A few thoughts/concerns... Any feedback?
 

Ok, the first thing that has been on my mind is what size/type of tires to get. I like the idea of 275s up front, and 305s in the rear, but with a 30 profile on both, is your speedo gonna be off (RE-11 folks?)? Secondly, everyone knows that the 370 has a staggered setup. My question is, how do you determine the proper setup when getting wider tires? My guess would be since there is a 30mm difference in width between front and back you need to keep it 30mm (i.e.- if you increase the rear by 30mm you increase the fronts by 30?)?

Lastly, I've been interested in powdercoating my stock rays. I have a chicane yellow Z and I don't want just the straight black like people do. I'm looking for a unique color. My thoughts were a deep blue that almost looks black, but when the like hits it right, they reflect blue... Any thoughts/ideas?

Also, I keep reading things about what the proper temperature to bake forged wheels and whatnot (and people cracking their wheels and yadda yadda). How do I know that my local powdercoater guy knows what he is doing? What questions should I ask? What temperatures and durations should I be expecting him to use? Anyone know a good guy in SoCal?

Bump? :ugh2:

Yeah I would like to know too...

Anyone??

Tire size calculator

I used that so many times when I was shopping for wheels and tires that I almost became an expert to myself. :D If you want to stay close to the factory sizes, then I suggest you play with that link I provided and experiment with what you want.

Show me a real world case of someone wheels breaking due to powdercoat, not a friend of a friend who knew someone. If you can, chances are there was a structural defect in the wheel all along. 400 degrees for a. Hour isn't going t weaken the wheel. I've got a couple thousand track miles on my powdercoated wheels on the z and had a similar amount on the powdercoated wheels on the c6.

How a out metallic black wheels? black from a distance, but really sharp in the sun and up close. When I did powdercoat wheels, it was a very popular color with my corvette people. I don't coat them now just because they take too much time and I have a constant backlog of caliper orders.
http://img11.imageshack.us/i/dsc04949k.jpg/

Mike,

Glad you responded. I saw you are a professional powdercoater on another thread so it'll be good to pick your brain on the subject.

One of the things I read was on this link:

i want my wheels black, or something dark - evolutionm.net

http://www.reganracing.com/Driver%27...20003-crop.jpg

Also, do you know about annealing?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annealing_(metallurgy)

Metal and Metallurgy engineering - Aluminum wheel failure after powder coating?

(^-- that one if from a engineers and metallurgy forum)

These things look pretty compelling against powdercoating... Unless you know for a fact the composition and temperature the original wheels were formed under, you can't say that 400 degrees is acceptable for powdercoating. If the original wheels were forged at 350, then obviously 400 will cause some issues. Do you have any proof that it IS safe?

I'm not trying to knock what you do by any means, there just seems to be a lot of information for and against powdercoating. If I were to proceed with something like that, I need to know that without a shadow of a doubt, that it is safe.

I like your idea on the color. Is there a special name for that color?

i run 265 35 19 and 285 35 19 re11, speedo is dead on. if your car is at stock power, that is a very reasonable setup as you will have plenty of grip. tire compound is more important than size remember. the car still plowsmore than i would like with 265 285. thats qwhy my race rubber will be 275 all around

This thing is great! But how do I determine the proper stagger between front and back?

BUMP for Mike!

well, from reading all of the above, its the same stuff that I have read everywhere, everyone, even experts all have mixed opinions. That corvette wheel that broke, was under track use, and I have seen more than one corvette wheel that wasn't powdercoated break on the track. Its not that uncommon. Bottom line for me is that on the two powdercoating forums I am on, none of us coaters has ever had a customer complain of breaking a wheel, and I put my own wheels through a lot on the track.

If you aren't comfortable, then I would go with paint.

That color is Crystal Black Mettallic from NIC Industries.

Do you know what temp our wheels were formed at?

What sorts of things should I ask a local guy to gauge his experience?

Well, this thread didn't get too far... Anyone want to photoshop some cool color wheels on a yellow 370? Not sure I want to go with black wheels on my car because it seems like the trend...