Shadow chrome?

[keltik 15]

Thinking about getting my wheels sorted out. The paint is flaking a bit on 2 of them.

Anyone in NZ able to reproduce this finish decently? All the local shops suck and i wouldnt trust them to repaint my fridge white.

If its going to cost a billion dollars tho, i'll put up with it for a while.

[jeffbebe 1559]

Arrow wheels in Auckland did an excellent job of Martin's (breakmywindow) E39 M5 shadowchrome wheels... Don't think it was cheap though.

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

I paid around $1400 for a full strip and re-paint of my badly flaking wheels.

The reason it's so expensive is because of the shadow chrome paint itself, and also the process... Chemical strip to bare alloy, primer, black base coat, thin layers of shadow chrome paint, then a final clear coat. The trick is getting the shadow chrome paint consistent for all wheels else you get darker/lighter wheels.

My wheels before :

My wheels after :

[M3_Power 636]

You can buy the shadow chrome spray paint from BMW directly - it's not very expensive if you are just doing touch up.

Otherwise the paint code is A56 - anyone with the BMW paint system can mix this up and put it in a spray can quite easily. But yes the base coat is satin black.

Part number 51 91 2 160 217

Edited September 23, 2014 by M3_Power

[m325i 705]

Thread jack sorry, but what about the OEM 19" e46 m3 wheels? They aren't painted are they? (Machined with clear coat?)

Cheers

[M3_Power 636]

Yep machined with clear coat.

[keltik 15]

I'd say $1400 is still worth it compared to getting a set of crappy china rims. Will look into this as a christmas present to myself if the timing guides/transmission/torque converter/vanos things dont explode before then.