Painting wheels

Painting wheels

Well the paint on my wheels are almost shot. They just don't shine the way they used to. It used to be a great bronze color and due to my busy school schedule I haven't been able to wash them as often as I would like too. So now the brake dust and road grime has caked on permanently. I'm thinking of using a cleaner to get off the residue, sand the rim with 1000 grit sandpaper, wipe it down with mineral spirits, and spray it with black paint. Paint of choice: Duplicolor Satin Black Wheel Coating w/ Duplicolor clearcoat. I think it'll look nice. I've always wanted black wheels. At the time I got my wheels, they didn't offer them in black. And now they do. *mutters under breath* Heres a shot of my wheels when they were new. Imagine them black. I'm not sure whether or not to include a clearcoat. Without one, the wheels would have more of a matte black look whereas with a coat it would look glossy black. What do you think?



EDIT: I was browsing online and I found a tutorial from someone who already did it. Not too hard, just time consuming. Good thing summer is almost here. LOL
http://www.peterbeers.net/vw_roadtrip/GTI/GTI_Mods/Black_Wheels/index.htm

Konig makes a time attack knockoff helium now

might look pretty good to do it up like that if you have the time.

BTW I'd recommend stripping off the paint to bare aluminum using aircraft stripper before painting over. And next time you get new wheels apply a few coat of wax to them, it'll keep brake dust from sticking.

Its easy but time consuming, just remember to prep the wheel right, clean them and then multiple light coats with a light sand in between.

Use a 300 or 320 git paper.

I just did the hubcaps on my Sentra, and it looks great.

Where can you get a hold of aircraft paint remover? But is it really necessary. Won't sanding and priming be enough before I paint it?
I know where you got that picture. Its from the hondamarketplace konig wheel sale. hehe http://www.hondamarketplace.com/zerothread?cmd=print&id=1278890
I actually like the Konig Brightlite in Mirror Face, but I already have a set of good quality wheels.

And yes I'm putting aside a few days to paint all four wheels. I'm going to use the sun to my advantage to help bake the paint on.

Autozone has Aircraft paint remover.... but in some places to even buy a can of paint you need to be 18 and show I.D........

I'm thinking of using paint thinner since I have it already. I'll rub it on, sand the wheels, rub on some more and then paint them.

I didn't use airline stripper I just sanded and started painting.

I used Duplicolor Wheel Paint didn't primer. I cleaned them really well, sanded them really well with a 320 grit paper cleaned them again. Put a light coat on, sanded lightly after like 20 mins cleaned them and repeated until I had 8 coats on. Used 3 cans on 15 inch hubcaps. I waited 24 hr before putting them back on and then waited a week before I cleaned them

came out really nice and no problems

Alright cool. I'm gonna do that in 3 weeks when the term is over. I have a paint thinner so I might as well use it since I have it. Then its 3 cans of Duplicolor Satin Black Wheel Paint and 3 cans of clear. Oh and lots of blue painter's tape. While I'm at it, I'm gonna respray my calipers and drums with my black caliper paint. The exhaust is going to get the same treatment too. I had the whole exhaust black for a few months before it chipped off. It was stealthy but up close, it was sexy as hell. Gonna sand and primer it this time.

I get aircraft paint stripper at walmart. It's much less work than sanding the old stuff off since the paint would just melt off with aircraft stripper. Also if you dont scuff and clean the old paint correctly the new coat would look like crap. You dont need primer since wheel paint has adhesion promoter to work with bare aluminum.. besides I've never seen a high heat primer before. good luck with the project.

Wow. Walmart has everything. I'll go check that out. I'm assuming its in the auto paint section. Thanks for the tip and for the luck.

They should look like this when I'm done.

yea it's in the automotive section by the paints and the bondo. It comes in either a aerosal can or in a 1 gallon can. Both sells for less than 10 bucks. Just pour it on, let it sit and rense it off with the paint in about 10mins. Stuff works great.