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"How To" Painting Wheels

21K views 73 replies 38 participants last post by  Mav3rick21 
#1 · (Edited)
Painting wheels how-to

Ok so I've been getting a lot of PM's about how to paint wheels, somehow my name keeps coming up when it comes down to it, thanks for all the good remarks guys but I figure instead of keeping it a big big secert I'll just tell everyone and maybe get a sticky too. [paranoid]

Alright so lets run down the basics, first off you're going to want a couple supplies. You will need a high temp paint that still holds a good clean look to it. I have usually used spray because its the easiest way to apply. Second you're going to need a couple different types of sandpaper, grit 300-400 all the way to around 1600. And it really helps to have those shop horses too, it makes paiting a lot easier.

Now, you have to remember, in painting them in the way I direct you to, you must ruin the original coating on the wheels. You CAN'T get that finish back, so make sure you really want to do this and that you are willing to repaint in time.

Ok so step 1: remove the wheels from your car and wash them THROUGHLY. I mean clean make sure there isnt any dirt or brake dust left on the wheels. You are going to probably want to do this first part with dishwasher soap.

Step 2: Now that the wheel is clean clean clean you are going to want to start the sanding process. Start with the 300-400 grit wet and begin sanding off the clear coating on your wheels. Take up the grit slowly always using the sand paper wet. You should be able to take all the clear off and then smooth down the surface for a nice clean paint area.

Step 3: Wash the wheel again getting all the sand paper grit and clear coat off the wheel that may have been left behind, make sure you clean it really well, and dry the best you can, actually an airgun would be a perfect quick drier but if you dont have one just use a towel.

Step 4: So now here is where shop horses come in handy. You'll want to take newspaper and wrap your tires and then use masking tape to tuck into the edges make sure you get the edges covered otherwise your tires will have weird paint markings. The whole tire should now be covered with something.

Ok now that the tire is all covered we can move onto the paint process.

Step 5**: If you have shop horses stand the wheel upright on 2 horses so you can get a good paint area. You'll want to have your spray ready to go. Take the spray paint you have and put LIGHT -and I cannot stress enough how light I mean- coats on the wheel. Let the first one or 2 coats dry enough, then begin putting more coats on. Now you shouldn't do this step too quickly otherwise you'll get running paint drips which look horrible. Put as many coats on as desired. Make sure you get everywhere on the wheel but never ever put the can too close, the reason you have the wheel covered is so you can just spray from a distance and cover the whole thing easily.

Step 6: OK so assuming painting went well its time you'll want to add your clear coat top. The paint should now be dry to a stickiness or dry to the touch. Add the clear just like you sprayed on the paint, put a couple good coats on because you'll want your wheels to shine. Let this dry for 12-24 hours depending on how much you put on

Step 7: Now that they are dry and I mean completly dry its time to wash with a car wash compound something that is clear coat safe. Wash then WAX the wheels, this wax is gonna keep them looking really nice.

Now you can put the wheels back on and roll around and show off to your buddies and tell them what a sweet website we have. I hope everything goes well for you, I know a couple people who have followed my instructions and have had great results, not including myself.

**: If you get paint drips, let the wheel dry and then sand off the paint with a high grit maybe 1000 wet sand and then try it again.

Hope this helps, if you have any questions or whatever just PM or post here I'll be happy to answer. Good luck everyone [thumb]
 
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#6 ·
yea, I don't think it carries enough value to be a sticky...

However, I do feel it is appropriate to add to the list of Exterior Modification's...
There's a Huge ol' List.. Here i'll find it for you...

http://focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35824

PM S2 and ask him if he'll add your thread to the list. That way whenever a new focus owner comes around, just point him to the list then fewer bogus threads will start...
 
#8 ·
wow really nice write up, if I had better stock rims I would paint them but I just have the stupid hubcap type, however I'v been looking for black rims for a while maybe i'll just try to find some cheap ones that look cool and paint them myself, If I do I'll post some pics my fiance' has an awsome digital camera.
 
#10 ·
^^^ It's in S2's mega Complete 'HOW TO' Archive under "Exterior Body Components and Exterior Cosmetic Changes"

I did update the thread title to the more standard "How To" nomenclature so it's easily found in a search.[;)]
 
#14 ·
Unfortunatly I did have pics but that was on a older computer which I have since gotten rid of. Maybe I can mock up a wheel or something, but I don't have the materials right now. I would say if someone has an extra wheel sitting around, try it and I know you'll like the results.
 
#15 ·
Check my gallery and also here for pics of painted rims, I may have a few pics of the process as well but they would be at home and I'm at work now. Let me know if you want to see them[:)]
 
#18 ·
i used DupliColor high performance wheel coating and simply followed the directions on the can (very close to these) and here's how it came out:



the edge isn't perfect because i didn't mask it off well enough (oh well, im gonna have to repaint them anyways, for other reasons)
 
#19 ·
I don't remember the paint brand off top of my head I believe it was duplicolor, I will doublecheck when I get home. And as for the steps I took, I didn't have a lift so I did one wheel at a time jack her up, take off wheel,
Used spray nine to clean off rims nice a good, wet sanded with 400 grit, just enough to scratch the clear no need to go crazy.
Masked off the tire with newspaper (this part was probably the most time consuming)
I actually bought silver rim paint that matched the stock color EXACTLY so I did a base of that (2-3 coats). Let it dry mask off the parts to be done in black, I found if you look at the rims in the light there is a line drawn by the curve of the rim I used that line to lay down the lines.
Lay down 2-3 coats of black, first light then wet coat to top it off. Let her dry take off masking clear the whole thing, dry again and polish. [:)] Took me 2 days to do all four rims, not a bad weekend project, it's time consuming but the end result is a thing of beauty [thumb]

My brother has a SRT-4 and he saw me doing it and I had to do his too, and his were an absolute PAIN. Just like putting the vinyl stripes on, his car has so many curves it's unbelievable. But if you have the time and patience it can be done and a good product will be had in the end [:)]

Edit: BTW, great write up, without this writeup I wouldn't have had the guts to try this [:D]
 
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