Agreed. If they need to be sandblasted, you might as well powdercoat them. Should cost about 250$.

 

All of your wheels look great! I have been wanting to do this for a long time. I either wanted new wheels or to paint the OEM wheels. After finding out that most aftermarket wheels are heavier than the stock wheels (besides some crazy high dollar ones) I decided paint was the best route. I was thinking of a gloss black wheel on my 05 Shinka. Has anyone done gloss black yet? Another thing I noticed was that some of you painted the Mazda emblem on the wheels and some of you didn't. Do you wish you would have/haven't? The rust on the brake rotor has been driving me crazy ever since I bought the car so I will definitely paint them with some BBQ(high heat) spray paint or something along with the calipers at the time of painting the wheels.

p.s. From what I have read powder coating aluminum is not recommended due to weakening the strength of the wheel.

 

Go for it Keldon! I have seen gloss black stockers a few times roaming around the site.. but I cant remember who had them. I would think it would look fantastic, especially if you clear coat the wheels as well. I would definitely suggest painting the center caps as well, it will look weird in my opinion if you dont. What you could do, is remove the Mazda emblem from the center cap and leave that Chrome. Then paint the center cap black. This will leave the wheel all black except for the chrome Mazda emblem and the lugs. Either way good luck.

 

I just got my Velocity Red 8 and am seriousy considering doing this. But i wanna do blue metallic on the rims. Any thoughts on how that would look on the red 8?

 

I dont think blue rims on a red 8 would look good. If you really want to know though.. ask around and see if someone can photoshop it for you.

 

Pics of black OEM's for you Keldon. These are from member RX8SHNKVI's profile.

 

Thanks man that looks really good gloss with the center cap painted too. Yeah luckily my father restores and paints classic show cars for a living so the actual paint part should be cake. He recommended black epoxy or etch, base coat clear coat with 4 or 5 coats of clear (in case of rock chips). When I bought my car it had some crazy curb rash so Ill be using bondo to make them look fresh. Looks like RX8SHNKVI must have bought some black lug nuts as well, they look good. Thanks for the inspiration =D

 

I've been thinking about painting mine for a while, and you've officially inspired me to do so with this thread...However, I'm having a mental debate as to what the best color would be...Damien (my baby) is nordic green, so I'm pretty limited...I just want something that will definitely stand out...Any ideas?

 

^Black or Gold would look good I would think. Gold would stand out a bit more.

 

Those were the only two I could come up with as well...*sigh*...I'm not a fan of gold, so most likely I'll go with black...Thanks!

 

^Post some pics when your done! Good luck.

 

Will do!

 

Well, I do think black and gold would work, and the right shade of gold or bronze could be sharp. Depending on how flashy you want to be, white might be okay. I remember a dark green FC RX-7 with white wheels that looked good.

For me, black hides the wheel too much. I've been seriously considering a metallic gray similar to the wheel color on a Saab 93 Turbo-X, because it is different than stock and a little on the steathy side but still lets you see the shape of the wheel easily. (Admittedly, black wheels generally look beter in person than in photographs.)

 

I agree with the idea of black hiding the wheel...Not only that, but I notice that both black and gold wheels hide the slight hint of blue in the nordic green paint when the sun hits it...*sigh*...I need photoshop...lol

 

ok fellas as you have seen my silver 8 i have already made the wheels black but im gonna try and step it up a notch my GF curbed my car for the first time the other day and so im gonna repaint them black unless yal think of another color that would look good... but if i repaint them black im gonna prob put a red pin stripe around the outside edge

 

^ Helll nawww on the red pin stripe! If you still want to put it, take pics and want to see how it looks.

 

hey chrishoky i got the same blue rx8 as you and im thinking of doing the same thing next weekend to my OEM wheels but im thinking of also buying these as well:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/20-Bl...item4cf6a46b09

but idk if those lug nuts will look good with the dark grey rims you have or if i should just paint my rims all black, i kinda like what shadycrew did with his blue rx8 which was paint them grey like yours but how would the blue lug nuts look with it....

i have pics of my car on my album in profile check it out, its blue with blackout tail lights/side markers and blacked out tint.

 

Phsalex, because you have already blacked out other areas of your car I would go with blacking out the wheels as well. I definitely think a blue set of lugs would set it off nicely too. Post some pics when your done.

 

yeah man will do, hopefully i can do them this weekend :D

 

Taping up the wheel to paint the rim is too much work and can be really tricky... save yourself the trouble and some time and do this:



Flashcards will make your life so much easier.

 

^ Agreed, flash cards do work well if there is no wind. They kept getting blown off for me even with the smallest breeze.

 

Flash cards + tape my friend.

 

hey question did you guys take all the wheels off at the same time if so what did you use 4 jack stands? or did you do them one at a time

 

I did 2 at a time..

 

you guys should try plasti dip you can peel it if you dont like it ...