Team-BHP - Painting wheel hubs- How do i do it?

Hi everyone :)

I decided to put wheel caps/covers on my 3 month old santro GLS coz they look a lot better than the stock wheel hubs, The stock ones look like this (This is not my car though)

This is what i want:

[IMG]http://www.******************/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/santro-2.thumbnail.jpg[/IMG]

I got a quote of 2k for 4 wheel caps including everything from hyundai, But one thing, The stock wheel caps are painted silver and I want to change it to black so that the steel rim will be less noticeable. I asked the dealer about the black paint and he said i should get the rims painted by myself, So are there in DIY paint kits so that i just spray it over the rim, or should i remove all the wheels and take it to a paint work shop and get some kind of matt finish black paint?? I examined my neighbour's accent with wheel caps, and the rims are painted with a normal black paint by the company itself.

Thanks

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Quote:

Originally Posted by akshay_b (Post 1051287)

Hi everyone :)
I got a quote of 2k for 4 wheel caps including everything from hyundai, But one thing, The stock wheel caps are painted silver and I want to change it to black so that the steel rim will be less noticeable. I asked the dealer about the black paint and he said i should get the rims painted by myself, So are there in DIY paint kits so that i just spray it over the rim, or should i remove all the wheels and take it to a paint work shop and get some kind of matt finish black paint?? I examined my neighbour's accent with wheel caps, and the rims are painted with a normal black paint by the company itself.

Thanks

Painting it on plastic / fibre wheel caps will result in the paint flaking off and scratching. Don't do it.

You can get the rims painted. But to do it yourself, you'll first need to sand paper the rim, and give two-three coats from the spray can. Alternatively you can go to the painter and save a lot of hassles. Make sure to either remove the tyres (recommended) or cover them properly to avoid paint on them. Re-balance the tyres before fitting.

Company painted caps go through a different process including baking. Not the same for DIY.

Quote:

Originally Posted by akshay_b (Post 1051469)

Is it so tedious?

Can i just cover the tiers and the screws with some sticky tape and get the paint job done w/o removing the wheels from a paint shop?

NO NO NO NO!!!

The paint will start peeling from the edges near the tyres. If you wanna do something, do it properly, otherwise after a few months use, the car will look really bad with flaked paint.

It doesn't cost much to remove tyres and refit them.

And the paint will get stuck to the nuts and it'll be difficult to remove them in the future.

Don't be lazy, your car is a reflection of yourself and treat her properly!!!

You don't want a tailor to sew your torn shirt while your still wearing it; now do you?

Essentially you are looking for full wheel hub caps. Try to check in accessory shop, it would be cheaper than from a hyundai dealer.
Normally, cars sporting full wheel caps would have rims painted in black. This feature was removed from santro to reduce costs.

If you really want to have better looking wheels, get it done at professional setup or in a manner done by professionals as suggested by Tejas.

And, you can also explore opting for alloys instead of rim painting and full wheel hub caps.

I got a quote of 2k for 4 wheel caps including everything from hyundai, But one thing, The stock wheel caps are painted silver and I want to change it to black so that the steel rim will be less noticeable. I asked the dealer about the black paint and he said i should get the rims painted by myself, So are there in DIY paint kits so that i just spray it over the rim, or should i remove all the wheels and take it to a paint work shop and get some kind of matt finish black paint?? I examined my neighbour's accent with wheel caps, and the rims are painted with a normal black paint by the company itself.

Well I got the same thing done for my xing initially. Got the same quote of 2k for 4 hub caps and 250 a wheel for painting from the dealer itself. But the painting wasnt done too well and after a month or so it started peeling off so took it back to the service guy and he accepted it was faulty work by the dealer and accepted to do it properly again with proper heat painting and stuff. This set time it lasted well enough untill I decided to move on to alloys in another six months time. Got a set of HR alloys (5 wheels for 14k+5 new eagle venturas 185/60) The tire guy took my old steel rims for 200 bucks a peice :Frustrati So would advise you to go for alloys once and for all because after some time the want of alloys does grow on you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevciti (Post 1051623)

Oh and btw the rims are supplied to the factory in black colour only. Hyundai repaints all the rims silver since they believe it looks better on their cars. Got a source in hyundai factory who told me this. Actually come to think of it have seen most OEM rims from other manufactures in black only with the factory fitted hub caps.

For those of you who want me to go for alloys,
I personally dont think its worth spending 15k+ for alloys for a santro with small tiers, I'd prefer alloys for swift though :) Besides I'd get a nice set of leather upholstery or upgrade to a better ICE.

Quote:

Although it's a question of your very personal taste, I think you are just going to ruin the original wheels of your new car. Save for a few months and then go for a set of alloys. Please don't be offended. That's not the intention.

@Sudipto-S-Team, I'm planning to buy the wheel covers from hyundai which_do_look_good. And i wouldn't want to fix aftermarket wheel caps even if they were offered for free, coz they look cheap.

Dint u see this pic? Dont u think its good?

@-Tejas@perioimpl- Thanks buddy, U just saved my wheel hubs :)

@sukiwa- I dont think wheel caps from an accessory shop would look good on a santro

P.S- Thanks everyone, This forum is GREAT :thumbs up :)