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?

I've only been here a few months and Im in one of the nicer areas. So no. Luckily I get to move south in two months.

Yup

Yes. I used the same process as leatherface but used Duplicolor High Performance Wheel Coating and clear coat. I used Bondo glazing and spot putty to fill in curb rash and of course I prepped the surface I repaired after. The bondo comes in a tube and is perfect for curb rash repairs. Regular Bondo requires you to mix hardeners.

I figured Bondo would sling off after a few hard pot hole hits and a few thousand miles of fast driving. My stock wheels look fine, but I like to tinker. May try some fancy colors on my long break from work this week (my birthday, yay!)

My Infiniti wheels still look like the day I refinished them after over 2,000 miles and almost a year of driving on NYC shit roads (including winter).

The adhesion promoter is the same one I just bought, it says its a clear primer too, does that count as a primer? I bought primer too and will prolly use it before anyone responds, but I have to do this one wheel at a time, since I have no extras except the doughnut.

well it does prime the sirface but if you have any light scratches i wont fill them. thats what the filler primer is for

ok I have the same primer that you used as well as the same chemical stripper. Although my final color is a different color of dupli-color, thats our only difference. Im not big on the bronze.

post pics of the process!

Im taking a bunch of pictures, but like I said I can only do one wheel at a time. While swapping on the donut. Ill be done with the first wheel in a few hours and Ill stick the pictures up.

cool beans

Ok here we go. Sorry I didnt take a picture of the wheel before hand, but its a basic Daisy.

The stuff I used, Dupli-Color Adhesion Promoter, Filler Primer, High Performance Wheel coating, The only clearcoat I saw. All of this plus the chemical stipper, less then $40.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0981.jpg



I was very impressed by the chemical stipper, these are after just a few minutes.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0964.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0965.jpg

The directions say to scrape and hose, so I did. I was alittle too eager so I stripped it twice.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0966.jpg
The insides of the wheel was nasty
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0967.jpg
Second stripping
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0968.jpg
Since I didnt have note cards, but I did have lots of news paper, I masked it off with paper and loads of masking tape. This part was a pain in the back. The Adhesion Promoter wasnt easy, its clear and dries fast. Making it hard to see where you've been
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0970.jpg
First thin coat of primer.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0971.jpg
Little more primer
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0972.jpg
Primed
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0973.jpg
First coat of my color. Lots more flake then I had assumed
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0974.jpg
Apparently I didnt take pictures of the middle coats of color. Colored
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0975.jpg
Stripper has dried, been wipped down. Noticed some flake from the inside had collected on the outside.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0977.jpg
Some primer
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0978.jpg
Looks like I skipped the middle priming, heres the final.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0979.jpg
First coat of color.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0980.jpg
Second.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0982.jpg
Last coat of color, and clear coats, and masking removed
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0983.jpg
Center cap
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...5/DSCF0976.jpg

What color is that? Looks like my ranger wheels from all the brake dust collecting on them.

Looks like Duplicolor HPWC Graphite.

Cool. Now I can paint them that color and I don't have to worry about washing them ever again.

Man! I really like the look of those wheels right after srtipping !

Makes me want to strip mine and just do clear coat :idea:

Yeah they look awesome with the paint stripped. If they didnt have any rash on them they would be awesome clear coated.

I hate the cast lettering on the center of the daisy wheel. I am thinking of using j b for this.

That would prolly work as the center caps are plastic, just sand it down should be fine.

I also ordered these for center caps for a complete daisy wheel makeover...

http://www.harmancorp.com/products/p...bingplugs.aspx

Size is 2" VVRT16-1P018 Black 2 10-14 .134-.083

Sorry about the necroposting, but this thread is what my question is based on.

Getting ready to paint my WRX's wheels, and am following the guidlines leatherface started. I'm in the cleaning stage, how clean is clean? Best way to remove the grease in the lug holes. And do I need to remove the balancing weights?

http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/o...a/IMG_2132.jpg
http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/o...a/IMG_2133.jpg
http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/o...a/IMG_2134.jpg

Just use a detailing brush to get in those holes.

You don't need to go absolutely crazy on the wheel overall, but you def want to clean up the lug nut holes better than that.

Oh yeah, I'm definitely going to get those holes. I hadn't done that wheel yet, the one I did do still had a little gunk in it even though I was using a detail brush and dawn soap. I guess I'm wondering if I can use something harsher, like brake cleaner, in there.

The picture with the back side of the wheel showing the weights has been scrubbed, is that clean enough?

Anyone ever restored a set of BBS RA's? I've got a set sitting in my garage, I've got the color scheme all planned out (Mild gold interior with polished lip) but they are dirty as fuck and a BITCH to clean, as you can imagine would be the result of having bunches of tiny little holes.

How effective is that paint stripper? This dirt is melded on, I had to take a dremel to it to get it off of just one part. Would it be powerful enough to get off after a couple of coats and whippings/sprayings?

Tire and wheel guys.

The weights are in a visible area. If I paint them and they are removed it will look like crap. If I remove them to paint, how will new weights attach to a painted finish? Am I overthinking this? It's my first time (obviously) and I don't want to have to redo it.

Unless you're the type of guy that washes the insides of the wheels I wouldn't worry about it. If you don't wash the inside then brake dust will cover up what you may not have painted

Ok, I cleaned up the wheels pretty good, followed leatherface's instructions and all was going really well.That is until like an idiot I kept spraying when the spray can started to splatter on the color coat. I didn't notice at first, but it left a light spatter on parts of the wheel. It looks good from 5' but when you get down on it you can see the crappy job.

It's been 4 days now and I'm ready to fix it, do I
1) just put another coat or two on, then clear coat, and call it good?
2) sand a bit off and follow step 1?
3) strip and start over?

I'm in the garage ready to work so quick reply is appreciated.

So you're saying the clear is what spattered? If so just sand it smooth with some 600grit at the roughest till it's smooth. Then scuff the rest of the area with a grey scotch brite pad and reclear

Also be careful not to sand through the clear into the color. Might want to wet sand it to keep build up to a minimum. Good luck

How well do all of these paints hold up to brake dust? My 6ULs look like shit thanks to brake dust washing neglect and I don't want to take the time to paint them if they will shit up right quick again.

it was the color that splattered.

K then just wetsand with 600-800 grit till it's smooth and scuff the rest lightly with a grey scotch brite and you're ready to spray

Thanks

Be sure to post finished pics

Thanks for making this thread Jarrod. I followed the procedure you outlined and the results were pretty good.

Here's what I required:
Aircraft Stripper x 3 cans (home depot)
Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter x 1 can (o'reily's)
Rustoleium Fast Dry Sandable Primer x 1 can (home depot)
Duplicolor High Performance Wheel Paint x 3 cans (o'reily's)
Duplicolor High Performance Wheel Clear x 2 cans (o'reily's)
400 grit sand paper x 1 sheet (home depot)
scotch brite pads x 2 pads (home depot)
spray paint can sprayer holder thingie (home depot)
note cards, small x 2 packs of 100 (walmart)
note cards, large x 1 pack of 100 (walmart)
masking tape (walmart)

Total Cost: Appx $75 (plus I'll need to get them rebalanced)

Labor: All day

Result:
http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/9...013reduced.jpg

Hard to get a good picture since they're metallic and the sun is up high, so it washes out. I'm sure the camera can take a better picture if the operator were competent enough to take it out of automatic. :giggle: What looks like overspray on the tire isn't.

Overall, this is not something I'd do to a set of new looking wheels to simply change color, as laying paint down out of cans in the driveway leaves something to be desired, however it's a very good procedure to clean up wheels that are getting long in the tooth.

I have them "baking" in the driveway now. I'll give them a few days then take them for a balance before putting them on the car. But they'll look pretty good.

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/2...011reduced.jpg

Those came out really good Ben! They look new

I think you're gonna need some hella-long lug studs!

Looked for this thread and I'm already discouraged at the work involved to revive old wheels. I've got 3 scuffed and scratched up Pro Race 1's and 1 brand new Pro Race 1...trying to decide if I want to refinish the used wheels to match the new one, refinish all four in a matching (possibly new) color, or just say "screw it" and let the brake dust cover up the scuffs and scratches over time.

Paint them to match, it will bother you forever if you don't :2cents:

its alot easier then you think dude. be a man, take a few hours and do it!