Painting the SE rims

[Crunkrich]

I just about have finished sanding down my SE rims to clear off all the brake dust and other junk on them and am ready to begin painting. I'm looking for some opinions on what color to go with, I was thinking gun metal color or black, and the small lip chrome/silver. Any voters? lol or any other opinions, thanks

[chrislis]

color of car?

[dickie]

se rims have no lip. one color ftw, and i would suggest just using clearcoat unless you scratched them up too bad.

[Cholos_D]

I just finished my R32 skyline GT-R(16x8) rims. I used the Duplicolor Graphite on them with alot of clearcoat. I put 3 coats of each, but the tire place still scratched the lip after I told them to be careful, but I didn't pay them full price because of the damage. Anyway it looks really good, the paint is metallic, so it's semi-shiny and looks factory. The GT-R rims are bad@ss, nothing like factory Nissan parts!

[Cholos_D]

This is how I got them.......

[chmercer]

if you polish the wheel bead (not lip) i will burn down your house. that is such a lame thing to do. it screams "man i wish i had some wheels that werent so ****ty, but im poor, so i did this". paint them all one color. or better yet. dont bother, because theyre SEs, and noone cares.

[lrb_2000]

flat black..

[One_Love]

haah your sig trips me out

[~4N~]

I used to have mine painted black, then bronze, and then I realized it was dumb, so I sprayed them with graffitti remover, and now they're stock.

[Radioaktiv]

if you polish the wheel bead (not lip) i will burn down your house. that is such a lame thing to do. it screams "man i wish i had some wheels that werent so ****ty, but im poor, so i did this". paint them all one color. or better yet. dont bother, because theyre SEs, and noone cares.

yep, please just leave them stock

[Rusted_PS13]

Lets see some side shots of the R33 wheels on your S14!

[Black on Gold]

i say leave the SE's the way they are

[sensibleS13driver]

yep, please just leave them stock

stock

[soldiaboy]

cant go wrong with gunmetal on black

[skydragoness]

Do what you want, just make sure you do a good job and take your time with the wheels. Leaving the outer edge silver or unpainted would look super dorky.Oh yeah, if they are already mounted to the tires, index cards do a good job of keeping the paint off of them. Have fun!

[Crunkrich]

I forgot to mention that, my car is black.

And yeah thats what I meant by not painting the edge, but definitely not doing that now lol. Soldiaboy those wheels look badass, do you by chance remember exactly what paint it was you used?

And these wheels were pretty scratched up when I got them so in places I had to use a wire wheel to clear them up to presentable-level, so clear coat isn't really an option for me :/ thats what I would have done if I could have.

[Crunkrich]

if you polish the wheel bead (not lip) i will burn down your house. that is such a lame thing to do. it screams "man i wish i had some wheels that werent so ****ty, but im poor, so i did this". paint them all one color. or better yet. dont bother, because theyre SEs, and noone cares.

Dude I wasn't asking for a lecture so chill out, I was just throwing out an idea. All you had to say was "no that would look kind of cheap". I got the SE wheels because I wanted to stick with what belongs on the car, not because I'm a broke ***.

[skydragoness]

Dude I wasn't asking for a lecture so chill out, I was just throwing out an idea. All you had to say was "no that would look kind of cheap". I got the SE wheels because I wanted to stick with what belongs on the car, not because I'm a broke ***.

Don't pay any mind to Chmercer's elitist comments. He pretty much says the same stuff to everyone else on the forum. Don't worry about it.

[574-240sx]

Painting wheels are lame, they end up looking like crap a few months later. Step up and get them powder coated or leave them alone and buy a set of rims the color you want.

[Cholos_D]

These are R32s painted graphite. GTS-t in front(16x6.5) until I find another pair of GT-Rs.... and GT-Rs in the rear(16x8). I love the factory Nissan look, and the GT-Rs are also forged(light). I just got the tires put on the rear today and the tire place scratched the lip, so next time I'm going to just get them powdercoated. But for 50$, it's hard to beat paint. And I know it needs lowered, that's next on the list.

[komprecce]

The pics soldiaboy posted are of Keiras ride, he doesnt come around here much but he has probably one of the badest zenki out there. Go to cardomain.com, search 95-96 240sx and he sould be one of the first listed look for "project keira"

[mattscar]

make it white

[BuLLeTdrift]

i painted my old SEs black with a lot of clear coat. I was going to do the same with my new set, but i changed my mind.

And now after seeing the painted rims Cholos_D posted, i'm tempet to mess around with them.

since the rims are messed up, might as well paint them to look a lil better. If you can get a good lookin bronze color, i think that would look good with ur black car.

[Cholos_D]

No matter what you decide, consider spacers to move your rims out a little bit. The front are the GTS-ts(16x6.5) which are the same as stock and are way too raf into the fender. The rears, GT-Rs, have a 30 offset and are 8inches, which puts them flush with the fender. It's a night and day difference............

[amolao]

Stock color or bronze....

[JSvert240sx]

What would you guys use to clean up a set of SE's that have some seriously caked on brake dust and some other stuff that the dremel tool wouldnt take off?

[BIGT94z]

elbow grease...alot of it

[sxcoupe]

gtx super clean works good along with some elbow grease.

[glitched]

if you paint them right they will look as good and last as long as powder coating.

also don JUST leave the "lip" unpainted if u want this look...





1. clean the wheels and dismount the tires and valves. you need to have the paint stick to something. personally i like wheel acid or for extreme measures i use Aircraft Stripper. Aircraft Stripper is basically paint stripper and highly caustic (use gloves and ventilation).2. once the wheels are clean, clean them again. Ivory soap or a degreaser works well. knock off the loose paint or chemicals. don't forget the back side of the wheels either. paint won't stick to brake dust.3. prep. i use a drill-mounted sanding pad. i'll use 80 grit pads for stubborn surfaces but if the stripper did it's job i'll only need to use 120 grit pads. i'll follow up with scotchbright pads.4. clean up the lips of the rims. this is easier than you think. mount the wheel onto the hub of your car. the car is now on jack stands and SECURE. turn the car on, and put it in gear. let out on the clutch or off of the brake and the wheel will start to spin (it doesn't need to be going 60mph). now take your sanding disc to the rim and you are doing the equivalent of machining the surface. just as long as you hardly move the sanding disc, the spinning wheel is moving for you. after a few minutes of this you will now have a true and even surface.5. paint them up. several light coats is much better than a few heavy coats. i use Duplicolor Wheel Paint, but most any high-quality spray paint will work. i usually put about 20 coats of paint on with at least 15-20min of drying time between coats. i also do this outside and in the sun. the sun will help "bake" the surface.6. clear them up. WHATEVER BRAND OF PAINT YOU USED, USE THAT BRAND FOR CLEAR. or else you'll get a chemical rejection and the paint under the clear will look like snake skin. i ususally do about 10 coats with 15-20min of drying time between coats.7. before you mount your tires, let the paint cure. i have never mounted tires with less than 2 weeks of curing time for the paint. tell the tire monkey to be careful and NOT TO USE RIM WEIGHTS when balancing. they can use the tape weights on the inside of the rim.8. once they are mounted look over the rim for chips and just touch them up.

These pics were taken of a '68 Camaro that painted their wheels with a similar process but used Rust Oleum Hammered paint



[IMG][/IMG]

[BIGT94z]

good instructions by the way, thoses wheels on the camaro look sexy