What to do with the wheels


maxemus

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 25, 2007
886
Miami, Florida
I'm doing the clear film on my car recently the installer noticed the finish on the wheels
Is for lack of a better term...stained. He's suggesting doing some process that sounds like powder coating but I may be off. What have you guys encountered with your GT's wheels? Here are some pics for your review. As always I'm extremely grateful for all the feedback this wonderful forum provides.
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This last pic shows some scrape marks from a tire change years ago. Some dumby went at the balancing weights with a screwdriver.
 

AJB

GT
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Jun 28, 2006
2,943
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Personally ... I am will be blunt, I think he is 'milking' your good nature and $$.

andy (ajb)
 

maxemus

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 25, 2007
886
Miami, Florida
Personally ... I am will be blunt, I think he is 'milking' your good nature and $$.

andy (ajb)

He doesn't do the work that he's suggesting. He could be brokering services but the wheels are still not quite as I'd like them to be. I'm curious why they look like that since they've been in a temperature controlled environment since 2005.
 

AJB

GT
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Jun 28, 2006
2,943
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Ok,
I had some slight discoloration on mine at one point. Seemed to be melted on tire or brake residue.
I used a rag saturated in WD-40 and it removed nicely.
andy (ajb)
 

Specracer

GT Owner
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Nov 28, 2005
7,081
MA
The wheel weight damage is why I strip the weights my self, and take the wheels to the tire shop in my truck.
 

Sinovac

GT Owner
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Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
Are you using OEM brake pads?
 

maxemus

GT Owner
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Apr 25, 2007
886
Miami, Florida
Are you using OEM brake pads?

Yes. I don't remember the last time they were changed but they were only worked on by the local ford store
 

JOETWINT

FORD GT OWNER
Mark IV Lifetime
Jan 22, 2008
431
Brooklyn N.Y.
if you are going to refinish them my suggestion would be to paint them rather than powder coating them.Powder coating wheels should be done in a low temp process so that the metalurgic makeup of the wheel is not changed which in turn can weaken the wheels.Usually most places that do power coating bake the parts in high temp ovens and for wheels on a high performance car this isn't a good thing obviously.
 

KJRGT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 4, 2006
2,840
SoCal
if you are going to refinish them my suggestion would be to paint them rather than powder coating them.Powder coating wheels should be done in a low temp process so that the metalurgic makeup of the wheel is not changed which in turn can weaken the wheels.Usually most places that do power coating bake the parts in high temp ovens and for wheels on a high performance car this isn't a good thing obviously.


Agreed. The problem is we can't get a paint designation from BBS. Seems like we need to choose a different paint scheme and give it a try.
I for one am contemplating BMWs wheel paint. It has that silver and brilliant look in the sun as do our BBS wheels.
 
Last edited:

fjpikul

GT Owner
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Belleville, IL
How anoretentive can you be? Try a little toothpaste or light rubbing compound.
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
How anoretentive can you be? Try a little toothpaste or light rubbing compound.

And follow up with a good paste wax.
 

KJRGT

GT Owner
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May 4, 2006
2,840
SoCal
Problem is the paint coverage is thin in areas. At least on my wheels. Compound of any kind won't help. Not enough paint coverage to make it work.
 

Ed Sims

GT Owner
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Apr 7, 2006
7,850
NorCal
Powder coating is good if you want a solid color like plain black but metallic colors like the OEM BBS wheels are painted.

Ed
 

soroush

Ford Gt Owner
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Aug 8, 2007
5,256
just have all of the wheel refinished repainted so that they can match trying to match one to the rest is a long shot. the cost is minimal also, should not be more than 150 to 200 per wheel.
 

texas mongrel

GT Owner
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May 3, 2009
1,661
Houston Texas
If you powdercoat, be careful about checking nut torque. The coating prefeably should not be done in the wheel nut seat area. A mate of mine had his car's wheels powdercoated and one fell off at the track because the coating broke up under the nut seats.
 

partssmann

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jun 1, 2013
755
Scottsdale, Arizona
I had a strip weight pull off paint. Went to local mobile wheel restoration guy who was located at Mercedes dealer. Mercedes dealer was located next to several higher end car dealers. He did all the wheel repairs for dealers in that area along with Discount tire. He custom blended paint to match BBS wheel and came out great.
 

Kayvan

GT Owner
Jul 13, 2006
4,782
I would be more vigilant about cleaning the dust / dirt / grime off wheels; also, dont use ANY wheel cleaners (mothers, griots, simply green, etc).

Hot water and soap and soft rag is all.

I used several mobile wheel guys from dealers to franchised on my Vette and long term none held up over 40K mi. and varied in finish/gloss/etc.

My take, is no paint will be has hard as OEM and will chip from rocks over time.

Might make it worse; and as we seen in auctions/sales OEM, bone, stock, factory, original seems to be >$+ preference.
 

ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
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Feb 13, 2006
5,770
Scottsdale, Arizona
If you powdercoat, be careful about checking nut torque. The coating prefeably should not be done in the wheel nut seat area. A mate of mine had his car's wheels powdercoated and one fell off at the track because the coating broke up under the nut seats.

That's a good thing to know as I currently have powercoated wheels on my GT. I'll keep an eye on that.

Chip
 

Xcentric

GT Owner
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Jul 9, 2012
5,213
Myakka City, Florida
Nut torque is the worst.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

fjpikul

GT Owner
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Jan 4, 2006
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Belleville, IL
No, nut torsion is the worst and leads to infarction and orchietomy.