Thoughts on painting/powder coating?

TXSpeedDemon

I've done it both ways. Painted my stock rims myself. With proper prep they lasted 3-4 years before I sold them and bought the Volks. Ran the Volks for 7 years and just recently had them powder coated a custom color. Have only had them about 1 month but no issues so far.

If you like the structure of the stock wheels and just want a change of color, go for it.

Here in Dallas the shop I used charges $130 a wheel to remove all curb rash, round out the wheel, fill in any gouges and paint/powdercoat. I've had 4 sets done there now (2 painted for my mazda, 1 powder coated for my girl's audi, and my volks powder coated) and don't notice a big difference between painting vs powdr coating.

The only exception is the metallic finishes. I got truer color with the powder coat. Still a big difference between direct sunlight and shade, but the painted ones looked like completely different colors vs different shades of the same family. Painted a metallic brass looks great in sunlight, but like yellow poop in the shade. Powdercoated metallic looks great in sunlight and like a non metallic version in the shade.