19" Stock Rays wheels powdercoat project
 

I wanted to wait until I had the project finished to post this, but forum members were chomping at the bit to see what they would look like. I will continue to add pictures to this thread as I get them installed and get the center caps finished.

Car before:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...utt/toolow.jpg

Wheels after stripping, sandblasting and one coat of gloss black powdercoat:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...t/IMG_0355.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...t/IMG_0356.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...t/IMG_0357.jpg


Wheels after pinstriping (shot from iPhone):
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...nutt/photo.jpg


I'll get better pictures with a real camera to show detail, but the pinstripe has a 2mm margin of black around all the edges before the contour changes. So, on the spoke face, there is a tiny rim of black around the orange before the edge of the flat part of the spoke falls off. Same with the lip of the wheel; tiny black stripe before the edge of the wheel. That detail makes it look extra sharp. The orange is a mix of VHT (very high temp) orange and a little yellow. It's more orange than the persimmon leather, but it looks good up against it. Hemi orange and safety orange clashed with the darker persimmon. We also tried this variation with a 5 mm stripe going down the high part of each spoke down to the hub, but the asymmetry of the wheel made it look unbalanced and we wiped it down before the paint dried.


The wheels are currently at the powdercoat shop for a clear coat. They're supposed to be finished this evening and I'll post pictures when they are done, then when I get the 305 width RE11's mounted up.

The cost was $435 (incl tax) at the powdercoater for stripping, sandblasting, powdercoating and clear coating. The cost at the pinstriper was $70 for all 4 wheels!


Cheers!

-Phim

Honestly? I'm not a HUGE fan of the pinstriping job, but I'm much more of a minimalist. I think the most I'd do is the stripe around the rim. But hey, if that's your thing, all the power to you :tup: They're definitely unique!

that's actually gonna look cool once on the Z....next, paint the headlight housing black with pin stripe colour matched projector shrouds to match the rims!!


for some reason Knight Rider came in my head looking at ur rims

Looking good, hope you get them on the car soon.

LOL!

Hopefully this will turn out still somewhat subdued. I am totally trying to keep it so it doens't look ricey. I originally wanted to machine the orange part so it was just black/machined aluminum, but no one in town had a 22" CNC machine and the ones that did in LA wanted 6 hours of labor for the cad/cam setup time because of the compound curve on the lip of the rim. Total machining cost would have been $600ish + the $400 for powdercoat. At that price, I might as well get aftermarket wheels and sell the stockers. I then thought about doing pinstripe, but just held off, fearing it would be "too much."

Then, MW Design came out with their "Darth Maul" M3 and it inspired me to move forward with the pinstripe:

http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-20...e-1280x960.jpg

After seeing this, I thought..... Hmm... Orange accents would look good on the wheels, headlight projector shrouds, wheel center caps,front/rear Nissan badges, air intake areas in front, licence plate recess in back....

On the wheel centers and Nissan badges, I'm going to gloss black the chrome part and go orange on the lettering.

Just takes time to get this all together....

^ be sure to post pics of the final thing and prove me wrong :D

Wow way too loud for my taste. Very unique though.

machining the parts you painted would look awesome...

but it's either you do that or keep the accent colour and paint the projector shrouds the same colour and do the badges also...i would just paint the badges black (colour match) and accent colour the Nissan writing....and of course....tint the tails :tup:

Very loud, yes. And no offense taken. This car only comes out at night and on the weekends. It's mostly only seen in the dark, so black on black is really underwhelming.

I also want some "bling" because this is my going on dates and out to clubs car. I would be embarassed to bring it to work, LOL!

Looks really good:tup: did you put your car on stands while they got done or you got a spare set of wheels?

Bought two jackstand for $30. One corner is on the spare. One corner is on a floor jack I already owned.

first thing that would come to my mind if i see your car is darth maul :D
cant wait to get mine done
sux the place u went to is in bakersfield :( i would have gone to them too

^^ why didnt you??

coz its a 2 hour drive lol

Pretty cool. I'm doing the same thing just with a red lip, nothing else. Looking around my area for a good shop to do the powder coating and pin striping.

Definitely put up picks with them installed on the car i want to see how it turns out, its definitely a unique look! Props on trying a new look, who knows maybe it will be a new trend!

You might want to sand the powder off of the back side of the wheel where it meets the hub before mounting, otherwise it will be a bit*h to get the wheels off next time, as the powder will melt a little and they will be stuck on.

^ Good call. I never even thought about that when I was browsing through the pictures. :tup:

I want to see them so bad!

I'm doing just a simple solid red lip on mine. I was messing around in PS earlier today to see how Phimosis' idea would look on mine, so I did the rear wheel.

I think it's cool but I am still going with the simpler red lip, but I think his setup will have the potential to look really cool.

Hey, thanks for the photochop on that. +1 rep for you!

That is a bit much. Hmm. Wasn't really trying to pimp it out. Maybe I could get the theme to match up if I put a salt water fish tank in the hatch, or make the rear license plate flip down to reveal an LCD TV and have rap videos to match what I'm playing on my system......

Lol. Anyways, I'm committed to the project now. I'll set it up, ride it like that for a while and if it bugs me, I'll strip them again and redo them with just the lip. If they crack because I've ran them through the powdercoat oven too many times, I'll get new wheels. Chances are I'll end up spending less than getting a set of high end wheels from the outset.

Either way, I'll keep you guys posted so others can learn from my mistakes or succes.

best is LCD's behind the headrest so ppl driving behind you can watch also


i think it will not be too much on a black Z like urs...the pic is of a red Z..so...too much red already in the pic

VERY crude ps to give you an idea of it on black...

^^ good photoshop !! on the red to black

doesnt look bad...it looks bold

Thanks.

The door handles absolutely need to be painted black, though. They stick out like a sore thumb with the black wheels.

^^ very true indeed...needs to be blacked out...no red there..lol

Must see piiiiiiiiiiics...been thinking about doing this...(minus the red pin striping - thinking of a silver or white pinstripe).

hehe

Again, very crude. This would be stock silver with black.

Wow, thanks +rep...

I think I like the front better....black with just a pinstripe around the edge. Looks pretty sweet IMO.

I like the black powder coat and the stripe around the lip. I might have to consider doing that with a yellow stripe. I already have a couple dings around the lip of my rims, can those be fixed?

yes, they can be sanded smooth and coated over. Minor imperfections can be filled in with powder. If they are really deep, they can be filled in with metal filler and sanded back smooth before coating.

I like the thin outer edge but not red up on the "Z". I also think if you are going to make the silver rims black to match the car you may as well get rid of the silver on the door handles, lights, etc....

Here's some brand new shots after a layer of clear powdercoat over the pinstripe!

Fresh out of the oven:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...t/IMG_0362.jpg

Up close:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...t/IMG_0365.jpg

Direct sunlight:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...t/IMG_0367.jpg

Close up shot of pinstripe:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...t/IMG_0368.jpg

Tire mounting pictures....


New 305/30/19 Bridgestone RE11's:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/0172.jpg



Pictures of the sidewall. A lot of threads talk about 305 width being too wide for the rear wheel and the rear tires bulging, so I took a few shots. Note that the tires have a recessed bead, not to be confused with sidewall bulge.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/0132.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/0163.jpg

Now for the good stuff! I don't have the center caps painted yet, but within a few days...... will post more as I get things finished up.
I just got these mounted tonight, ran them home, bolted them up, got the car off of the jack stands and ran it into the sunset. As I drove out of town, I finally got away from the shadows and buildings and found a dirt road that was still getting direct sunlight. Unfortunately, this was all I had to work with:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/021.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/023.jpg


Notice the red dot on the fender....It was the sun as it was setting behind the hills. LOL.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/025.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/026.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/028.jpg

In the dark, the color is a little more red-orange
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/029.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/ldmcnutt/035.jpg

Even more unfortunately, On my way home I came upon an accident where a soccer mom in an Escalade T-Boned a motorcyclist at speed. Poor guy had one leg hanging buy a few pieces of tissue, totally folded up under his body. I took my shirt off and used it as a tourniquet to control arterial bleeding while we waited for the paramedics. I parked my car diagonally in the road to create a safe zone for people at the edge of the street helping this guy. When the police came they thought my car was involved in the wreck, too. I'll see if I can find an x-ray of this disaster tomorrow at work.
Totally ruined my perfect day with my new wheels on the Z. :-(

Nice job, they look good mounted up :tup:

sucks about the accident, but good thing you were there to help. Wheels look great! Nice to see the final product, as I was going to do something really similar had I not bought the nismo wheels.

Nice on,e jumpnig in and helping that guy out...coulda been like most of us and ben dumbfounded.

As for the rims, now you need so 25mm spacers to widen the stance..they are hidden under the flare.

I have 15mm spacers sitting in my kitchen just waiting to get put on! I was afraid to go any wider since I am now running 305 width tires.

On another note, here's the x-rays of the guy's leg in the accident:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...tt/photo-2.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...tt/photo-1.jpg

First one is femur. Second one is tibia/fibula.
:sad:

OMG!!! will that leg be savable? is it worth the years of rehabilitation?