Wheel opinions for the IS

[ScottyB]

can anyone find me those pictures, or links to them? at this point there's pretty much no way i'm not including these.

[ScottyB]

before

after


keep in mind, that in real life that bronze color will have a much greater depth of greys in it and the highlights won't yellow out like that. these wheels are 17's, right? i might have made them a bit big.

oh....and personally, that looks hot as balls

[Nis01]

Nice work Scotty, I'm liking the bronze / gold. I think I'm a bit biased. :lol:

Lee, decisions.. decisions...

[ScottyB]

Nice work Scotty, I'm liking the bronze / gold.

Lee, decisions.. decisions... :lol:

it's all your fault Shea. i used to not like white at all...now i do. and now every car i see with white/gold makes me lust after it

[Mike]

phew i thought you had actually done that... they look WAY too big in the front. 17s should look great.

[JustinG]

the 350 wheels he got are 18s, but either way itll look hot as shit, go for it, and like i said, if you don't like it, you can re spray them, and you've lost maybe 4-5 hours of your time and like 12 bucks in spray paint. Might as well try it.

[Mike]

hrug: whatever is in that pic looks goofy.

[ScottyB]

they look WAY too big in the front.

when i was upsizing the new rims i had the opacity way down and "looked through them" to see the difference over stock. they are probably too big overall but the fronts and rears are actually equally proportional in their increase over stock.

[WRXtranceformed]

Man that was an awesome chop Scott! You even got the blue tint and all.

With that said, I'm sticking with the original plan. I'm am absolutely not feeling the gold at all, but I may take one of you guys up on helping me rattlecan them to a gloss black.

They are 18x8 in the front, 18x8.5 in the rear. That picture doesn't give a very accurate view of the stance of my car actually, it's just the way I originally took it (that parking spot leans back a little). The '01 IS300 had slightly softer springs than the following years, giving it a more aggressive stance. The front actually sits a little lower than the rear... the 18s should look sick on it ^_^

[ScottyB]

can't go wrong with black....that will look sweet with the black tails

[Feersty]

You should smoke that corner turn signal as well. Or did you already do that?

[WRXtranceformed]

I did the rear one, but the front headlight kit doesn't come with that corner signal. I dunno why but it doesn't. I'm okay with it though.

[WRXtranceformed]

Is there anyone who has painted their wheels before who would like to hang out with me at some point this week and help me do mine? I'll come to you and supply pizza and beer =)

[D_Eclipse9916]

Just get some 1500-2000 grit sandpaper and lightly do all the wheels everywhere. This gives some grip to the paint. Do too much sanding and itll scratch up the wheel if your using less than 1500 grit. Which means youll be doing tons of layers of primer.

After sanding, wash and dry, making sure to get all sandpaper grit and wheel paint that was sanded off, off the wheel.

Depending on the olor your paitning the wheels, get either white primer or black/grey primer. Make sure you are at least 12 inches away and even distribute the coats, making sure to get in all those little wells. Leave 15 minutes between each coat, and do 2 or 3 of these coats till it comes out cmopletely even and no darker patches. Check this with an indoor light, which will really show imperfections.
After the last coat of primer I let it dry for about 20 minutes then get out my base or color coat. If you want a little pearl or metallic or more than just a base color, choose the paint that matches your style and do two coats of this. Then two coats of your color, too many coats and you wont get the fade through of that base metallic coat.

Again at least 15-20 minutes between coats and I let the wheels dry for 30 minutes before I go ahead and get out the clear coat, one coat will do unless you need ultra shiny, which would be two, let dry for 25 minutes between those coats.

[.RJ]

FWIW, I use a bit more abrasive sandpaper (400 grit) and no primer, and it comes out looking fine. *I* think 1500 is not enough to rough up the wheels enough to get paint to stick, but YMMV.

[JustinG]

Some good how to articles from DSMtuners on painting yoru wheels

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217864">http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217864</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88747">http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88747</a><!-- m -->

I like the first link myself...

[WRXtranceformed]

I would do it myself, but two people = twice as fast. I might give Evan a ring since I know he doesn't check these boards much anymore. He told me he might be able to help out =)

[WRXtranceformed]

So I made the decision tonight, the wheels will not be painted!!

I've deliberated long and hard, and as good as I think they would look black, I want to keep it looking classy. I feel like black would give it too much of the "tuner" look which I'm trying to avoid right now. The wheels just look so pristine that I can't bear to put sandpaper to them. The combo of the black tails and the calipers painted black should give me the effect I'm looking for without drawing too much attention.

I may save the repainting for one or two seasons down the road when the wheels have rock chips and dings on them ^_^

[JustinG]

good call, i think itll look just as good with the silver finish. Black would look great to, but not for what the image your going for.

[ScottyB]

good call, i think itll look just as good with the silver finish. Black would look great to, but not for what the image your going for.

couldn't have said it better. and hey, if you want to change your mind later then that will be easy....at least you can start out plain and go from there.