spray paint aluminum wheels?? (1 Viewer)

[LCconvert]

I know there has been some discussion on powder coating but what about just spray painting them completely black? Has anyone tried this. Pros and cons?

thanks

 

[Tools R Us]

Clean, sand and spray, if you don't like it, strip it off and start over.

 

[ginericLC]

Brake cleaner works pretty well for making sure the surface is clean. I had mine painted with a silver metallic wheel finish. I was a little concerned about it hold it up. It has been several months and they are OK. Cruiser Ken has had his stock 80 wheels painted black for some time. I think he's redone them once after they got into some rocks. He might post up about his experiences.

 

[Tools R Us]

The trick to getting paint to stay on is prep, use sandpaper, scotchbrite, whatever to remove all the shine from all surfaces that will be painted. Use a solvent that doesn't leave a residue, like lacquer thinner, acetone, brake cleaner, not carb cleaner or paint thinner.

 

[SWCruiser]

solvent

Good prep work and try MEK for a solvent. Extremely toxic though..

 

[cruiser ken]

I cleaned mine with soap and water and a nylon scrub brush. Been rattle can painted a couple years now. They need touched up, you can see in the pic where I had one wheel re-balanced and didn't touch up the balancing lead.

 

[LCconvert]

That looks good!! I think that is what I am going to do. It is alot cheaper than buying new rims and when I damage these I will buy new steel wheels.

 

[LCconvert]

cruiser ken,

Did you paint them the wheels with the tires mounted? If yes, were they on or off the truck?

thanks

 

[TX_TLC]

I did this twice to old rigs...prep makes all the difference. I sprayed them with the tires mounted, but I did remove them from the truck so they could lay flat.

I just used some plastic to shield the tires from the paint.

 

[scottm]

I rattlecanned my wheels this summer, stock silver and clear. I sanded the silver down to bare metal, primed and painted it. Just roughed the clearcoat and cleared over the whole wheel. Looks great so far, winter will be the test.