Wheel painting tips

[TINTIN]

As i'm a tight fisted scratchy bastard lmoa i'm going to do my wheels myself. I have no illusions of greatness here and highly antisipate a failure of epic proportions but alas, its the cheaper and only affordable option.

My questions are these. What is needed to get the best possible job from a rattle can?

I'm guessing a good rub down.
Fill any major nicks and crannies with metal filler.
Smooth aweful filling technique.
Some highbuild or etch primer.
Several layers evenly applied of chosen top coat.
Several layers evenly applied of laquer
Slight flat and polish and bingo.

Any thing that i may have missed?

[TINTIN]

Any one?

[GTE 16v]

I remember SimonP doing an indepth thread on wheel painting. a quick search found this....

Well, I finally finished the wheels on the old Cav today.

HTH

Dave

[TINTIN]

Cheers Dave, just the ticket.

[daddy cav]

Not tight doing your wheels yourself it's good fun .

Etching primer - deffo .
Chemical metal for any bad damage .

Every thing else has been covered .

What colour ?

Are you having tyres removed ?
If they have some bad kerbing then remove tyres or tyre depending on condition of wheel / wheels .
Don't get to much paint on the edge of the wheel as it may peel when putting tyres back .

[TINTIN]

Quite fancy Ford Polaris Grey tbh

[daddy cav]

Someone just got an email noticiation lmao ... fast reply .

[TINTIN]

Not at all matey, bored as hell and keep refreshing lmao

[daddy cav]

Beat ya .

[TINTIN]

lmao, browsing other forums due to boredom

[GaryVaux]

Sand back with 320
Etch any bare bits
Fill any imperfections
Apply several coats of high build primer (id recomend a spray gun tbh)
Dust the primer with matt/satin black
Wet sand with 800 grit paper untill all the black has dissappeared. Black left means chips or low spots.
A few coats of colour
Followed by lacquer

A polish and was should be fine now, but if theres any runs/imperfections flat wet with 1500/2000 paper, then G3, G10, polish, wax.

It sounds easy but i spend 4 FULL days on my 19" vxr rims, and tbh i was near £200 in materials, then was my time. (blast and powdercoat with a 3 day turnaround was £350)

BUT 2 weeks later im about 15hours into doing the same on some vectra b gsi rims for my cousin as hes a skint mechanic i never learn

[Kev_G]

Mark - Lazy

best £1 per inch you will ever spend

[daddy cav]

That's why my ex only gave me £2 a week pocket money

[8valve-craig]

Dont spend a fortune, You'l regret it, especially if it goes wrong. Take your time and dont be tempted to spray to much on. Preperation is the most important bit. Oh and try to get someone to break the beads so you can get right behind the rim.

People laugh, but i swear by plastikote gloss. Its ard as nails and no need for any laquer. (which is the hardest bit to get right)

Ive done loads of wheels and never had a problem or a complaint. Ive also bought loads which have been done badly and it shows. Got a set of BBS rs771's and a set of corsa exclusiv 16's to do this week so will post up pics if you want... heres the speedlines i did last week with rattle cans





And some banded G60's which i found hard to let go....



Make sure you post up your pics mark

[TINTIN]

To be fair i'm still at a border as to what to do. Powder coat seems the most logical option but not realistic in price. Rattle painting is more economical but its ensuring a good finish.

Oh what to do lol

[8valve-craig]

What wheels are they?

[TINTIN]

Standard mk3 Astra sport wheels dude.

[8valve-craig]

How did you get on mark?

[TINTIN]

Really well actually dude. I drove to a place down the road, spoke to them about powder coating and will hopefully be getting it done in a couple of weeks lmao

[ripandy8]

if you do it youre self do it somewere warm paint likes to stick to warm things and you get alot less runs

[envoy cdx]

People laugh, but i swear by plastikote gloss. Its ard as nails and no need for any laquer. (which is the hardest bit to get right)

The stuff sold in rattle can's @ BnQ per chance?

[daddy cav]

[8valve-craig]

The stuff sold in rattle can's @ BnQ per chance?

Yeah thats it. Its about £7 a tin, goes on really thick with no runs and flats back ok. Holds up well against the heat from the front brakes too.

I painted a fibreglass bootlid with it yesterday and it looks like its come out pretty well......

[woody324]

Some of this sounds like a lot of work and material cost when companies like Flowplant Group in Salisbury will blast, coat and laquer them for £30-£35 per wheel.
shotblastingpowdercoating.co.uk

[8valve-craig]

Some of this sounds like a lot of work and material cost when companies like Flowplant Group in Salisbury will blast, coat and laquer them for £30-£35 per wheel.
shotblastingpowdercoating.co.uk

Which is more for one wheel than you can DIY a whole set for....... Hence the reason for his thread