How to paint your wheels
 

Ok so as many know I just painted my Enkei Nt03's. Heres what I used and what i did to prep them:



First go out and buy Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter:

http://images.google.com/url?source=...HrjUimsL6ByaDQ



This stuff is great and I think its a must as it makes the paint stick really hardcore onto the wheel.



As far as prepping you have some options which are:



A. Chemically strip the paint off of the wheel with some aircraft paint stripper. I like to use Tal-Strip which you can buy at any autoparts store in spray cans or in a gallon or half gallon jug like this:


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA235_.jpg



After you spray the wheels or paint the stripper on, let the wheels sit for about 30 to 40 minutes while the paint bubbles up. Then either take a plastic scraper or pressure clean the old paint off of the wheels. You may need to do this a few times in order to get everything off.



Once you have a clean wheel, wash the wheel with dishwasher soap as it works as a degreaser and leaves no residue. Dry everything up.



Its time for the Adhesion Promoter:


http://http://www.duplicolor.com/gal...n_adhesion.jpg



Shoot on about 2 light coats of the stuff. Let it dry about 2-3 minutes.



Now its time to prime the wheel. A great, easily found primer is the duplicolor filler primer:


http://images.google.com/url?source=...kMW5lb2QqOgMaA


It has different labels on it but make sure it the sandable filler primer. The regular dark drey primer sucks.



Mist 2-3 light coats on the wheels till they are uniformly covered. Allow about 8-10 minutes between coats so the primer can flash.



DO NOT APPLY HEAVY COATS OF PRIMER!



It will not only take an eternity for it to dry but it will also either run, crack, or bubble up if the bare aluminum is porous.



After they are primed, its color coat time. Really any enamel spray paint will work like Rustoleum, Duplicolor, dupont etc.



I used rustolem to paint my wheels:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-153.jpg


Again, LIGHT coats work the best. Hold the can or spray gun (if your using that) about 10 inches away from the wheel while your spraying with overlapping coats.

Basically you want to do 2 mist coats first so you can get a good base for the color.

Wait about 8-10 minutes between coats so the paint can flash and tack up enough to accept the next coats and not drip or run. On the 3-4th coats, you can put on a medium coat.



Remember: You only want to get enough coats so that you have a solid color.



Once youve accheived that, STOP SPRAYING! Anymore paint and you run a high risk of runs and sags and wrinkles as it dries.



After waiting 10 minutes after the final coat is laid down, its clear coat time. A great, durable clear coat is the Duplicolor Wheel clear coat:

http://images.google.com/url?source=...S0Q3dgs5pts9DA



Again, 2-3 light mist coats followed by one or two medium coats and thats it. Let the wheels bake in the sun for about 5 hours or so for the paint to cure. It wont be fully dry though for about a week so do yourself a favor and be patient before putting em on the car or mounting tires on the car.



Another tip is to put one wheel at a time in the oven and bake em for 170 degrees for about 1 hour per wheel, then let them dry at room temp for about 3 hours or so. Thatll speed up the drying time. If you have tires on your wheels, that obviously that wont work.



And thats really it. I went from this:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-146.jpg



To this:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-145.jpg



Another way of painting your wheels quicker without stripping them is to just



1. Clean the wheels REALLY good with degreaser first, then dishwasher soap



2. Use the Adhesion Promoter on wheels.



3. And shoot your wheels in the process described above.



You can even get away with not priming them if youve cleaned and degreased em real good.



As with anything, the time you take and method you take to paint your wheels will be evident in the final outcome. I take no responsibility if you screw em up but hey, its paint. You can always start over :).

A great thread for referance can be found here as well:

Compilation of painted stock wheels - NASIOC

Oh yeah if you have tires on the wheels and need a quick easy way to mask em, index cards work great:

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5677/1002483xl4.jpg

you can also use a grey scotchbrite pad to scuff up the surface for paint. it easily gets into areas that would be a pain to sand with paper, and it's not very abrasive.

I always heard OG Dawn is a great degreaser. Car painters use it to degrease.

What's the purpose of stripping the paint? Why not just degrease, scuff, degrease, then spray?

W/ painting cars, if you have good original paint, all you need to do is scuff, degrease, then paint. There's no need for etching or primering. Adhesion promoter is only used on the bumper areas.

Just wondering.

I've always just cleaned the wheels very good with degreaser, then give it a light spreay with color, let dry, then another light/speckly coat of color, let dry (texture should be "dry"..and feel like primer), then comes a good color coat. When spraying, don't look at the color, but look at the sheen as you spray...because when just going by color/looking straight down on the paint, you can miss overspray areas that will dry rough. I start off with painting the sides of the spokes, the lug holes and any tough area first, this way you can come back over with a good coat and not worry about thin spots in the paint.

Man, next time I paint some wheels, I should make a video lol

Attachment 205173

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0094_large.jpg

Im glad you guys are adding to this. Yeah the first way i described is i guess the "proper" way but in reality the way you guys have mentioned and what i said in the second part works quite well also.

Doppel, i couldnt find that paint you told me about at HD so i settled on the rustoleum. Not as dark as the paint you used but it looks great in person

I cant find the pics of the ones I did. oh well.

To degrease the wheels use Westly's Wheel Bright. It will instantly take the brake dust off and all oil. It is a great wheel cleaner.
It will remove tar like no other, and eat straight through bugs. And if you breath it. It takes your breath and you cough for a while. LOL

But it will spank 409 cleaner. My mom used to steal my dads Westly's just to clean the oven.

It will whiten white walls and letters to like new. if you white letters don't come perfectly clean. take a 20 ounce coke twist cap, spray westly's on the letters and then scratch the letters with the cap. They will be white.

And most of all wash the rims and tires until the westly's is completely off. You won't have any problem with oil.

And it only costs $2.87 for a quart.

Nice ill try that when i go to redo my MSM wheels

This might be a stupid question, but is 1 can of paint/primer be enough for all 4 wheels, or would 2 be needed? more?

Well, it's made by Rustoleum, # 7275830 - Burnished Brass Metallic.
Kinda late for you, but maybe someone is wondering what I used on the gold wheels I posted ;)

depending on the size and design you could probably get away with it

I might try this one day to give my bronze Heliums, a lil more life. I think they are a bit too dark of a bronze for my liking.

Nice contribution

Do the daisys have paint on them OE?

found it!

stripped them down to bare metal:

http://boostedmiata.com/projects/unfinished.jpg

painted:

http://boostedmiata.com/projects/painted.jpg

installed:

http://boostedmiata.com/projects/painted_wheels.jpg


the paint:

http://boostedmiata.com/projects/paint.jpg

Those look really good Brain. I just picked up a 2002 Lexus IS that has loads of rash on all 4 wheels. I need to redo them.

fyi You can use jb weld to repair the curb rash

same idea as body filler? Fill and shape? (1007 post and not one is useful yay)

So, does Niagara Falls still smell funky?