panameras

Those are twp piece wheels and the outer rim is not painted - nor are the bolts. To paint it properly the wheel needs to be disassembled, painted and then re-assembled with the proper torque sequence on each bolt (IMHO).

thanks Loren, i am aware of that the wheels need to be disassembled prior painting.. but how important is " torque sequence" on bolts? or does porsche wheels need particular care in that area? is that something an experienced wheel painter should know?

thanks stumperjumper, dark metallic grey is an option i might consider. would you happen to have a picture of the BBS RSGT's? and would a grey color base "hide dust" better than black?

I'd not powdercoat wheels because it can hide cracks, which in a wheel can be especially dangerous

like Chris said, the wheels are already painted, and can be painted the same way you'd paint anything else, if I were going to do it, instead of black I'd go with a dark metallic grey the way the BBS RS-GT's are, I think those look fantastic on every car

thanks for all your replies. at this stage, im going to go with painting instead of power coating as i had painted wheels on my last car. they looked fantastic. the gloss lasted for 2 years until i sold the car. but i have say jim's powdercoated wheels does look very fine.

I'm not so sure I would paint them so much as have them re-finished in black with a powder coating or something like that. Standard paint won't stick to the OE surface very well. You will need to glass bead or sand blast the rims first to their base, then powder coat or paint, then clear if you used paint. If painting you will want an OE wheel specific paint. Powder coating will stand up much better. I had some of my VW rims blasted then coated in gun metal and they turned out great and lasted for years without so much as even a scratch or chip on them...

standard OEM wheels ARE painted. as you mentioned, they would need to be sanded/blasted to remove the old paint. but of course paint will stick to them.

i don't have any experience with powder-coated anything, but i would think that the cost would be much more than just 'painting' the wheels.

for Panameras, to each his own, but i've seen black wheels with a silver lip on blue Boxsters and personally, i'm not a fan. i think it looks much better on black cars. blue might be a better alternative for a blue car, but ultimately i like silver the best - gives a nice contrast between the body color/wheels and wheels/black tires.

chris, i agree silver always look good with any color car. but i wanted the something different for a change. color of my car is actually quite a deep/dark blue so i think black will not look out of place as opposed to a light blue car. plus i have got a very dark black window tint to complement the black wheels.

I have tried to fit 996 turbo wheels (18 x 8 et52, 18 x 10 et47) on to my 986 boxster (had factory spec 18 x 7.5 et50, 18 x 9 et52). The rear rims do not fit they are about an inch too wide. But could be a different story on 997/987s.

Hi All,

This is my first post so I would like to start off with congratulations to everyone for putting together an excellent forum.

My car is an Ocean Blue MY00 Boxster S. It came with factory option 18" Sport Design wheels and I'm considering painting them Black for a change.

There are many different shades of black: Matt, Semi Gloss, Gloss, Metallic and etc. So which black do you think would look good with the color of my car? These are two piece rims, I plan to paint just the spokes leaving the outer rim and studs silver. Work will be done by a professional.

Thanks