What do you think about my setup?

[EastTXYukon]

I'm going to purchase my rims tomorrow, and just wanted to throw out my plans and see if anyone with more experience saw any problems. Here's what I'm gonna go with. I'm buying the stuff a little at a time:

3" PA Body lift
Gap guards
N fabs to hide frame
Ion 171 rims - 16x8 with 4.25 backspace
295/75/16 AT tires - not sure on the brand yet

This is all going on my stock 2 dr 96 yukon

I have the front end cranked to level currently and plan to leave it that way.

let me know if I'm forgetting anything or if something jumps out that won't work or look good.

Plan to add a 6" lift (uncranked) with 35's down the road...but not anytime soon.

 

[bambam]

just a personal preferance but i would go bigger on the tires

 

[sparg93]

Mickey Thompson makes the same rim with a 5" BS...I was also looking at those IONs, but the MT backspace changed my mind.

Also, those ION rims are NOT clear coated...which means they will turn to $hit really quick. The cheapest option is spray on clear coat, followed by two part paint on, followed by powder clear coat.

In my opinion, I would not drive with raw polished rims before they were sealed up.

Hope this helps!

 

[EastTXYukon]

Hey Sparg, thanks for the reply, just trying to learn a little about clear coating my rims.

If I got my rims powdercoated clear, wouldnt they have to sandnlast the wheel first? Would that work?

What way did you clear your MT's. I bought a set of ProComp polished alloys 4 years ago for my Scout and didnt have to clear coat them, and they held up fine. Was hoping for the same with the Ions.

Thanks for the help

 

[sparg93]

For aluminum rims, they will have to rough up the surface for the powder to adhere better.

I haven't yet purchased the MTs yet, but I'm having the distributor take care of all of that for me. I'm buying them new from them and they have a powder coat area/furnance within their shop....they will powder coat then mount the tires and ship the whole setup.

I'm not sure why your ProComps held up so well...typically raw aluminum w/o clear coat gets pitted and messed up fairly quickly.

One really important disclaimer i found yesterday...if you powder coat aluminum, they MUST use a low temp powder. Aluminum cannot handle temps in the 400+ range and you could actually weaken the rims. In one of the BMW forums an aluminum core manufacturer spoke fairly eloquently on the subject. I guess traditional powder cooks at around 425 - 450.

Bottom line - he recommended that you speak to the powder coater and ask them questions about temp and coating aluminum. If they don't have solid answers and discuss temp <400, use someone else that has experience.

I haven't yet spoken to the guys that actually powder coat at this retailer, but once I'm absolutely certain on the rim i'm going with, i'll give them a call for specific answers.

Are you also buying tires with your new rims??

If so, the reason I'm familiar with Ions and powder coating is that I originally was going to buy IONS from the shop I'm now speaking with regarding MT's. They mentioned to me the dangers of raw aluminum and upon further investigation, I found a bunch of guys with SUVs and raw alum...they complained how fast their rims became pitted and lost their shine.

Check them out:
www.customwheelsdirect.com

If you and I buy around the same time, we should leverage our orders to see what kind of discount we can get...even though they will ship to two different addresses and paid by two different ppl, they may give us a discount if place the order "together" (but seperate).