Hey, im new to this site, just wondering if anyone knew where to get rims painted black for a cheap price in either RI, or nearby MA. I have stock 2008 cobalt ss rims and was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what i should do

I'm pretty sure a body shop could do it. Your you could just paint them yourself. you could even send them off to be powder coated.

powder coating would be your best bet since it would be more resistant to chipping, but yes a body shop could definitely do that. I had a se of wheels painted many years ago at a body shop and they came out looking pretty damn good.

welcome to the site man, feel free to throw up an into in the newbie member lounge. we have a great crew here and hope you stick around!

Usually Im a huge supporter of powdercoating but recently my mind has been changed by that. In recent months I havent seen one powdercoated part have the powdercoating last any longer than paint. IMO save yourself a couple bucks and do it your self. Its really pretty easy and at least me, I get the appreciation that I did em myself.


From looking you have a SS/TC..(wheel is a giveaway) What color is said car?

it looks black in the picture

yeah I clicked on the picture and saw that like 2 seconds ago lol

Id paint them yourself IMO but if you dont trust yourself a body shop should be able to do it. I just dont know how much that would cost.

I'd do powder coating also. I've thought about doing this to my cobalt also so I can't wait to see what yours looks like after you do it. Make sure you post some pics. Is your car black too?

DO NOT powdercoat the rims. The process ruins the structural integrity of the aluminum and can lead to catastrophic failure. Here's the tech:

From Corner-carvers.com, start reading around post #10.

In addition, I work in aerospace around a lot of techy materials, and nothing is powdercoated. It only leads to broken parts in the end.

Basically you NEVER want to powdercoat any cast aluminum part that is subjected to stress as more than one heat cycle will lead to cracking and failure. Unless the shop you go to has a Thermotron heat-treat oven (very, very unlikely due to the high cost and operation costs), paint the wheels.

yeah any body shop.. powdercoating would be the best choice. more expensive but worth it!

Hey thanks for the ideas guys, my manager from work owns a rim place and was saying that paainting would be the easiest way to go, ill post pics as soon as their done

Not sure if you have painted your rims yet, but I painted mine with plastidip. Its a spray can and its not paint but its a rubber coating. Works great it peals right off also if you dont like it. I did it to my cobalt ss rims and I love it. You can get the paint from home depot or lowes

do it your self man 220 grit sand paper to take off the finish and then use note cards in between the rim and tire. then buy the color paint you want with the lil handle trigger thing for the extra 2 bucks and paint away man take your time and they will come out good

I painted mine myself with a few cans of primer, black and clearcoat. If the entire wheel will be black then thats easy. Just make sure your prep work is good or the paint will look like shit. Also try to stay with one name brand when buying the primer, paint and clearcoat. DO NOT paint them outside. You would not believe the amount of dirt and dust in the air. It will all show up in your paint. Try to paint them inside a garage or basement. And remember light coats on the paint. NOT one big heavy coat

x2 i spray a lil on the heavy side but i don't give dam about the runs in the paint because i was just trying to hide the curb rash from the previous owner lol

or you could powder coat it yourself

This is a very interesting post, If I am not mistaken I think we powder coat wheels at Keystone. I know the wheels get baked after they spray them with clear.

400 degrees is not high enough of a temp to "heat cycle" aluminum if i remeber correctly from my metalurgy classes at Umass.

Pretty sad, I went to school and spend 4 years in welding and don't really know the answer to this.

I had 3.5 years of mech eng under my belt and I don't know either..

HOWEVER.

Paint chips, you can sand and repray and blend.

Powdercoating, it chips, you're screwed.



I like that! I'm going to do that from now on.. Sweet idea!

ive always used playing cards. same idea

I used to do the ring of masking tape

As I said, I work around many grades of aluminum and none of it is powdercoated for this very reason.

Plus, if there's ever any cracks in your wheels, you'll never be able to see them through the powdercoating.

LOL FAIL