Poll: What to do with these wheels?

[wholberg]

I have a 87 M491 Carrera (see pic below). The PO repainted it a truly stunning Pearl White, and had the 3-piece BBS wheels painted to match. The problem is that the paint between the web is chipped in several places and is not starting to look that great close up. Also, between brake dust and oil residue, the white paint inside all the little holes is a real B**** to keep clean.

I am considering a few options for a winter project: repaint the white part on the wheels, paint the center black, or polish out the wheel center. I am curious what the opinions of other Pelicans are.

The car.......



A front wheel......



A rear wheel......

[RickM]

IMO, the centers look good in white. I also think they'd look good in all silver.

If you go that route you may want to consider powder coating the color coat with a powder clear.

[JeremyD]

Al reed did mine - polished rims - powdercoated inside. I don;t have to worry about brake dust.

[austin552]

White looks best to me on your car.

[86 911]

I agree with Austin. White would look the best. Now if you want to look "extra bling", paint 'em gold. That's what's on my car now. The exact same rims, but gold. They look good on a red car, but a white car, I don't think they would...um... fit. Jeremy, your rims look great, and I think black rims like Jeremy's would also work great on your car. Nice 911 BTW!!

[Joe Bob]

Flat black....ya won't notice the brake dust.

[JeremyD]

I think they look good black - I like the black wheels on a white car

[86 911]

Oh yeah! It looks a lot better black IMHO. A lot "meaner".

[project 911]

I did mine in graphite. Almost black, but with some metalic in it. I think it looks great.

[Wayne 962]

I have similar wheels on my BMW, you definitely need one of these - they make cleaning the wheels a piece of cake!

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopcart/CARE/POR_CARE_CARAN1_pg3.htm

-Wayne

[niner11]

I think that the black centers are a little much for a white car. Fuchs are the exception to that rule.

There is already a lot of contrast with black and white on the car so IMHO the centers would look best repainted in the same color that they are now or all bare aluminum.

Good looking care either way so you really can't go wrong. Good luck.

[RickM]

Question is; if you go white will the centers be all white or "windowed" with the silver faces. Interesting look.

[JeremyD]

You guys that are saying white or silver have probably never cleaned a set of wheels like this - although the flow through brush sounds like a good idea that Wayne posted.

[RickM]

I've had a couple BMWs with the honeycomb centers. Not fun to clean but they look great when they are.

My routine would be to wet the wheels and then spray the with a foaming wheel cleaner and let soak for 15 or so minutes. Then wash the car. I'd use a bottle washer type brush to get through all the "fingers".

The trick is never to let the grime etch the clear. Once that happens it makes for a much harder exercise.

[wholberg]

Thanks for the ideas. I like the white, and I particularly like how the top of the web was polished. If I painted them black, I was thinking that I would keep the polished top. But for now...

SoCal911: I will try the low dust pads, thanks for the suggestion.

Wayne: I will also buy one of the brushes you recommended to see if that helps. Incidentally, I placed my first order to Pelican parts a couple of weeks ago. The parts arrived promptly, and overall I was very pleased with the transaction.