Yes you have to take the tires off to powder coat because the powder cures in an oven. I don't think tires or TPMS get along well in an oven.

I used Dupli-Color wheel paint and clear coat, the color is graphite. I went out on a limb and ordered the paint from Amazon without seeing it, but I REALLY like it. I wish the Enkei wheels I want for summer came in this color. I don't expect it to be as durable as powder coat, but these are winter wheels and I can repair the paint myself if need be. The paint and other supplies cost ~$60; powder coating costs ~$100 per wheel.

 

I have spray painted some other rims before and always been pleased with the color coat. The clear coat though only lasted about a year and a half before spider webbing and light yellowing started. I think a good coat of plasti dip followed by color is good if you want to try a color before going through the whole repaint process. If the color is not to your liking just peel it off and no harm done. If you like it peel it off and put quality paint on the rims. Just remember good prep work goes a long way on the final result.

 

If ur going to paint ur rims with a spray can that's fine, I'd definitely suggest going the extra mile with prep work n use am actual spray gun to lay down the clear coat, mine came out very well, ill post pictures a lil bit later since I'm out n about, but I did satin black spray can with blue metal flakes, and bought the PaintWithPearl top coat n looks beautiful

 

I'd have to disagree bout lasting longer then plastidip, if you paint ur rims with plastidip the right way it'll last for years, n when I say the right way I mean thoroughly cleaning your rims, use a spray gun not the can and put a minimum of 4 coats. Best examples can be found in the build threads

 

The spray gun is not necessary as long as you prep the wheel properly. Dipyourwheel on youtube specializes in plastidipping wheels and car. They look fantastic.

 

I have the equipment to spray automotive paint, along with some epoxy primer and clearcoat that I could have used, but I chose not to. Why? Everything becomes exponentially more difficult. And spraying urethane clear over a rattle can base is not a good idea. There are a whole host of compatibility issues you can run into. I sprayed some good clear over a rattle can base once upon a time. In my case a year later the base layer was still wet and I was able to peel the clear off the semi-sticky rattle can base (thankfully that was just a few small interior parts). If you want to spray a two-part clear, you are doing the hard (and toxic) part of the operation, go ahead and get the base to go with the clear.

 

Sry for the dirty rims
but here's mine, been painted for about a year

 

Dont get me wrong, i agree with what your saying as far as pairing the paint with the clear, but I didn't have a problem when i did mine, all i used was a VHT spray can, Blue Metal flakes spray can, and Autobahn Clear - Wetwet for a clear coat. Autobahn Clear coats are compatible with all rattle can base paint, including plastidip. I was pretty much experimenting with the combination and was surprised that it came out pretty well and didnt have any problems with it when i did it. I'm actually planning on redoing the rims a different color and using plastidip with paintwithpearl.com's ghost pearls and use Autobahn clear coat to seal it