Hey Guys
I've got a Jaguar XE S and it's a fantastic car. However, I have always regretted not getting the black rims when I was asked by my dealer, and now, I really think they would make the car look fantastic, hence why I am on here. Has anyone had their rims powder coated or painted, and if so, what did you think of it? Should I powder coat my rims, or go and buy them from the dealer or a parts specialists?

 

Powder coating is stronger, but harder to touch up. If you do get them re-finished, make sure the whole wheel, inside and out is done to the same level of finish. I would do a gloss finish as that's what JLR does and you want it to look stock.

 

Definitely get them coated. Much more durable and probably will end up being cheaper. I had my 19" rims powdercoated in gloss black. Came out beautiful. I have a very lengthy story with my rims though. When I got my car in August (lease) I had Jaguar paint the wheels in gloss black as part of the purchase deal. They did a beautiful job. one week later due to a malfunctioning car wash (a metal piece of the carwash fell off and landed in front of my tire and I tried to sneak around it and ended up rubbing the wheels against the side metal bar in the carwash. I have the rim/tire protection so they painted the wheel again. I got the car back and noticed around the outer lip that the painter (Jaguar contracts local wheel guys to paint) had missed spots about 4-6" long. Easy to spot. So I took them back to have them redone. Got them back the second time and everything looked good. I then noticed that 2 of the wheels were nice and glossy, but the other side was clearly a much more matte finish. So I took them back again and the dealer said that the body shop used something to try to clean them afterwards and it ruined the finish. So they paint them a 3rd time. This time it was a disaster. They missed so many spots in painting the wheels. They painted over dirt and dust. There was no attempt to make the wheel gloss. It was pathetic and I honestly can't believe after 2 failed attempts my service adviser told me "ok everything looks good" I was not happy at this point. I was tired of bringing my car in and told them I would like them powdercoated instead. So they let me pick a coater and they paid for the wheels to be done. Had them powdercoated and JLR mounted and balanced the wheels. Driving it for a bit I felt it wasn't quite as smooth as it was before. So rather than run 40 miles back the the dealership I took it into Discount Tire Direct to check the balance. Balance was off a bit and I asked to make sure they wouldn't use anything in the wheel weight removal to damage the wheel. I was assured that it wouldn't. Of course it did. All 4 wheels scratched. A couple pretty substantial scratches. So off to the powdercoater again they went. Everything is perfect now and hopefully I won't ever have to get them touched again. A few pics attached to show JLR's contracted paint job the 3rd time and one shot of Discount Tire's mess.

 

Carpenter, It looks to me like the wheels were initially powder coated and then "touched up" with spray paint. Believe it or not, spray paint is the normal way to touch up small defects in powder coating. There are companies that sell touch up spray paint matched to powder coatings made by the big suppliers (Axalta, PPG, Tiger, PCI, etc.). My guess is that they tried to do the original touch up with the tires mounted and did not do a good job blending in the spray paint. Second touch up was probably more of the same but they gave up and did not even bother to clean the wheel first.

The powder coatings used on wheels typically bake at 400F, so the tire has to be removed. A good technician can blend spray paint into a minor defect. If the damage to the powder coating is too deep, the only way to properly fix it is to chemically strip off the old coat, sand blast clean, and recoat the entire wheel.

 

I have to send my car back to the dealer as I have tire and rim insurance and they repainted a wheel just awful. Good timing as we are in snow season and having a LR Discovery for a few days would be nice.

 

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the suggestions.
After doing a little bit more research, I've decided to get it powder coated.
I'm taking the car to a place that was suggested to me by a friend. I'll update you guys with the results

 

I occasionally track my 2015 S so I broke down and bought a set of black painted wheels from Midwest Wheel & Tire in Auburn Hills, MI. to carry more suitable rubber. Not cheap (~$2300 delivered) but they were absolutely beautiful. Now I have a dilemma because I would prefer the black for daily use and the silver for track. They are OEM wheels and are identical to my factory silver wheels except color.

 

Ceramic coat the wheels and either one would be fine since they'll be a breeze to wash.