Putting cookie cutters on my car temporarily, considering colors and paint Options

[John]

I'm finishing up phase 1 of my 3.2 conversion (engine, cooler, brakes, etc.) but didn't have time this winter to put on the steel flares, so I'm going to put on a set of cookie cutters and drive it this summer. When winter arrives, I'll probably install the flares and repaint the car.

Until then, I'm going narrow body with cookie cutters (from 1974 911).

The wheels are in bad need of paint/refinishing (blue is showing through the silver paint).

I am debating with myself which color to go (silver or black). The car is silver and I just don't know if silver wheels would be too much silver. Black would probably look cool and make the wheels disappear (like black center fuchs do).

I am also considering paint type. I could rattle can them, or I could take them to work and powder coat them. If I use rattle cans, then I can strip off the paint easily and refinish them a different color. If I take them to work and powder coat them, it becomes hard to strip the paint, it's hard to touch up and it will have the slight "orange peel" look that all powder paint has when it is cured. I am also unsure of how to pretreat the wheels for powder coating.

In either case, I am going to bead blast the wheels prior to painting.

Any advice is welcome.

[Aaron Cox]

all black. lips and all. looks killer

[Jeroen]

black center (or charcoal grey metalic) and silver lips

[Leo Imperial]

All blackand use semi-flat black. No masking required. Refreshing the paint took 5 minutes on Saturday.

[TurtleGirl]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/hijacked.gif)

Leo! I thought we talked you into yellow wheels!!!!! You saw how hot they looked on your car!

[hi ho silber]

I've got the 911 6x15 Cookie's on my car.

The lips are not easy to polish, I suspect that's why many fully paint them.

Enjoy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[John]

Thanks for the pics. I think they sealed the deal. I like the looks of the polished lips, but these are temporary so I don't want to go through all the work.

Hi Ho Silber, your car looks very similar to what mine is looking like. (except I have black rocker panels).

I guess now the question is to powder coat or rattle can.

I think I have black powder here somewhere. Yes, I have 5 lbs of MATTE Black Dupont powder sitting here.

I should pull the tires off the rims and blast them and coat them.

Well I think that is solved.

Matte Black it is.

[KevinP]

Hey ,

Whats the deal with "Orange Peel" on your powdercoating?
I've been doing my own for quite awhile now and have never had the problem. Check your application- somethings NOT right! You shouldn't be getting that with powder on a normal coating.

I like the polished lips with the matte insert!!!

KP

[John]

Kevin,

Perhaps "orange peel" is too strong. All powder coating that I have seen has a texture to the paint as it does not flow as nicely as liquid paint can. (it does not lay down as flat)

I have discussed this with powder suppliers from Valspar and PPG and they agree about the texture thing. It has improved over the years and adjustments can be made to get the paint to flow out differently due to oven temperatures and times, but in a batch oven, doing one-off parts, it's nearly impossible to dial in what the exact part temperature will be at a given time.

We sell paint systems at work. Booths, guns, ovens, washers, conveyors, etc. I have seen many many products that are powder coated and while it is a nice durable finish when applied correctly and cured correctly, the surface finish doesn't compare to a part painted with a high quality gun and quality liquid paint.

One of the primary reasons powder coating is "the in thing" is transfer efficiency. More paint ends up on the part (electrostatically attracted) and less goes to waste. This saves big bucks in the long term.

Liquid paint is less attactive tio industrial customers as it usually has lower transfer efficiency, has VOC's and takes more skill to apply a quality finish, and can take longer to cure.