So many of you already know that I've got the Edgeracing Flik Bullets on my MCS. After a year, like others have reported about Flik wheels, the paint peeled off. And I've grown tired of the silver painted inner lip--don't get me wrong, I love the inner lip, but it was time for a makeover.



First thing to do was repair the curb rash I've got on two wheels. Yes, dopey me--had a lot of bad luck on my way to MITM last year. Curbed my wheels while grabbing some lunch, and then managed to break off an aerokit sideskirt--but that's a different story. Since I was going to repaint the wheels, I figured I would just grind the wheels smooth--it won't be noticeable after the repaint.










Ok, so with the wheels finally done, I took them to our chemical stripper company and the next day my wheels looked like this!





Remember these?


So right now they are at the Powdercoater. I decided to powdercoat the black areas with a 30% Black Satin and the silver lip is being powdercoated a deep red similar to Chili Red but a bit more orange.

I will be picking those up on Tuesday. I'll be installing the Hella TC-400's Tire Pressure Monitoring system and mounting Nitto Neo Gen Tires at the same time. I will post more pix as they unfold.

Here's a Photoshop mockup of what I expect it to look like. The red will be a little more orange, and no I won't be painting the door handles red--that was just an idea awhile ago.


Richard

 

Wow... looks pretty sweet.

 

Hawt, Dawg.

Or Hot Dog. You choose.

 

Killa!!!!

 

Fargin hottttttttttt!!

Can't wait to see actual pix!

 

Mmmmm that'll look tasty! Personally I would've went with a more subtle red, but the brighter red will certainly "pop."

 

Good luck on the refinishing; looks great so far. Any idea what chemical stripper was used?

 

Good call on the Neo Gen's, that's what I run on. They are really the best tire I've driven on with my Mini. (Others I had were Perelli P Zero Nero's, General Exclaim UHP's, and of course evil run flats)

I like how the color seems to run behind the spokes, I think that's a sweet effect. Oh, and the door handle idea looks good to me actually.

 

Pop was certainly what I was going after. We figured that with the black satin spokes and wheel and inset gloss red lip, that in the shade, the slightly brighter red would pop more. I'll also be spray tinting my tail lights. We just did this to one of my customers M6's and it looked really hot--not too dark--like a black cherry look in the sun.





Next week for sure! I can't wait either! What you don't see in these pix is that I've taken all the interior plastic out--dash, rings, speakers, ebrake, etc... and getting those painted a mix of Jet Black and Chili Red--right now they are all Anthracite. Also putting in the JCW CF Dash I bought back it was on special, although I'm painting my old anthracite dash Jet Black too as a secondary option.
All I know is they call it an acid bath, lol. It's a huge commercial plant where they are stripping wheels day in and day out from 6am to 6pm, lol. Our powdercoater does really good work, but I haven't seen them do a two color job like this, so I'm eager to see how it goes. I was originally going to just have our shop spray it--when I mistakenly thought powdercoating couldn't be done this way.

I've been running Falken Ziex 512s for awhile now. I go through tires really fast partly because I like to drive hard and partly cause of my 100 mile daily commute. Also I will autocross on them, so I've been driving on ultra high performance tires that are more economical. The Neo Gens seem to fit that bill perfectly. I've also tried Falken Azenis (what I run now on 15's until I can get these back), and Yokohama's.

 

Can't wait to see it....its going to look so hot!

 

Can't wait to see pics! Looks like it is going to be sexy.

 

Ok had to Photoshop it a bit more. This is closer to where it's going. The front side vent shows the black Cooper vent, but I've got the chrome S vents now--the chrome being painted Jet Black, and the perforated portion is being painted Chili Red. I Pshop'd on a representation of the Strassentech rear Spoiler Lip, and also just testing an idea of painting the ring on the side mirror which is currently black. Just playing right now, lol. Oh also updated the rear brake caliper that's currently not painted. Also tinted the arch reflectors and tail light and painted the door handle black.



Just a few other mods I've done(Custom gauge holder and V1 mount)

Custom Nuvi Mount

 

I'd reconsider the Neo Gens for autocross... they do well, but I think with as much driving as you're doing for commuting, you should consider bringing a different set of tires, r compounds preferrably. I run 205/50/15's on some stock Mini 15's that are fairly light, with Hankook C70's. I bought them used from a roadracer out this way.... set of 4 with 4 heat cycles for $175 shipped. I'll dig up his number if you're interested.

Not only will you save autocross wear on your daily's, but you'll LOVE running on Rcomps. Nothing like it.

 

Well I'm running on Flik Fuels right now--15" wheels--with Falken Azenis while my daily driver wheels are being done--but what was supposed to be temporary has been for over a month due to delays. I autox for fun. While R Compounds would be great for my times...hmm $175 shipped is awesome, lol....it sure was fun Autoxing on my brand new Ziex 512's on the same wheels that I am so used to driving on everyday. But good advice nonetheless!

Thanks

Richard

 

What happened to your dash richard?

 

It's the bare bones stripped down race car look!!!

I yanked all the pieces for painting, and I'll be putting in a JCW CF Dash that I bought when it was on special. Changing over the speedo/tach plates to Cockpit Specialties black Ones too.

Kind of waiting for everything to come together.

Richard

 

Stopped by the powdercoater today. They had sprayed the red lip already and and were masking it off to spray the black satin paint. I was supposed to bring my camera--but I left it at home today! Ugh. I didn't even think about my camera phone until it was already too late.

Progress looks good though. I'll have my camera tomorrow, and will atleast be able to show the final pix. I ordered the Nittos today, and my Hella TC-400 arrived--courtesy of Amazon. This system gives me up to the second PSI and temperature readings of each tire. I've read mixed reviews on it, and the biggest drawback seems to be that Slime can't be used with it, but if it works, it'll be sweet, and if it doesn't.....I'll keep working at it until it does, lol.

Danny at MiniCorsa will be doing a bunch of work on Wednesday for me as well, so updates probably won't happen until Thursday.

 

too late now, but try Aluminox for rash repair. It's a two piece putty that bonds to aluminum....it cures in 5 minutes and can be sanded in an hour or so. Actually..it can be trimmed with a razor blade and then finish sanded - once primed, you can't even tell it's there. More info here

 

Thanks. Do you know if that product is conductive? I wasn't sure if applying any filling compound would cause problems during the powder coating process, so we opted to play it safe and just grind it down. Pretty cool though.

 

conductive? powdercoating isn't plating. it's a static powder that's melted on the wheel. the thing I'd worry about is how it holds up to heat (400F to cure powder).

 

Hmm, whenever I've seen powdercoating done, I thought they hooked up a ground wire to the object being coated--and that would cause all the powder to get "sucked" via static to the part (in combination with the electrostatic spray gun).

My assumption was that if you put bondo on the part, the paint wouldn't stick to it because that portion wasn't grounded.

Of course, I admit, I don't know very much about this--just what I've seen at various tradeshows showing the process.

Richard

 

powder coating i have used, uses both of the techniques you guys are talking about. while curing in the oven, the part is statically charged to "hold" and evenly distribute the powder to the part

 

So what compound would you use to repair the wheel to prep for powdercoating? Would that Aluminox be your choice?

Richard

 

i haven't actually used powder coating on wheels... i was speaking from experience powder coating c-clamps...where surface finish isn't really important. so i don't have any experience with aluminox, sorry

 

ALUMINOX EPOXY/ALUMINUM PUTTY STICKS- permanently repairs holes, gouges, cuts, and rivet leaks in aluminum boats and RV's.

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Cures steel-hard in 30 minutes. Can be sanded, filed and painted.