Painting Stock Rims!?!

[Arsonalero]

hey everyone, i was just thinking would i be able to paint my stock rims with spray paint and few coats of clear coat??

[bdyman]

it depends on if you have the aluminum or the poilshed aluminum rims
if it`s just the plain ole` aluminum yes you can sand it with some 400 then 600 but first clean the rim off with thinner then sand it down
polished aliminum is a bit tricky you can do the same with 400 then 600 ppg makes a aluminum adheshion promoter that works on aluminum
in some caese you can get away with dp 401 or 402lf
and no i would do "rattle can" paint on rims

[Arsonalero]

thnx bdy, but where could i get the 400 or 600 paint??

[smokinAMD]

Originally posted by Arsonalero@Sep 9 2004, 09:14 AM
thnx bdy, but where could i get the 400 or 600 paint??
He was talking about sanding it with 400 or 600 grit sand paper

[ShortysTRM]

I believe he is referring to different grit sand paper for prepping the surface. I recently painted my American Racing Estrella's with Dupli-Color High Performance Wheels Coating and they still look fine after a few months. My wheels had a machined face, which looks like polished with parallel lines in it. There is a before and after video HERE (http://atabo.com/grandamwheels.wmv) and I have some pictures, but I can't figure out how to resize them to fit in a post lol. I used Graphite, but they make, white, silver, bronze, satin black, and clear. I paid $4.50 a can at Autozone I believe. You should definitely sand them or prep them with a scuff pad and then use alcohol or something to wipe them thoroughly to remove all waxes and oils.

[Arsonalero]

Duh i feel retarded lol, should i take the tires off or just cover them up?

[BigJon34]

Take them off unless you want it to look like a 5 year old did it.

[ShortysTRM]

And if you're not a 5 year old, you can probably figure out how masking tape works. I maksed off my tires and lip on the front and then just the tire on the back. Paint the back first...at least I did. You should be able to do just fine with masking tape. 3M just came out with their new blue masking tape that claims to be the most flexible ever, so that may simplify things a little.

[bdyman]

here is a idea
buy new rims then ya don`t have to paint the ones ya got now

don`t use "rattle can" paint on your rims it will chip off and not last long i don`t care what any one else says don`t do it
take em to a shop if you don`t know how to paint
trust me

[FormulaNERD]

get them powdercoated if you really want it to last.

[ShortysTRM]

It cost me ~$13.50 for two cans of graphite and one of clear. As long as you follow the directions, you should be good. I read a lot of reviews of this paint before I bought it, and they were all good. So far, no scratches or anything, but I'd say that the stock clear coat that came on my wheels was probably damaged by 3 months into ownership, so I'd say that qualifies this stuff as "good enough." Powdercoating is good, but it costs quite a bit to have done, is hard to remove if you would like a different color, and requires removing your tires, replacing them, and having them rebalanced. Apparently, new wheels are out of the question, otherwise he never would have started this thread. Also, make sure you trust the powdercoater.

[SilverBullet256]

hmmmm.......... i just have regular aluminum rims and i might paint them silver and then add the clear coat, i dont exactkly have alot of money to spend on appearance because i just blew my racing quad's engine and i need a new one to keep racing and thats gonna cost alot of pocket change so i gotta go cheap here :thumbsup: