I’m going a bit off topic here. Car, wheels, tires, decision to paint or not is all yours. Whatever you choose to do is fine although there is no way I would paint new wheels or use very low profile tires; or Rubber Band tires as we call them.
Now the OT bit and this is only what I would do before considering wheel changes since this is a used car with ? miles.
Catch up any and all maintenance and make it more rigorous in the future than what the factory recommends.
Oil changes, trans fluid changes, coolant and brake fluid exchanges, etc, etc, etc.
The car is 4 or 5 years old depending upon the in-service date and odds are it needs that unless evidence exists proving otherwise.
I’m more of a what gets you from A to B reliably guy rather than an appearance buff.
Mustangman man is correct; there is no better primer than what is already sprayed on the wheel. As he said, scuff with Scotch Brite pads and have at it.
I have found that contacting the manufacturer (or US distributor) and requesting exactly what you want can actually motivate the supplier to make what you want (size, color, style, etc.).
I wanted a set of brake pads from NRS in Canada and their website showed that they did not have them for my make and model. I emailed them and let them know that I REALLY wanted to purchase a full set of brake pads (front and back) and asked if they would be producing any. They replied that they would produce a set for testing and, once tested, they would make some for my vehicle. Two weeks later they shipped out a set of brake pads that fit perfectly and work great. All I had to do was ask.
And for those who wish to know “Why NRS?” The answer is several fold. #1 - Made in North America (Canada). #2 - Fully galvanized backing plates (I live in the snow belt). #3 - Reputation for high quality. #4 - Friction materials that mirror OEM properties. #5 - Excellent business reputation. Once I start taking them through Western NY winters I will know more about whether or not I will buy them again but, so far, they are terrific. And I love not buying more Chinese made auto parts.
You sure you don’t like the black? Is it just too glossy? You’ve got black on the door pillars, dark gray on the rocker panels and wheel wells… seems like it would fit in to me.
Did you contact the manuf1cturer to see if they would paint them for you? An email might solve your problem. If the wheels are anodized aluminum, the paint would replace the dye and sealer they currently use. Maybe they can create a dye in your color. Don’t expect the last one though. That means having a special dip tank for that dye or draining one of the existing dye tanks. Down time is expensive.
Scuffing the old surface provides a fresh, unoxidized surface to chemically bond to if it is painted. Scuffing also allows for mechanical keying for the fresh paint to lock onto.
Such wheels kinda take the “utility” out of “sport utility vehicle”. The wheel/tire assemblies will also like be heavier than the originals, degrading performance a little.
I got this with 55,000 kms or 34,000 miles. It came from the Audi dealership. Carfax shows all Mazda dealer maintained. I do plan on doing proper maintenance.
The OEM 20s weight 39.5 lbs. The three people who I’ve been in discussion about 22s with all say their new rims are lighter. The ones I am looking at are one pound less.
Yeah, I contacted them and they don’t plan on doing that colour but they said they’d give the feedback for their product development team. I also provided the photoshop from above and they responded that it looks awesome. Now if they actually do anything about it is another story.
That is something I considered. At first I was thinking that a machined face wheel with black as the background colour wouldn’t look good. But then I thought what you just said, there’s already a lot of black trim on this thing. But then I decided I don’t want a machined face wheel in 22.
And correct, I don’t like gloss black on this car’s colour. Here’s kind of what it looks like. The original photoshop (kind of matte black instead of gloss) before I adjusted the colour to grey like in the above pic in the original post and an example from a wheel visualizer site, which really isn’t accurate of course as the bronze is too light.
And two days ago someone posted similar style 22s on the classified for less than half of what these would end up costing but dammit, wrong bolt pattern. If it ain’t that, it’s the wrong centre bore size, as in too small.
It’s tough to get a good finish with all those nooks and crannies and the paint is rarely as durable as a good factory finish.
And after a year or two of salt, brake dust, lug nut and tire mounting chips, road gease and grime they start to look really tacky.
