Hey Guys, I kinda feel like this might belong in a generic 'How To' forum but here we go anyway.
Lets start with the purpose for this guide. Times are tough and not everyone has money for brand new wheels, but hey?!? I have a set here that aren't too bad to look at with the exception of their haggard condition. So lets go over a few inexpensive ways to bring these puppies back to life.
First off let's go over products and budget. All together I've spent 15 dollars on prep supply, and another 20 per wheel in paint. A couple of 5 gallon buckets make good wheel stands. For prep, pick up a Job Pack of sandpaper 400 grit and 80-100 grit (the pack to the left) You can also buy spools of either if you have more projects in mind for 30 (the box on the right) Some grey Scotch Brite pads are nice to have as well. All can be purchased at an auto paint supply store locally or online.
For Paint I highly recommend Rustoleum's High Performance Wheel Coating. Clear is nice because you can basically do whatever color you like and blast it with this VERY durable poly top coat. Filler Primer is your best bet if your wheels have curb rash or imperfections, but not required. The same goes towards adhesion promoters. No matter what you do, try and keep the same brand in your product line. I've had some experiences where two different types of primers having a bad chemical reaction. If you must, the paint color could be off brand. Being that Rustoleum, in this case, might not have the color you want.
last bit of prep is focused on time frame and facilities. The clear dry time is 24 hours to handle and I would give it another 24 to mount them. Which makes this the Anti-Plasti-Dip option, and will last a whole lot longer as well. I highly recommend that if you are doing this to your stock wheels, either have back up wheels to roll on, or take your wife's car. In any event, taking the tires off can ensure a higher quality product, but unnecessary. A garage is nice to control the air flow/dust, and by no means do you need to create a clean room, but this will help you keep your mess to a minimum if you take the time to make a little paint booth. Pick up a filtered mask for the painting process, *VOC=Premature Snow Blindness!!! *not actually true but please do your lungs and brain-cells a favor. Here is an example of a suitable work space.
The wheel prep
Ohh some curbage
Flakey chrome is never in style, so clean the up as if your taking them to a hard parking event. Get every bit of brake dust and flakes off with a something pointy, but the general idea is clean the crap out of them. This part of the process takes the most work which is why all good finishes are gauged on how much effort you put into the prep. Items you could use are a crimped wire wheel cup brush attached to a drill gun, steel wool, other pointy things harder than sticks. Being on a budget can go bothways here, for a 100 bucks I could take them to a sandblaster and have all this done in an evening, but hey, I've got two kids and a job, so I have nothing better to do. In the end, before you prime them, scuff up the surface with the Scotch Brite pad to a dull hue. In Chromes case, use the 80-100 grit sandpaper and take your reflection out of it. 2 year olds can be consumed by this task, which is helpful.
The wheel mounting surface in my case was chrome and in good shape, use your judgement here, but good chrome is > paint as far a durability. I masked off the mounting surface
Let's prime! Here is the steps to coating a wheel completely in one shot. Place it upside down on the bucket, lay something like wood over the hard bucket edge, and spray the inside surfaces only.
Then flip it over and coat the rest of the wheel. This will cut your painting time down drastically if for some reason you don't enjoy doing things fast.
For the Curbage or imperfections, lay a thick coat of primer, let it dry for 1 hour or whatever the can recommends, then wet sand the offending areas down to base surface as seen here
Repeat the areas again with Primer, cleaning debris after each sand/coat, until you reach your desired level or smoothness, but be warned, this is just filler primer, not replacement parent material. If something is just a gaping gash you might look towards some metal putty to solve this. Once you have your base coat looking smooth, give it a good hour or two before you flip it back over to paint the inner wheel your desired color, then the top side/ outside rolling circumference. That is, if your shucked the tire off. A helpful tip for this part is try and get a good coat on the hard to reach awkward spots before you blast the face of the wheel. In between spokes, down lug holes ect. This also goes for your top coat. This is where a bit of skill and trial and error come into play. If you have ever painted with a good urethane clear coat, this stuff is very similar in consistency. It's thick and builds up well, which means you could find yourself with a few runs. Especially since you want to spray it until it looks wet. don't get overzealous, just take your time and remember your going to have more than one coat. 2 is sufficient, but not to exceed 4 for the high build quality. I shot a bit heavy on all the inner and outer rims for good measure. These areas see the most abuse from the elements.
I apologize for the wordy-ness (actually a word?) but I hope this helps you in your quest for ultimate lvl 60 street cred.
Lets start with the purpose for this guide. Times are tough and not everyone has money for brand new wheels, but hey?!? I have a set here that aren't too bad to look at with the exception of their haggard condition. So lets go over a few inexpensive ways to bring these puppies back to life.
First off let's go over products and budget. All together I've spent 15 dollars on prep supply, and another 20 per wheel in paint. A couple of 5 gallon buckets make good wheel stands. For prep, pick up a Job Pack of sandpaper 400 grit and 80-100 grit (the pack to the left) You can also buy spools of either if you have more projects in mind for 30 (the box on the right) Some grey Scotch Brite pads are nice to have as well. All can be purchased at an auto paint supply store locally or online.
For Paint I highly recommend Rustoleum's High Performance Wheel Coating. Clear is nice because you can basically do whatever color you like and blast it with this VERY durable poly top coat. Filler Primer is your best bet if your wheels have curb rash or imperfections, but not required. The same goes towards adhesion promoters. No matter what you do, try and keep the same brand in your product line. I've had some experiences where two different types of primers having a bad chemical reaction. If you must, the paint color could be off brand. Being that Rustoleum, in this case, might not have the color you want.
last bit of prep is focused on time frame and facilities. The clear dry time is 24 hours to handle and I would give it another 24 to mount them. Which makes this the Anti-Plasti-Dip option, and will last a whole lot longer as well. I highly recommend that if you are doing this to your stock wheels, either have back up wheels to roll on, or take your wife's car. In any event, taking the tires off can ensure a higher quality product, but unnecessary. A garage is nice to control the air flow/dust, and by no means do you need to create a clean room, but this will help you keep your mess to a minimum if you take the time to make a little paint booth. Pick up a filtered mask for the painting process, *VOC=Premature Snow Blindness!!! *not actually true but please do your lungs and brain-cells a favor. Here is an example of a suitable work space.
The wheel prep
Ohh some curbage
Flakey chrome is never in style, so clean the up as if your taking them to a hard parking event. Get every bit of brake dust and flakes off with a something pointy, but the general idea is clean the crap out of them. This part of the process takes the most work which is why all good finishes are gauged on how much effort you put into the prep. Items you could use are a crimped wire wheel cup brush attached to a drill gun, steel wool, other pointy things harder than sticks. Being on a budget can go bothways here, for a 100 bucks I could take them to a sandblaster and have all this done in an evening, but hey, I've got two kids and a job, so I have nothing better to do. In the end, before you prime them, scuff up the surface with the Scotch Brite pad to a dull hue. In Chromes case, use the 80-100 grit sandpaper and take your reflection out of it. 2 year olds can be consumed by this task, which is helpful.
The wheel mounting surface in my case was chrome and in good shape, use your judgement here, but good chrome is > paint as far a durability. I masked off the mounting surface
Let's prime! Here is the steps to coating a wheel completely in one shot. Place it upside down on the bucket, lay something like wood over the hard bucket edge, and spray the inside surfaces only.
Then flip it over and coat the rest of the wheel. This will cut your painting time down drastically if for some reason you don't enjoy doing things fast.
For the Curbage or imperfections, lay a thick coat of primer, let it dry for 1 hour or whatever the can recommends, then wet sand the offending areas down to base surface as seen here
Repeat the areas again with Primer, cleaning debris after each sand/coat, until you reach your desired level or smoothness, but be warned, this is just filler primer, not replacement parent material. If something is just a gaping gash you might look towards some metal putty to solve this. Once you have your base coat looking smooth, give it a good hour or two before you flip it back over to paint the inner wheel your desired color, then the top side/ outside rolling circumference. That is, if your shucked the tire off. A helpful tip for this part is try and get a good coat on the hard to reach awkward spots before you blast the face of the wheel. In between spokes, down lug holes ect. This also goes for your top coat. This is where a bit of skill and trial and error come into play. If you have ever painted with a good urethane clear coat, this stuff is very similar in consistency. It's thick and builds up well, which means you could find yourself with a few runs. Especially since you want to spray it until it looks wet. don't get overzealous, just take your time and remember your going to have more than one coat. 2 is sufficient, but not to exceed 4 for the high build quality. I shot a bit heavy on all the inner and outer rims for good measure. These areas see the most abuse from the elements.
I apologize for the wordy-ness (actually a word?) but I hope this helps you in your quest for ultimate lvl 60 street cred.
