Hi Folks,

Rims on my 03 are pitted and chrome is peeling so it's time for a refinish. Chrome is gonna be out of budget despite being the most desirable option.

Powder coating is what I'm looking at, have a couple of colour choices: Matt black, gloss black or silver.

So forum members, what colour do you think is more befitting a Platinum Mettalic black roof convertible XK8?

Also, is anyone able to photo shop a pic of a Platinum Met. XK8 to show what the wheels would look like? I believe the wheel style is Centaur 18"

 

I vote for silver. Can't go wrong with that color combo and I believe from a resale standpoint, most potential customers would prefer silver....

 

Mine looks similar to yours then. I just had all four refinished last month (see sig). I went with the standard silver with no regrets. I was tempted to go matte black, and may have if this were a BMW, but it just didn't seem right on a XK100. Wife also preferred silver- more classy she said.

 

I have a buddy who does metal fabrication and works closely with a powder coating shop for some of his finish pieces. He showed me some "chrome" powder coated chassis parts that were really close to a chrome finish. You could not tell them from chrome at 10 feet away. He didn't mention it being any more expensive than standard powder coating.

 

+Another vote for silver

 

Make sure that the color used on the rims are the same color as the body. My rims came back silver vs Platinum on the body. They are not the same color. Use your color code for matching. Send us pictures after the rims are repainted.

 

I vote silver and anyways if you don't clean them everyday (as I do) they're matte black with brake dust by the second day. And while I really don't like black wheels, if you're going black, go gloss not matte.

 

Thanks for all the response guys, your opinions all appreciated and match my decision to go with the silver.

Still, if anyone can photoshop the wheels to black it would be kinda fun to see what that would look like!

Thanks again!

 

Hi,
I was just reading the thread and I want to make sure I understand. Do you mean I don't have to buy brand new rims, I can just have them refinished? The chrome on mine is peeling badly. How much does something like that cost? Unfortunately, I can't do any work myself so I have to go to dealer/mechanic. But that almost sounds more like autobody work?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Leigh

 

Search YouTube for "refinishing rims" tons of videos on how to do it. Not difficult at all.

 

There are tons of aftermarket guys that will cosmetically refinish wheels to anything you like. That includes re-chrome (expensive), powder coated or painted. I had an Audi A6 whose front passenger wheel was eaten by a pothole. Bent it pretty bad. I had it repaired and they repainted it as well. It looked like a new wheel. Made the other wheels look so bad I took them in to get repainted.

And as Jandreu says, it is a pretty simple DIY as well.

 

There is a little difference in the 'silver' colors out there. I had a couple done on my xk8, and when they came back, they were more light 'gray' than 'silver'. Ask for 'hypersilver' to make sure you get the flake that gives it some sparkle.

 

I had my wheels painted in a metallic black, then went with Dorchester grey to match the window and mirror trim.

 

Phil, your XKR looks amazing! I was considering gloss black rims but was unsure how they'd look against the Platinum body colour. Decided to go with silver, dropped the vehicle off Tuesday morning and I'll get to see her in two weeks when I come home from work-watch this space for pics!

Then I have new shocks all round, front upper mounts and roof seals to change. Really looking forward to the transformation of my baby.

 

Your black wheels look great! I have a triple black XK and just put new 2002 XK8 wheels on it, your photo makes me want to powder coat them black! :-)

 

Got car back Friday, quite a bit different from the chrome finish but look much tidier!

Here's a pic.

 

The little squiggle is something on lens!

 

Actually looks very nice with your car's color. Good pick.