Alloy refurbishment

Zed Baron

Zed Baron

Veteran
 Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Probably like a lot of you, I have a small list of things I want to do to the car once things return to normal (businesses open etc.). New steering wheel with the Royal treatment (hopefully here next week), auto gearbox service, new battery, and I also fancied refurbing the alloys in black gloss. I've done a quick mockup... what do you think keep silver or go for black? :thumbsup: :thumbsdown:
 

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Don't go black. The wheels lose detail, go anthracite or gun metal for a darker look. Also I wouldn't bother refurbing 326Ms due to how fragile they are. Sell up and buy a new set after market for similar money.
 
sunnydays said:
Don't go black. The wheels lose detail, go anthracite or gun metal for a darker look. Also I wouldn't bother refurbing 326Ms due to how fragile they are. Sell up and buy a new set after market for similar money.
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Thanks, problem with grey is that there isn't any other grey on the car, think it would look odd. Funny enough those 326's have been on the car now for over 6 years without an issue.
 
Well I wouldn't do black - it's hard to see what style of wheels they are.

If I was looking for an alternative to silver I reckon Shadow Chrome might look good.

Or you could go totally chav and get them done in white! Back in the mid 80s my boss bought a new white Capri 2.8 Injection Special and had the bumpers and wheels done in white. But that was the 80s, the decade that taste forgot. :lol:
 
Mr Tidy said:
Well I wouldn't do black - it's hard to see what style of wheels they are.

If I was looking for an alternative to silver I reckon Shadow Chrome might look good.

Or you could go totally chav and get them done in white! Back in the mid 80s my boss bought a new white Capri 2.8 Injection Special and had the bumpers and wheels done in white. But that was the 80s, the decade that taste forgot. :lol:
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Those were the days. Don't forget the plastic louvered back window grill and the anti static bumper strips... + go faster stripes! The amount of money I spent at Croydon Race and Rally :driving:
 
I’ve almost always thought that black alloys on this particular car make it looks like it left the factory half-built or unfinished. I think a shadow chrome finish would give you that dark wheel but with the highly reflective surface to keep the detail of the alloys to give it dimension and not look unpainted.
 
Zed Baron said:
Mr Tidy said:
Well I wouldn't do black - it's hard to see what style of wheels they are.

If I was looking for an alternative to silver I reckon Shadow Chrome might look good.

Or you could go totally chav and get them done in white! Back in the mid 80s my boss bought a new white Capri 2.8 Injection Special and had the bumpers and wheels done in white. But that was the 80s, the decade that taste forgot. :lol:
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Those were the days. Don't forget the plastic louvered back window grill and the anti static bumper strips... + go faster stripes! The amount of money I spent at Croydon Race and Rally :driving:
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Not forgetting the black perspex headlight covers and black "smoked" rear light clusters then white tyre paint on the name (only if you had "decent" branded tyres though)
 
I've always thought that those black wheels look like they are covered in brake dust. I think the Z4 E89 comes from an era of silver wheels.

For the last few years those black alloys have been popular but for me they are like jeans with torn/ripped knees - I hope they disappear soon..
 
Black is a 'flat' shade, it flattens all detail from anything its applied to. The wheels will just blend in to the shadow of the wheel arch, in addition the tiniest scratch is really visible (and of course like a black car, it'll look dusty and messy a few hors after you polish it :poke: )

I want to change my wheels but I dont because I simply cannot decide on colour and style, I can never make my mind up (or can i)......
 
If you like black go with it, personal I think it looks dreadful. Just google white Z4 E89 & see how many have black wheels, those that do look naff.
Remember if you go black you will need to get carbon fibre overlays for your mirrors. :D
 
Well I think gloss black looks good and makes a nice change from ‘silver’.... :thumbsup:

I don’t like the shadow look, to me that’s Chav like.. :thumbsdown:

Matt black doesn’t work for me either. :thumbsdown:

The one issue IMHO is that brake dust /dirt shows up badly compared to silver..so lots more wheel cleaning.. :tumbleweed:

Ignore the rest go with gloss black.. :thumbsup:
 
I'm a fan of the black on big five spokes. Doesnt work as well on the multispokes such as csl style. With the five spokes your silver discs and calipers set them off. Here is mine from a while back, although an E86, that I had done in satin black. I got loads of compliments for them:Jan Comp.jpg
 
I agree that it’s not easy to capture on a photo the beauty of a black wheel, the cheap cameras don’t have the sophistication of the human eye capturing the nuances of shade and texture..but that’s no excuse not to do it..
 

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Mr Tidy said:
Well I wouldn't do black - it's hard to see what style of wheels they are.

If I was looking for an alternative to silver I reckon Shadow Chrome might look good.

Or you could go totally chav and get them done in white! Back in the mid 80s my boss bought a new white Capri 2.8 Injection Special and had the bumpers and wheels done in white. But that was the 80s, the decade that taste forgot. :lol:
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I had a Mk3 Supra Turbo in all white including the wheels, it came like that from the factory and looked really good. For the OP I would definitely say no to all black, shadow chrome or the like would look good. I had a Impreza WRX in white with gold wheels and that actually looked good too but not sure if that would be the case with the Z4.
 
Could end up looking like a Matchbox car that's lost it's wheels.
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNIA3SkNoTs
any colour?
 
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