GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I personally love the look of the stock wheels, but I wish they were black to match my salsa vibe. Is there a way to paint them so they are black chrome, possibly with a matching red lip? Would this be considered a do-it-yourself type of project, or could I take it somewhere? Also, where could I get decals to get the Pontiac emblem back on after it is painted?My plan is to paint the wheels black with a red lip, and a chrome finish. I would also paint the calipers red. Do you think this would look tacky/ricey?

im not exactly sure about having a chrome-like finish, but yes you could paint them yourself fairly easily. ive never been a fan of colored wheels (red, blue, etc) but black would be ok. ive considered doing it to my stock 17's.

I believe Dupont has a good product for chrome rims to give it that translucent black look. It may not work well on the painted or machined wheels. Guess it depends if you have a 09/10 with the chrome wheels or you can always give it a try on the 03-08 wheels.

Not cheap but I've seen some black powder coat that looks kind of like black chrome. That seems to cost about $100-150 around here for four wheels.

Quote, originally posted by Kincaid » I've seen some black powder coat that looks kind of like black chrome.That's exactly what I was going to suggest. This way the adhesion would be better than paint alone. You'd then be looking at remounting & balancing of your rubber once this is done. A costly mod BUT it would look sharp when finished

How much would something like that cost?

Quote, originally posted by Sh3pherd »How much would something like that cost?It would likely vary from shop to shop and how busy they are. Maybe $30- $40 per rim ??? The fact that they are small is an advantage (easy fit in an oven) but totally clueless from here on. You'd have to just start calling around and explain what you want. Good luck

Don't forget to check craigslist - there's a couple guys doing it in my area, running shops out of their garages. The work they do looks great.

Salsa monotone or dark gray cladding/bumper? Remember that black wheels tend to look smaller... they get burried in the dark wheelwell. On some black cars, the effect works really well. I've seen charcoal gray painted wheels on some cars that look great, too.How about a picture of your car. You have 16 inch or 17 inch wheels?

It's a 100% stock, all salsa vibe (no gray cladding).