It is often said that whether a man has taste depends on what shoes he has on his feet. The hub of a restyled car is like that pair of shoes, playing a key role in the temperament of the car body. However, even the most experienced restyled car owners need to pick carefully and still spend much effort before they finally get their dream wheel hub designs. Some car owners are in pursuit of being different, so they want to change the colour of the wheel hub and decisively go to the body shop to get the wheel hub painted. Some seek for more protective wheel cover as the original paint on their wheel hub has fallen off and they just want to try something new, and others choose to take this opportunity to make some further changes to the rim such as detailing, rejuvenation and parts restyling. There are four ways to put on a cover on the wheel: spray paint/film, paint, brushed finishing and electroplating. Now we will introduce them one by one. 

Spray Paint/Film Colour Change Wheel Cover 

It’s simple and cheap to change the colour of the wheel hub by spraying or filming paint, and you can even DIY at home, but many car owners who have done this may decide not to use this spraying or filming method any more. The reason is that the colour changing spray paint is not adhesive enough and the surface will fade soon. However, when the paint peel, not all of it will fall off wholly but just parts of it, and the remaining paint is difficult to remove, which greatly affects the wheel appearance. Let’s see how the spray paint starts to peel on a car:

Paint Colour Change Wheel Cover

The paint of the wheel cover put on by baking adheres stronger and stays longer than that of spray paint or film. The process of three sprays and three bake become a standard to put on the colour change wheel cover on hubs. The paint put on by this method has strong adhesion and does not fade, and the additional protective transparent powder put on the surface can also protect the wheel hub further from corrosion and oxidation. The most popular colours of wheel hub paint are black, champagne and gunmetal grey. There is also the option of personalised bi-colour paint and car owners can pick two prefered colours for the paint. Let’s take a look at several cases of wheel hub colour change after paint:

Brushed Finishing Wheel Cover

Brushed finishing is a surface treatment method that fine lines are ground on the surface of the workpieces as decorations. A surface with brushed finishing looks as if more than one colours are creating a satin feel. Wheel covers with brushed finishing can create a dynamic visual effect, which attracts plenty of car owners. The brushed finishing method for the wheel hub can be divided into two-colour paint colour change and transparent paint colour change. Using the brushed finishing method, the technicians first remove the existing paint from the wheel hub, then apply the primer and colour paint and brush the line, and finally apply the protective transparent powder. Let’s take a look at the picture of the brushed finishing wheel cover done with two-colour paint:

Then let’s take a look at the handwork clear brushed finishing wheel cover:

Electroplating Colour Change Wheel Cover

The wheel hub electroplating method changes the original colour of the wheel hub using the electroplating process. Environmental-friendly electroplating is applied and the four sprays and four bake is adopted in the vacuum environment so that the wheel cover stays firmly and the colour is preserved well. Wheel electroplating is divided into single-colour, bi-colour, multi-colour and brushed finish. To implement the plating colour change, firstly paint is removed, and then the wheel is electroplated following the four sprays and four bake vacuum plating process. Now let’s take a look at the picture of different electroplating colour change wheel cover: 

Conclusion

The experience of many car owners shows that the hardness of the spray film on the wheel hub is poor, and its wear resistance is low. Also, the final effect of spray painting or film depends heavily on the skills of the technicians. If you are lucky to have an experienced and responsible staff in the shop, the job will be carried out carefully to each detail and thus the final presentation is better. The main purpose of putting on a wheel cover is to make the car look better and special, and painting also has its practical significance. For example, even if it is not as durable as the spray film, the paint has good adhesion and is not easy to peel off. Another advantage is that painting can protect the wheel hub. However, the wheel cover of the hub will inevitably lead to some problems, such as the influence of the airtightness of the wheel hub. In addition, the cost is also a thing to consider. The car owners should consider all factors to make the most suitable decision. The above is an introduction of the wheel hub cover for your reference, I hope it helps you.

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If you want specific details on wheel cover, give us a call today or visit our page Wheel+Parts Restyling! We look forward to working with you to assist you with your vehicle wrap.

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