Wheels....opinions?

[natedog1284]

This weekend I almost hit a deer, so since it was raining and I kinda panicked, I lost control of my car and went up on a curb and into some mud/grass outside a now vacant storage facility. (The scary part was when the car stopped sliding, it rocked up on the two left wheels up to almost a 45* angle, then settled back down on all four!) Fortunately neither me or my brother was hurt, and for the most part, the car seems fine, (my front bumper was a little pushed in, but I should be able to get that fixed, and it's getting a new alignment right now) Otherwise, the suspension seems fine, and the only thing really wrong is my wheels took a pretty hard hit. The front left is bent and no longer holds air, and the back 2 are both gouged pretty bad from spinning in the mud. (We had to use my brother's Oldsmobile to pull me out! :shake:) But needless to say I need a new set of wheels. Now my question is, what is everyone's opinion on getting them powdercoated to look like the wheels on the S55 concept car? I'm buying the replica set from a company that's on ebay, (they sell all four for only $780 shipped), and since I'll have a set of brand new wheels, I can get them powdercoated before I mount them, and still be able to drive the car, as I have the full size spare on now. So if I want to do something with them, here's my chance. Here's a pic of those wheels, so those not in the know can see what I'm referring to. Any thoughts? Thanks guys.
-Nate

Here's a link, the pics are kinda big:
http://www.crownvicmuscle.com/gallery/s55_assets/s55_rims.jpg

http://www.crownvicmuscle.com/gallery/s55_assets/s55_front.jpg

[ctrlraven]

Glad to hear you and your brother are ok! I say go for it maybe also get the rear ones widen before you get them powder coated and mounted?:D :D :D

[94_302]

Before you try to widen the replicas you might want to read this thread (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=27042&highlight=replica).

[ckadiddle]

Holy crap. Glad you guys are OK. Scared me just reading your description of the incident. I'm partial to the shiny stock look, I would not powdercoat. Just my preference. Unless you went with black to match the body color.

[natedog1284]

Holy crap. Glad you guys are OK. Scared me just reading your description of the incident. I'm partial to the shiny stock look, I would not powdercoat. Just my preference. Unless you went with black to match the body color.

I thought about that too, but since I already have the badges, with the wheels I would be well on my way to cloning a car that was never produced! ;)
I was already planning on keeping my 2 good rims and having them widended for drag radials....we guys all think alike, huh? :beer:

Yeah, it was a pretty frightening experience. That was the closest I ever came to flipping a car, and I don't care to repeat it. But take it all around, despite what did happen, I feel like I came out ahead when I consider what could have happened. Anyway, I wanted to replace my wheels soon anyway, so this is just motivated me to do it sooner!

[Blackened300a]

Those replica rims you are buying from Ebay are cast not aluminum. They CANNOT be widened.

[natedog1284]

That's fine, as I said, I still have 2 good rims that are perfect candidates for widening. As long as they can be powdercoated, I'm happy. Hell, even if they couldn't for some reason I can't think of, they're still better than what I have.

[CRUZTAKER]

You won't like the grey as pictured...I tried it...it was very subtle and from a distance unnoticable.

Go black!

[FastMerc]

Before you try to widen the replicas you might want to read this thread (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=27042&highlight=replica). Yes what he said,cast wheels are very pourous.

[natedog1284]

You won't like the grey as pictured...I tried it...it was very subtle and from a distance unnoticable.

Go black!

A few people have suggested I make them black, but I'm not sure I wan't anything that's too extreme. I like those wheels because they are subtle. I kinda want the subtle sleeper look. Plus, if I go black, the overall wheel design will kinda be lost, and I really like the style of our rims. And again, because they are cast, they are going to be my daily driver/car show wheels. When I race, I'm gonna widen the two wheels that are still good and use those.