So I decided to finally refinish my wheels and it took 5 days! It was well worth the effort and glad i did it myself. I'm just posting this in case someone out there needs ideas on how to do this. I know everyone has their own way but this is how I did it.
1. I used Aircraft stripper to remove the old paint. There must of been 4-5 coats on there because i had to use it 2 times on a few wheels.
2. After the wheel was chemical striped I used a 3M Coarse paint stripper. I am not keeping the original wheel color so I nee to use this drastic measure to remove the clear coat down to the bare aluminum. This is aggressive but removes the clear coat and any paint that the striper couldn't remove. Be aware that this stripper wheel works fast BUT will leave grind marks in the aluminum.. I didn't mind about the marks as I will use sandable filler primer.
3. After I stripped the paint and clear i used Xylo (Xylene) to wipe the surface clean to degrease it. Clean the corners that the stripping wheel could not reach. Leaving old paint chips will cause issues later on. Tape or use index card around the wheel edge.
4. Prine, I used 2 coats of sandable filler primer. It's by Rustoleum. Don't use heavy coats. Use light firs coat and medium light 2nd coat. It is very important that you let the primer dry at least 2 hours. This hardens the filler/primer to a nice sandable surface. After sanding with 3M red or grey pads you can use a tack cloth to remove the dust. Don't hose off.
5. Topcoat - I used Dupli-Color High Performance Wheel Paint in Graphite. This stuff is amazing. apply a light coat wait ten minutes and a second coat wait 10 minutes then a final medium coat of paint. Then Clear coat if desired.
6. Clear Coat - I decided to clear coat the wheels as the top coat and clear didn't have too much of a difference in glossiness but it was noticeable and i think will help cleaning the wheels. Use the same wait time as above for the clear coat.
I purchased the wheel paint at Advanced Auto Parts and PepBoys Part# HW102 Graphite. The primer, 3M grey and red pads and Xylo at Home Dpeot and Lowes.
I used 3 cans of paint and 2 cans of clear. 5 3M striping wheels, 1 for each wheel. Lots of gloves needed.
Here are the pics of the process and the final result which are awesome and the hard work paid off.
Pic 1 - Aircraft stripper
Pic 2 - 3M stripping wheel
Pic 3 - prepping for primer
1. I used Aircraft stripper to remove the old paint. There must of been 4-5 coats on there because i had to use it 2 times on a few wheels.
2. After the wheel was chemical striped I used a 3M Coarse paint stripper. I am not keeping the original wheel color so I nee to use this drastic measure to remove the clear coat down to the bare aluminum. This is aggressive but removes the clear coat and any paint that the striper couldn't remove. Be aware that this stripper wheel works fast BUT will leave grind marks in the aluminum.. I didn't mind about the marks as I will use sandable filler primer.
3. After I stripped the paint and clear i used Xylo (Xylene) to wipe the surface clean to degrease it. Clean the corners that the stripping wheel could not reach. Leaving old paint chips will cause issues later on. Tape or use index card around the wheel edge.
4. Prine, I used 2 coats of sandable filler primer. It's by Rustoleum. Don't use heavy coats. Use light firs coat and medium light 2nd coat. It is very important that you let the primer dry at least 2 hours. This hardens the filler/primer to a nice sandable surface. After sanding with 3M red or grey pads you can use a tack cloth to remove the dust. Don't hose off.
5. Topcoat - I used Dupli-Color High Performance Wheel Paint in Graphite. This stuff is amazing. apply a light coat wait ten minutes and a second coat wait 10 minutes then a final medium coat of paint. Then Clear coat if desired.
6. Clear Coat - I decided to clear coat the wheels as the top coat and clear didn't have too much of a difference in glossiness but it was noticeable and i think will help cleaning the wheels. Use the same wait time as above for the clear coat.
I purchased the wheel paint at Advanced Auto Parts and PepBoys Part# HW102 Graphite. The primer, 3M grey and red pads and Xylo at Home Dpeot and Lowes.
I used 3 cans of paint and 2 cans of clear. 5 3M striping wheels, 1 for each wheel. Lots of gloves needed.
Here are the pics of the process and the final result which are awesome and the hard work paid off.
Pic 1 - Aircraft stripper
Pic 2 - 3M stripping wheel
Pic 3 - prepping for primer
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Been wanting to do this as well as paint the grill, etc. Graphite looks nice, how close is that to gunmetal grey?
