Refinished Volk LE37s – Photoshoot

After having my super rare Volk LE37 wheels on my 2006 Audi S4 for some time, I wanted to give them an update. I bought the wheels for a good deal, but they were in rough condition. I did my best job to restore them by polishing the lips, but the finish of the faces was pretty worn out as was the center caps. There was also years of brake dust caked on that had eaten away at the paint and was nearly impossible to remove. Ultimately, it was time for a fresh start…here are the “before” pics, for reference:

I have been teasing pictures of my refinished Volk L37s on my Facebook Page, and now it’s time for the full unveil. I tasked Janky Garage & Polishing Proz in El Cajon with the refinish which included powdercoating the faces, removing some rash and polishing the faces, and putting some fresh Hankook R-S3 rubber and TE37SL vinyl to complete the look. I’m absolutely thrilled with how it came out!

The faces are now a few shades darker, opting for more of a gunmetal color. The polished lips were stripped and completely redone, making them look brand new. All of the damage was repaired, then everything was cleared for protection and added shine. It was an extensive process that took nearly a month to complete, but boy was it worth it!

The Volk LE37 model was a Limited Edition (hence, LE) version of the more common TE37s, and after chatting with some fellow Audi fans it seems like there could be as few as 10 sets of these ever made in Audi specific bolt pattern (5×112) and offset. These particular wheels are 19×8.5 with an ET33 (or so, slightly more aggressive than my CHs at ET35 so ET33 is merely an educated guess). Volk/Rays Engineering doesn’t make any wheels for B6/B7 fitment anymore, so given how rare the wheels are I wanted to make sure they were restored to perfect.

The refinish took nearly a month because the wheel is still one-piece, despite being forged with polished lips, so the powdercoating was extra tricky to keep the lips polished but redo the faces. An extra complicated factor is that these wheels were only in fair shape, particularly the lips, due to neglect from the previous owner. It was worth the wait (and money) to have these redone, especially since I had my trusty BBS CH wheels as “backups,” as they exceeded my every expectation.

I also decided to go for the look without center caps. A lot of race tracks require you to remove your center caps, so it’s a race inspired look – but given the center caps I had were all cracked, I felt the old center caps were a distraction from the otherwise flawless (re) finish of the wheels.

That being said, the guys at Janky Garage were able to refinish the center caps in a gunmetal finish so if I ever want to run them I can, but so far I’m really enjoying the look without them and don’t really have any plans to use them.

It’s amazing how a new (or refinished) set of wheels can change how you feel about your car – not only did these change the entire look of the car, but being forged I can tell a difference in performance, too, as they’re much lighter than my cast BBS wheels. Add to it the very sticky, very aggressive Hankook R-S3 tires and the car is an absolute blast to drive, yet still better on the street than my last two sets of Falkens combined (and quieter, too!). I have a track day coming up in a few weeks and I cannot wait to see how they perform then.

Doing this photoshoot was fun, as I love how this car cleans up and I was beaming like a proud father with these new wheels. Any enthusiast knows the feeling of seeing your car in new wheels, it’s one of the best feelings.

Personally I love the color combination, and the red stickers tie together with the red paint nicely. Gunmetal is one of my favorite finishes for wheels as it’s not too dark to lose the contrast, but not too light to look boring or unfinished.

Equally important are the polished lips. It’s just the right amount of shine, without looking bling bling. With painted lips you lose some contrast and it can look dull, but the polished lips pop and make everything (including the tires) better. The lips also tie in nicely with the little bits of chrome in the headlights as well as the white fog lights, chrome mirror caps, and exhaust tips on the car. They’re all subtle touches that work together really well.

If you’re looking to get your wheels refinished, it’s important to shop around. Like any automotive paint application, if you don’t do the necessary prep work and lay the paint (or powdercoat) down just right, you’ll have imperfections in the finish and they might chip over time. The last thing you want to do is have your expensive wheels look like they were rattled canned in someone’s back yard.

The guys who did my wheels did an amazing job, and after driving on them for nearly a year they still looked amazing and nearly brand new. Of course proper upkeep helps, and I’d highly recommend using a ceramic coating when you get your wheels refinished to help protect and shine your wheels.

What do you think, are you a fan of the new finish or the old one? Am I ruining a classic?