I have a silver XF that I have been doing some blacked out details too, grille, side vents, chrome trunk piece, etc. and my wheels (Volan) are in need of a little TLC. Even after cleaning them, they never look clean. There are rough spots, curb marks, etc. nothing too bad but they could use some help. I plastic-dipped them black as a test to see how they'd look that way before doing anything permanent. Came out good and I really like it. After a few months you could see it wearing off near the tires so I decided the test was over. Once I got the original Alloy back, it looks really nice to me again haha.

So question / opinions. Would you repair the wheels and paint to original look, paint gloss black or maybe something in between, I was thinking gun metal grey?

Here is a pic of the black up close.

 

I agree on the gunmetal. Looks really good on lighter cars and even some darker ones.

 

i agree w/ the gunmetal. But I'm not a big fan of blacked out wheels...

 

So I did the gunmetal, got the paint at Advanced auto but it came out flat. I was hoping for a glossy finish. Even with a clear coat its pretty flat. Looks okay to me and Ive received compliments out how they came out but Id appreciate if anyone knows of a glossy gunmetal paint that I could use as another top coat to really finish them off. Ive searched amazon and google and I see a lot of "metallic" gunmetal but Im pretty sure thats what I started with.

Thanks!