This was Summit Point, Shenandoah Course, with the Audi Club.

 

they look nice. are they painted or powdercoated?

 

Centers are painted (Jaguar Gunmetal Blue). Lips stripped and polished. Then clearcoated. All home-made, rattle-can.

 

 

wowowowow, hold up, you did this yurself? how!? do a rite up!!! i wanna do it too...but gloss black...

 

Nice - what's your suspension setup and are those stock rears on the front?

 

Suspension setup is AMG original. In the pics, the suspension is compressed, so it looks lowered.

All wheels are stock rears (8-1/2) with 245/40/17s all around.

I think aftermarket suspension is overrated. Start with tires and go from there.

 

Pretty simple, with one exception.

1. Clean the wheels. Soap, water, solvent.

2. The lip, Option 1 - Strip and polish - MUCH easier said than done. These wheels have a LOT of tough paint on them, so stripping required:
a. Blue tape tires.
b. Apply paint remover to lip (be careful not to goop up the rest of the wheel. A drop of the remover creates a lump that then needs to be sanded out.
c. Strip the paint, repeat, repeat, repeat until the color coat and primer are gone. It's thick stuff.
d. I used a 3M stripping wheel to get it down to bare aluminum.
e. Using wet sandpaper, use ever-increasing #s (lower grit). You can get to a brushed look, or go all the way to polished. This part takes a LONG TIME. I used a 5 gallon bucket and set the wheel on it. You can then spin the wheel on the bucket. This part took like 2 hours per wheel.

2. The lip, Option 2 - Leave it painted silver. (Honestly, I wish I had done this. Up close, the polish looks cool, but not enough to justify the effort.)

3. Tape over the polished/painted lip and tire, and expose the center of the wheel that you want to paint. Taping in a circle is tough. I used lots of small strips, but you may want to find a bendable tape. Front wheels are easier; rear wheels have to be taped at the lip.

4. Use fine, fine grit paper to rough up the surface. Then clean it with alcohol. Let it dry.

5. RATTLE CAN MAN. Paint your chosen color. When the color is good, then cut back the blue tape to expose the polished/silver lip, but keep the tire taped. Clearcoat the whole wheel. You want to be in a NON-windy location when painting. It sucks when a small leaf falls on wet paint.

WARNING - No matter how good your paint, when you chip a dark color, it is MUCH more visible than chipping a silver painted wheel. Just about any tire shop will chip the wheels around the wheel bolts. I will either blue tape around the bolts before going to a shop, OR I just take the wheels into the shop myself.

 

Looks nice!

 

That's great! You might consider using that shot as your signature, just to add a little humor to every post.

Nice shots, by the way. I need to study them some more to really see the difference.

 

lets see a pic of them when the cars not moving
have yours chipped yet?

 

Great photos! Really capture what must have been an enjoyable event.

Intend on upgrading to a de-staggered setup as well, in an effort to help achieve more neutral cornering dynamics. If you don't mind my asking, how did your laps compare with the various marques (and their respective models) in attendance? Suspect more than a few took note of your C32's speed...

 

This is one of the front wheels.


And yes, I've had a couple of chips put on the wheels. Small chips, right around the wheel bolts.

 

those wheels do look nice for a home brew. Never thought it could be done that well outside a paint shop.

About the suspension... After looking at your pics it is pretty clear to me your car is not stock. I think you must have a set of springs in there. They likely are H&R or RENNtech. The C32 does not sit like that stock. Have a look at biff's pics and notice how his car as an SUV like gap between the front fender and the wheel where as your car sits far lower. Take a look and report back!

I dont know what amg was thinking with all that front end ride height. Its just way to much in my eyes.

Nice driving.

 

My lap time at Summit Point dropped two seconds with my suspension set-up.

 

Carlsson RS dropped our times as well. Amazing system.

Jon when does your GT3 come in? C32 still treating you well?

 

I had to give up my slot on the 997 GT3. My wife said that we can't afford it. I shooting for a 996 GT3 now. I have a buyer lined up for my C32 on Friday.

 

Hardly a reason for a face! If you save some $$$ on the car she will let you make some upgrades to the 996 GT3 and then you will have a really crazy track car. Some minor work on the 996 will make it equal or better than a 997 I should think.

Glad to hear you found a buyer for the MB. Is business going well?

 

On Pole Motorsports would do better with the proper marketing. I built a nice SLK55 recently.

 

why can't i see the pix???


Jon, what do you offer?? Are you based at Summit Point? (I will be there next Sunday for a time trial).

Good job 5th! Pity you couldn't join me next week.......

not sure re the 996 gt3 vs 997 gt3.....i get excellence mag....there are very significant upgrades to the 997 over the 996. changes to rear diff, more power. a nice read.

 

Suspension is stock. All of the pics show the suspension compressed (braking or turning). Believe me, when sitting still, it's the classic C32 SUV profile! I'll do springs some day (probably when my struts are toast). I'm at 40,000 miles now, so maybe another year or so.

 

I may stop by on Saturday. We are garage # 3 in gasoline alley.

On Pole Motorsports sales Renntech, Kleemann, Carlsson, and many other race parts.

We took care Fongflex's car. The C32 that ran a 12.579s @ 110.49MPH.

Here is a picture of my car.

 

Glad to see someone putting the AMG to the test on the track =)

 

Who is putting on the time trial event at Summit Point this weekend? I pushed my buyer off for a few months.

 

thanks. they look nice.
kind of like mines, but darker: