Powder coated Santiago wheels

[EricM]

My Santiago wheels were pretty scabby when I bought my car earlier this month. Each wheel was kerbed, had whiteworm and even lacquer flaking off so I decided to get them refurbished.

I thought long and hard about getting them refurbished to diamond cut so they looked the same as they would've when they left the factory but I just knew that the corrosion would come back in 6 to 12 months time especially with the amount of salt that gets put down on the roads here in North East Scotland over winter.

So I decided to get them powder coated in "smoked chrome" which means the whole wheel is first done in gloss black then the faces are done with a few passes of chrome.

Here's some before and after photos, what does everyone think?

[SRGTD]

I really like them , and so much more durable than a diamond cut finish. I really don't like diamond cut alloys and your 'before' photo is the reason why. Given the choice of diamond cut alloys and powder coated, I'd always go for powder coated.

I've removed my diamond cut alloys, put them into storage and put a set of anthracite powder coated VW Motorsport alloys on my car. The diamond cut alloys are unlikely to see the light of day again until the time comes to sell my car, when I'll put them back on.

[Booth11]

I really like them too.  The powder coating brings forward the parts of the design that are normally black and makes them look quite different.  Nice job.

When it came time to get my R, I'd had enough of diamond cuts that mark at the drop of a hat. So went for powder coated Pretorias and don't miss diamond cuts at all.

[JoeGTI]

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[JoeGTI]

They look brilliant, better than original imo! The diamond cut wheels, especially with the gloss black inserts always look terrible when even slightly dirty too imo. Great job.

[JamesR27]

Nice choice of colour. They look good on the car

[jjgreenwood]

I think they look better than the diamond cut finish.

[boydeee]

I can't believe the previous owner did that much damage! 

They look fantastic after their refurb 

[Jedi1971]

They look really smart, I have a set of spare alloys with winter tyres that have a few marks on totally sold on that colour who did you get to do them !

[Exonian]

When I saw the thread title I clicked on it fully expecting to cringe.

It actually looks really really good in that colour and God help Cossieian when he sees this thread!

In fact I'm off to eBay right now to find a set of scabby wheels just so I can have some in this colour 

An inspired decision Eric