I am going to pay to have them refinished. Found a local shop that I am going to check out tomorrow at lunch. Don't have much money or time, but more of the former, so I pay someone else to do it. I am getting new tires soon, and will do it at the same time, just drive the bug while it is getting done and leave the 'teg on blocks. I am going around in circles about what to do. It is $150 per wheel to get them remanufactured, which they don't really need, or $300 for the set to get them stripped and reshot in clear. The clear is peeling a little, with one scrape on the face of one of the blades on one wheel. I may only do one, but I want them all to match, and the others are peeling so...

Also toying with the idea of powdercoating them, which would probably cost more, but might look pretty sweet. Any ideas or suggestions, particularly if you have a picture of powdercoated GSR blades would be appreciated

 

Powedercoating is actually pretty cheap. I work for Bast Tire and Auto service as a commercial Tire technician, and we have a Powder coat shop in the building. I deal with alot of customers who want their rims refinished in powdercoat, Our prices are about equivalent to $45 US to have a wheel bead blasted, apoxy primer'd, top coated (powder), and powder clear coated. A good powder coat is probably one of the best types of paint, its just a myriad of possitively charged paint particles sprayed onto a negatively charged part, then cured in an oven at 400 degrees for x amount of minutes, the paint particles melt and form a very durable and consistent coating on the part. (for those who are interested but dont know how it works) A good powdercoat finish will be equivalent to the finish found on most house-hold appliances such as Stoves/washers and dryers...even on alot of ATM bank machines. It also comes in several colours/textures.

Edit: The only thing to watch for if your going to have alloy rims powdercoated is the blasting. Alot of commercial powdercoating shops use heavy bead blast that will actually cause the finish to be rough(it was mainly designed for 8x22.5/8x24.5 mild steel rims off transport trucks) So make sure the rim is blasted in a fine bead shot, or perhaps sand.

 

The shop I talked to uses dip tank to remove current finish, no media blasting, polishes it and clear coats it. I was also looking for suggestions on what others have done with their blades, color wise on powder coat. I would probably be leaning toward just finishing it as it is, but on a white car they would probably look good with a gunmetal color too, BTW it is a white sedan

 

Im pretty sure thats e-coating, Its a really thin finish, but its very smooth and consistent. Something like you may see on some tool boxes.