Who's had luck..

[Jloshotz]

With painting thier own wheels and having the finish actually hold up? i understand the mechanics of how to do it, just curious of long term wear and what not. Debating getting mine powder coated, but i still need tires....so considering maybe a self etch/epoxy primer, paint and clear. Also.....looking for opinions on color.....i'm leaning towards the factory silver.....or does this color have a more specific name?

[transmaro93]

well are you using actual exterior finishing paints made to shoot out of a gun or are you using shaker can... a base clear system out of a spray gun will always work better than shaker cans due tot hem using hardners where shaker cans are very thinned out and dont have an activator(hardner) in them. powder coating is always the toughest but can be more expensive. a real base clear finish or single stage finish will hold up pretty decent but will be prone to more chipping than podercoating but chips can always be touched up

[Jloshotz]

Ahh, just realized where i put this. "Appearance" may have been more appropriate...That's the thing Transmaro93, i probably would be going rattle can after properly prepping....i have a set and one wheel is chipped pretty bad. I doubt i could just do the one wheel and have it match. Hence i think i need all four done, and was just trying to perhaps save a few bucks, just not sure if it's a really good idea as far as wheels are concerned...scared to find out what refinishing may cost

[S.J.SLEEPER]

if your going to rattle can it, make sure you use either:
a ceramic type paint (like high heat paint) has ceramic in it and always holds up better,
or the Epoxy paint (appliance paint is a epoxy type paint) holds up great also

Also, believe the color is Gunmetal.

[Jloshotz]

Thanks S.J! I thought that MIGHT have been gunmetal, but I started second guessing myself into thinking it was too light to be gunmetal. If I do end up stripping and painting, I will definitely use the highest quality primer and paints available in rattle. Hoping to do it once! At the same time, I don't want it to be obvious that they were rattle canned, that and finish longetivity are what keep me from being able to decide.

[The Fixer]

I did a set of wheel centers with Duplicolor Wheel coating, and they came out great. http://www.duplicolor.com/products/wheelCoating/

It's very durable stuff, and has a nice finish if prepped/painted properly. Here's a pic of how my wheels turned out. I taped off the lips, and painted the centers with their Graphite-colored paint.

[Jloshotz]

That is very encouraging Tpi! They look excellent! Thanks for the link

[Jloshotz]

Originally Posted by TPI Monte SS

How many cans per wheel roughly? Do you remember?

[The Fixer]

IIRC I used two cans of clear, two cans of paint, and one of their adhesion promoter. For surface prep, I scuffed the original clear with a green Scotchbrite pad and then wiped them down with a wax/grease remover.

[Jloshotz]

Excellent, thanks Steve!

[LS1ow]

i guess you can say ive painted some wheels... lol all done with Rattle cans... never really ran into chipping problems. just make shure you prep the surface well enough and use matching paints.(same brand primer, paint, clear)

[1320B4U]

don't do black whatever you do...they sell complete kits for rim restoration google it.

[Jloshotz]

Originally Posted by LS1ow

i guess you can say ive painted some wheels... lol all done with Rattle cans... never really ran into chipping problems. just make shure you prep the surface well enough and use matching paints.(same brand primer, paint, clear)

No doubt you have painted a few sets, they came out pretty sweet! I'm going for it

[Jloshotz]

Originally Posted by 1320B4U

don't do black whatever you do...they sell complete kits for rim restoration google it.

Definitely NOT doing black, kinda torn between gunmetal and silver

[V]

I did a set of wheels for my Denali. I scrubbed them clean in the bathtub, then sanded down the entire surface with fine grit sandpaper. I then used prep-sol to remove any dust and oils left over. Once a paper towel with prep-sol would wipe clean on the surface I finally began to paint with Rustoleum spray paint in flat black. I did at least 3 coats then had the tires mounted 4 days later to allow time to dry. They held up great to driving in deep snow with TONS of road salt in upstate NY.

[LS1ow]

Originally Posted by Jloshotz

Definitely NOT doing black, kinda torn between gunmetal and silver

lol yea i tend to paint wheels alot

[Jloshotz]

I'll drop you off mine Beggs lol

[LS1ow]

Originally Posted by Jloshotz

I'll drop you off mine Beggs lol

come drop them and enough supplies off and ill do em lol

[Jloshotz]

Sweet

[Jloshotz]

Have to get some good primer and maybe some adhesion promoter, already have grits from 320-1000....decided on this

http://www.eastwood.com/wheel-sparkl...clear-kit.html