badbenz94

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I am going to have my wheels powder coated as they have had some repairs due to corrosion etc and in certain spots on the machined lips they are painted silver now. While hardly noticeable. They become more so on sunny days when the wheel is rotating and you see the changes in appearance magnified.

My car is black and I do not like a dark colored wheel on black car. I like definition and being able to see the wheel itself. With that said, what are your thoughts on these and your opinions. SInce they are being powder coated I will lose all the machined highlights on the wheel.

Here is my car for reference




Should I do the factory color...Sterling silver:



Shadow Chrome/'Hyper Black:



Or Brilliant Smoke:


Open to other ideas as well.

Thanks for looking!!

Chris

dbldpr

I like the hyper black but it is whatever you like. You are the one driving it.

pierrejoliat

Yes, the Hyper Black is awesome!

badbenz94

Thats my favorite as well so far Looking for ideas or pics if someone has done something different that I might not thought of.

Appreciate your input.

Chris

pierrejoliat

I love the two-tone wheels, at least the silver-grey ones, like KEY08's but I already bent the 17" and 18" I have, no sense making the ride worse with 19" I don't know how much more doing two colors is though and I really like that hyper Black as a single color choice.

badbenz94

I do love two colors as well and those wheels are amazing on @KEY08 car(hard to find too) but wouldn’t know where to place what color. I suppose I’m looking for simplicity for now, as I’d like to go to a larger wheel someday.

Chris

KEY08

Yes, that hyper black looks really great. Thanks guys for the wheel compliments. The two-tone works with the spoke design because of the recesses located there. I agree that without some definition like that in your wheels it would be difficult to map out where two colors may go.

Senecat

Hyper Silver is a lot lighter/brighter than Hyper Black if you're looking for high contrast. I run Hyper Silver on my OEM wheels for my '03 Maxima SE project car.

andynmaas

For black car hyper or bright silver will be excellent.

BenzV12

+1 Hyper Black

badbenz94

@BenzV12 @Senecat @andynmaas @KEY08 @pierrejoliat @dbldpr @cetialpha5 @S-Prihadi

Hello Everyone and if I didn't tag you please don't take offense! I want your honest opinion on my wheel finish. You will not hurt my feelings one iota if you do not like them and feel free to share if you dont. .

I wanted to do the shadow black however the place that was doing my wheels couldn't do it($325 for all four to dismount, color and mount and balance).

I looked at SO MANY different colors it was creating a paralysis of sorts. I wanted something darker however everything I looked at was too dark(for a black car with thickish spokes imo).

I just wanted a simple grey however Prismatic's website doesn't have a color spectrum to help begin the search. Needless to say I ordered 20 plus samples from their 6500 different colors.

I ended choosing Prismatic Polished Aluminum. From all the pics I could find plus the sample, I felt comfortable with my choice. However when I went to pick up my car, the brightness of the wheels startled me. Now by no means does it look chrome, it is bright and shiny and is actually similar to polished aluminum.

Well here is a bunch of pics I tried to capture how they look. It has not been sunny around here lately so until then, this is what I have. I think Im warming up to them......















Thanks for looking and appreciate your comments!!

Chris

Senecat

I think they look great! Fresh wheels is a good feeling. I'm about to have my W221 wheels CNC cut and refinished, $1200 for all four.

How do YOU like the result?

badbenz94

Thank you! Like I said it’s growing on me. I wanted to go more sporty with the stock wheels but I think it’s more “classy”

One more shot

Senecat

I didn't want to assume. I'm sorry they didn't turn out the way you had envisioned. I think they look perfect. Chrome or anything too close is too ostentatious imo. Bright neutral metallics are my favorite, brushed aluminum, machine-surface, etc. like yours with a nice clear coat are where it's at.

BenzV12

Nice job, I would not have imagined that black hub cap logos would look that good on those wheels
I like it
Thanks for sharing
Happy Driving

badbenz94

No worries! . I completely agree about your statement on chrome. And thank you for your input. Look forward to seeing your wheels when they’re done.

And while it’s hard to capture in pics, I feel like they come closer to a chrome-like appearance than I wanted. When it’s sunny I’ll post another one of two and will get a better feeling about it then as well.

Flip side is the price is super reasonable for a redo if I change my mind.

Chris

andynmaas

That look cools it is same as mine using cheap Rial M10 bright silver only $150 each and made in Germany it replica of AMG wheel

KEY08

Looks like liquid silver and I like that look a lot on your black car. Good choice!

pierrejoliat

Although lighter in color I believe than you envisioned, they look awesome! If you pulled in somewhere and I saw them, I would notice right away and come over to look and ask about them. Love the black center caps, I'm going to do this at the next tire rotation on my grey car, I'm still getting used to seeing the pontoon fenders, w/o the lower door moldings and the facelift taillights, which would also attract my attention in a parking lot! But that looks good also! Can't wait to see them in the sunlight, I bet their perfect! I'm also warming up to the trunk lettering delete.

Well done...

badbenz94

It is definitely lighter and shinier than I expected, Thank you!

I am looking forward to you changing your center caps and want to see before/afters please Yes the removal of chrome is less of an impact on a lighter car and can enhance on some colors. IMO on a dark car, it just forced your eyes away from the body lines and right to lower door moldings and made the car look overtly angular. I tell you what, those taillights made such a difference on the car...they are not identical to the OEM(almost but different turn signal placement) but gosh, they make you look back at the car. In regards to the lettering delete, I believe less is more most times.

Its supposed to be sunny today and tomorrow so I will get some updated pics

Thanks again for all of your help and commentary since I have "rejoined" the forum.

Chris

ghlkal

I like how the wheels came out.

And, as BenzV12 said, I like the black center caps also.

badbenz94

Ok here is an overabundance of photos in the sun. I think I like them now. They definitely don’t look like chrome and tie all the bright pieces nicely together. A young(20 ish) guy said the wheels look great.

The camera doesn’t really grab what the eye sees imo but again not what I envisioned (I like subtly lol) but now pleased with the wheels. It helped too that I polished and waxed the car last night. The paint looks almost wet.

pierrejoliat

Yes, I was wondering if you could see the iridescence in the sunlight, but not so much in a photo, I bet it shows up in person or when the wheels are rolling slowly. Very nice!

Senecat

Use VRP or Silk Shine on the tires, that'll tie it all together really nicely.

Senecat

I think they look perfect. Nice metallic sheen to them without being reflective/chrome-like.

By the way, I thought about doing the 213 rear tail light retrofit a while back but then decided I liked 212 lights better. Now your car has me wanting to do it again. If I don't like it, I'll always have my factory tail lights, but I was wondering, where did you get yours from? Did you do the work yourself? A link to the 213 tail lights would be most appreciated! Thanks!