?'s about painting rims

[UTWarrenG]

Hey all, one of my rims is starting to bubble, so I'm thinking about putting my factory set back on, and painting the aftermarket set while my car is getting the shop getting the motor swapped....what do I need to know about doing this, and are there any tips any of you would offer? Pics of the rims I will be painting are in my user's rides area, as well as on my own websitehttp://www.geocities.com/fujt/index.html

I wanna stick with the sorta aluminum finish, I hate the look of black rims with a black car, and I don't want to get too nuts on the color. Something simple, but that will still catch your eye. If you're too lazy to get the pics, they're 14 spoke rims just to give you an idea....brand name i can't remember off the top of my head, as they came with the car.thanks in advance,Greg

[Axel Grungy]

not really any tricks to painting them, i just make sure to scuff up the surface pretty well with brillopad/sandpaper, then give it a nice cleaning. paint then clearcoat.

btw, ive never seen your car before around toledo. maybe we should meet up sometime, id like to check it out.

[annunziato39]

i painted my stock 7 spokes last week. I used a paint/rust removing attachment for my drill (looks like a black brillo pad). On the stock wheels there is a clear coat or something on them, you want to take that off completely. When you're done there should be nothing but gleaming metal, no patches of clear coat. Wash the rim and let it dry. I was dumping the tires on the car so i didn't have to tape anything off. If you intend on keeping the tires, tape off to avoid overspay on your tire and looking like a tool. Anyways, the pad leaves tiny scuffs all over so used a sandable filler primer (3 coats). I let them sit over night (i could only do this after work). The next day I wet sanded with 400 grit sand paper. When your done, wash and let dry. Now you're ready for color. I used Duplicolor's Rim formula. Honestly I have no idea if its any different from anything else, I got it because it had a Rim on the can. They Have White, Silver and Bronze. Being that i am oh so JDM tyte Yo sOn, i went with Bronze. Spray a very even light coat all around. TAKE YOUR TIME! You are going to want to hurry, but don't. You'll have drips and dark spots. They won't be very noticable, but to you, they'll stick out. You should only have to put 2-3 coats of color on. After about 10-15 minutes of letting the color dry, apply the clear coat. About 2 coats should have it looking nice and shiny. So hat you'll need is: 1) something to remove the clear coat on the rim to bring it back to bare metal (3M's paint/rust removing disk) 2)To be safe go with 3-4 cans of Sandable Filler Primer (I went with light grey)3)Some 400 grit wet/dry sand paper.4)3 cans of the color you want (I used Duplicolor bronze)5)2-3 cans of Clear coat (again i used duplicolors wheel formula)6)Tape to cover the rims from over spray, and some patience.

Good Luck and i hope i helped.

[UTWarrenG]

Axel, the reason you haven't seen my car around Toledo is because it's never been driven around yet...I bought it about a month ago from a guy in Cincy, and had immediate motor problems...been saving money to get a motor put in, and now i'm dropping it off on Friday to finally get that done....J-Spec KAE, under 30K miles...you can drop by my place with your 240 any time you want and check mine out...it won't be mobile, but you're welcome to check it out

My AIM name is UTWarrenG if you wanna get ahold of me