Matte Black Rims (Got the PlastiDip Bug)

Tritoch

Tritoch

Member
UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINISHED PRODUCT!


Following my PlastiDip adventure,

I decided to PlastiDip my Rims too...

The reason behind this was the previous owner curbed the alloys and I've never been overly bothered by them until now. I also replaced all 4 tyres today so PlastiDip is the perfect thing to do now. The thought process was to plastidip the rims in the hopes that the curbing and start of surface rust would be less noticeable...

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case BUT the matte black rims look great :) I've only taken off the front 2 wheels and the A2 is currently jacked up in my garage.

The 2 rims had their 7 coats with all angles covered and are currently on their drying cycle... Tomorrow I will be able to see them properly and I'll get the wheels back on and do the 2 rears.

Here's some pics in the meantime:

Cleaned
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Layer 1
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Layer 2
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Layer 3
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Layer 4
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Layer 6 (I forgot to take a pic of Layer 5)
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Layer 7 (And now they're left to dry in my garage :) )
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Will do the rears tomorrow and upload some pics of these babys in the daylight :)
 
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Hi looks like a nice finish just one word of warning---remove the plasti dip from your wheel bolt holes. i have seen one members car have its wheels come loose and in fact loose 2 bolts. This is due to the paint becoming soft after spirited driving.
good luck with the rest of the wheels mike
 
a2sumo said:
Hi looks like a nice finish just one word of warning---remove the plasti dip from your wheel bolt holes. i have seen one members car have its wheels come loose and in fact loose 2 bolts. This is due to the paint becoming soft after spirited driving.
good luck with the rest of the wheels mike
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Ah ok! Thanks Mike. I shall do that once I've done the rears tonight. I'm fairly sure leaving them to dry overnight improved the finish a lot so I'll be doing my rears tonight too :) Once they're done I'll make sure I'll remove the dip from the appropriate places and get some final pics up :>



Olly1 said:
Welcome to the club. Did my wheels a couple of years ago and still going strong.
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Excellent! Glad to know others have gone down the PlastiDip route too. Got any current up close pics so I can see what 2 years worth of wear and tear is like?
 
do the center caps come off? If so, I'd be very tempted to pop them out and keep the 4 rings shiny, making a small contrast to the wheel and it will look very OE.
 
The centre caps do come off! It took a lot of effort but I managed it eventually. That being said, I attempted it whilst the rim was rusted to the rear drum (which I couldn't get loose for the life of me); ergo I did it with the wheel still on the car...

Wouldn't recommend it though. If not done properly I guess you could end up damaging the rim. I used a random tool from my grandad's toolbox. Small, thin and sturdy.

Mo.
 
Thought I should update this thread with some pics I took of the finished product! I'm really happy with them!

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Currently thinking about ordering these off of fleabay but the only thing stopping me is I may go for a different colour of plastidip for the rims once I have done the car.
 
Useful pics...thanks chap...I am not Plasti dipping the 15" s i have but going to gloss black them....good to know what they look like in black :)

Like yours dipped as well though :)
 
Draggon said:
Useful pics...thanks chap...I am not Plasti dipping the 15" s i have but going to gloss black them....good to know what they look like in black :)

Like yours dipped as well though :)
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Costs a little bit more but you can do what I've done and then use the ''glossifier'' spray to achieve a gloss look. Check out this youtube link to see what I mean :).

May not be something you want to do but achieves the same look, You can peel it off when you're tired of it, and will probably be a lot cheaper!
 
Did think of that, but unfortunately the wheels needed refurbishing anyway...so stripping off plasti-dip at any time will only reveal a scruffy wheel...so going for cheap respray home fix....i am taking my time so hopefully wont look too bad.
Only cost me £50 so far for sanding materials, prep and spray cans....hopefully will have the 15"s on there by winter.
 
Tritoch said:
Currently thinking about ordering these off of fleabay but the only thing stopping me is I may go for a different colour of plastidip for the rims once I have done the car.
Click to expand...

Save your pennies and buy them from Audi. Like many car parts on eBay the link you shared is more expensive than OEM parts from the dealer. I bought a new set of these recently for my A3 after some over zealous acid treatment at a car wash stripped the coating off the bolt covers.

They were about 20p + Vat, so the full set were a shade over £6

Conversely, those centrecaps for your 15" alloys are pretty expensive from Audi, I've been trying to source some for my winter wheels as they are the wrong side of £20 each!
 
murdo said:
Save your pennies and buy them from Audi. Like many car parts on eBay the link you shared is more expensive than OEM parts from the dealer. I bought a new set of these recently for my A3 after some over zealous acid treatment at a car wash stripped the coating off the bolt covers.

They were about 20p + Vat, so the full set were a shade over £6

Conversely, those centrecaps for your 15" alloys are pretty expensive from Audi, I've been trying to source some for my winter wheels as they are the wrong side of £20 each!
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Cheers murdo!

Don't know why, just assumed would be more expensive from Audi!

Will be doing that soon. Very soon!
 
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