, I am very impressed with the amount of detail in the color and how the gloss gives it the look of a painted or coated wheels. I only bought two cans gloss with four cans of dip, so I am tempted to buy two more and give it a bit more gloss. I think the total price was $65? Not bad! I've already gotten a few thumbs up, so I think tinted my side markers, adding newer "R" symbols and dipping the wheels has turned this 11 year old grandpa into something new. A few people at work even asked me about my "New" wheels. The best part is I can wash the wheels without little hesitation and per what other people have said, it should last about a year and a half. I like the idea of it being temporary if I want to sell the car or get tired of how it looks.

I hope everyone enjoyed my ramblings, pics are below.

Before (at Mt Lemmon North of Tucson):



After:







Beyond a few runny spots, and some areas where the gloss is not even, I think to the unstrained eye from several feet away it looks pretty damn good. Yes the center caps need something and it would be nice to have the lugs painted, but I dont want to go over board so I will leave it for now.

 

Boy did that dip make it look meaner ! Wish I had a black S Type...

 

Wow, Looks Stellar! How Well Does It Match The Headlight Insides? Would You Mind Spraying A Small Piece Of Scrap And Comparing The Two(Scrap Vs. Headlight) In A Pic For Me? I've Been Wanting To "Dip" My Wheels But, I Want Them To Match The Headlights/Taillights. Please And Thank You!!!

 

Looks great!

Im a huge fan of plasti dip now, and just wait till you see how easy they are to clean.

 

Nice choice on tires, I have the same ones on my Forgestars.

 

JUST ORDERED the same set up, mine should provided a little more contrast as my str is silver.....kit was 4 cans with 3 cans gloss...

 

Looks great, wish mine was black or white.
Would look better with a drop too.

 

Thanks, not going to drop it because I like the adaptive suspension and don't want to have an engine light.

 

I have been thinking about doing this for a while now because the finish on my white STR's wheels are fading and peeling. Did your wheels have any type of curb rash or peeling? I'm curious at how well the dip hides those kind of blemishes.

 

Looks great!

 

You can do it " wheels on car " see You tube !! if you dont want to mask off tyres dont bother , it will peel off the rubber . I dont blame you for going for a more professional application , as you have a nice Jag & you did a great job . & of couse , if you get fed up with it ...it will just peel right off.

 

Yes!!! Mine had some curb rash (not from me!) and there were some stains on them so they were in mediocre shape. The plastidip did not fill it in 100% but pretty damn close, to the point where I am the only one that would be able to point it out. If you are looking to do a simple refinish with nothing crazy on the color they sell a silver under the true metallics line up.

 

That's awesome, exactly what I'm looking for. I think I will go with the anthracite color as you have. Should look nice against the white I think.

 

Faaaaaantastic!
I like your color decision and didn’t go with the obvious "black look" to match the body. I think your color choice gives it a little more personality. Great work!