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In Reply to: Why Silver finish on wheels is a problem posted by kwillmorth on June 24, 2000 at 09:40:06:
First he would require two wheels! The one to be refinished and one to match the color to! If they don't ask for the second wheel, they will never provide a match and don't intend to actually try.
Second, they can't do it for $95 to $150. Not a chance. It will require they have a third similar wheel in stock, that they can mask off and experiment with various thicknesses of finish, bake times and temps, as well as maybe go so far as have a humidity controlled environment so they could adjust that as well. This means they would have to test a sample process a few times and try to get to a process that generates a part that matches the reference wheel. Then they refinish the damaged wheel and hope the variables hold together through the two step finish process.
Would probably cost in the range of $250 to $400 to do properly, as it will take at least a day of one mans time to get to a proper match, unless someone lucks out. At a shop rate of $35 an hour, that means labor cost would run $280 plus materials and stripping cost, etc...
And at that cost, a new wheel makes more sense and will still provide a closer match than a one-off day of work.
The bright silver finish BMW uses on the Roadstars makes this much more complicated. I'd say, knowing how difficult it is to get matches to work out, that a cost of $300 is more realistic. Any estimate below this, without asking for a reference wheel, will return results that are unlikely to satisfy a discriminating BMW M car owner.
The more mainstream single stage finishes others use, or the darker silvers like MK Motorsports use are much simpler to work with.
Clear over polish or brushed finishes are even simpler still, but still not easy to match, just better in the odds that you'll get a match.
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