Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

hmmm, I can't make up my mind; The car is packed up nicely in my mum's heated ventilated garage for the winter, and I plan to take the wheels off and have them powdercoated before putting on Firestone 165/80's.
They are the black alloys with polished highlights, and thought rather than spending HOURS masking them before bead blasting/powder coating somewhere, I'd do them all silver, or black with the outer rim edge polished.
Has anyone got a pic. of some silver ones? or am I being sacrilegous and should persevere with trying to keep them original....?

Thor,

My 130S's alloys were had blacks when I got it. Didn't like the look of them at all and have since returned them to their original black/silver. They look much better that way.

I've also seen a set of alloys done all silver. Yuk! Even worse that all black wheels.

It's a personal choice, though.

There's a guy in Club Lotus Scotland with a metalic blue +2 on silver Panasports and 3 ear spinners. Looks really, really nice!

Hamish.

I've experimented with black water color paint on various cars and wheels in my life, or electrical tape. Cover the silver areas in question, step back, think it over. Then you can wash or pull off the black. Taking pictures of the car/wheels and drawing blacked out areas on them may help you decide. I've drawn BRG racing stripes all over my yellow +2 using photos I've printed. Harmless Fun.
My personal opinion is the wheels look best as original although the black with silver rim sounds beautiful. Are you sure they need powdercoating? Any opinions out there on 165/80 tires? I'm in the US and those sound tall and skinny?

So, Hamish, the main reason for pondering the colour change is the fact that in my mind, it's going to be a big pain in the #@+] job to mask and refurb the original colour scheme, and polishing up the polished bits.
Any good tips there, as you've done it?

Thor

Thor,

If you don't want to mask off the silver areas you can always spray the whole area black and then remove the paint from the spokes with wet and dry paper, then apply clear coat to the whole wheel for protection. You will get a much cleaner edge to the spokes like this also.

But isn't powder coating better?

Powder coating to my mind is not all that good. It looks great when new but all the older parts on my car e.g. the rear wishbones, are begining to peel because water has got underneath the powcer coating and started to cause corrosion.

My wheels were done with smooth black Hamerrite. The finish is still good. The PO had painted them a few years before I got the car.

I did exactly as suggested in this thread and removed the black paint from the spokes and outer wheel rim and polished them. Problem is getting a clear coat to stick to the polished alloy. So far I have failed and the slightest stone chip flakes off the clear coat, lets in the water and dulls the finish. - a bit of a pest.
There is a car customising business near me so I'll go and see them to see if they have anything to suggest.

Hamish.

Hi again Thor,

I hope the photo helps, I'll send more this evening. I like the original finish but most of the wheels I've seen have the cracking / separating lacquer syndrome. The new or reconditioned alloys which are available from PM look too wet and glossy to me, the overly thick application softening the straight edges.
The best results I've seen were obtained without lacquer by carefully polishing the metal rims and 10 'spokes' with Autosol on a folded up piece of newspaper whenever necessary. The metal shines out beautifully against the black with none of the dull yellowy tint associated with a degrading lacquer finish.

Best wishes,
Si

Great, thanks a LOT. looking forward to pics. Another deciding factor for me, unfortunately, is the fact that my car now is in a lovely heated ventilated garage, but under my dear old mother's apartment, it's an underground one for all the apartment owners with no space to work in over the winter, and a law against cars on stands (to get them out in case of fire), which means I'll probably have to wait until it's out for the spring, and by then I'm DESPERATE to DRIVE!, not spending weeks on getting the wheels ready..... But we'll see how patient I'll be..

Hi,

A couple more shots are on their way.
If you want to try my suggestion you could do one wheel at a time removing the lacquer, polishing the metal and substituting it for the spare as you work your way round.

Si

Si, thanks a lot for the pics., I'm now left undecided, as I like the originals, but also think your silver ones look fab, and the maintenance aspect of a silver powder coat compared to the originals' black and polished makes a big difference. And I've got a silver roof....
I'll be in the thinking box for the next months., as this morning WE HAD SNOW!!!!!!