In this work we examined optical and defect properties of as-grown and Ni-coated ZnO nanowires (NWs) grown by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition by means of optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR). Several grown-in defects are revealed by monitoring visible photoluminescence (PL) emissions and are attributed to Zn vacancies, O vacancies, a shallow (but not effective mass) donor and exchange-coupled pairs of a Zn vacancy and a Zn interstitial. It is also found that the same ODMR signals are detected in the as-grown and Ni-coated NWs, indicating that metal coatings does not significantly affect formation of the aforementioned defects and that the observed defects are located in the bulk of the NWs.