hey guys im wanting to paint my wheels and was wondering what everyone was useing. i was lookin to use the duplicolor wheel paint. can you guys do a "how to" on how to do it so i dont mess it up too bad because everyone that has done it looks great. does anyone have the stock 09 lancer ES wheels painted black????
i've never spray-canned any wheels, but i'm pretty its the same routine as painting anything else...scuff, prime, and paint. hopefully someone on here will give you more insight...
$50 isnt bad and you would have to worry about messing them up. ektor you out there what did you use?????
20 bux in materials, about 5-7 hours if you wanna do it right... I used general purpose rattle can primer sold at advanced auto parts, Satin black engine enamel and 1000grit sand paper.. basically i sanded them very lightly, not more than 5 mins per wheel... its basically gonna look all scratched up.. the reason for this is to creat lil pores on the stock clear coat so that the other paint sticks. then i lightly primed them... VERY light coat of primer.. it looked like a lil tint on the wheel, you could still see the grey on the wheel after i was done priming... now for the actual paint, you have to have a lot of patience... i did 3 coats on my wheels, and theyre are some spots where it needs some sanding and re-spraying, no big deal.. maybe 2 more hour of work...
Duplicolor is nice. Heres a how to: (Credit to stefan.bounket on 9GL) [size=11pt]Introduction[/size] This is a great way to easily make your car a bit more visually pleasing without spending hundreds, even thousands of dollars on new rims and wheels. This cheap modification to your stock wheels is fairly easy, however like any other job, the more time you spend on it; the better it will turn out. I personally chose to do this because I’m a university student and don’t exactly have money to throw around and buy new rims. Now onto what you’re really here for... [size=11pt]What you’ll need:[/size] - Masking tape - Newspaper/flash cards (optional) - Scuff pad - Sand paper (320 grit) - Clear Lacquer Thinner - Gloves (latex or rubber or something, even the dish washing gloves are good) - Paint (Dupli-Colour High Performance Wheel Coating; I used 3 cans of white paint. However I also painted the inside of the rim which is not necessary. I just wanted to do a more thorough job) - Clear Coat (Dupli-Colour High Performance Wheel Coating; 1-2 cans of clear. Depends how many coats you plan to do) [size=11pt]Process:[/size] 1. Clean your rims! - First I washed off the majority of the dirt with soapy water and paper towels followed by spraying them down with the hose. - I found that there was black paint or brake dust or something leftover... not sure what this was but it was ugly... This is where the clear lacquer thinner comes in. Dip a cloth or paper towel in the thinner; just so it’s a bit moist/damp, not dripping. Now wipe away that black mess caked on your rims! Does the job with ease. (Sorry, no picture for this) If it doesn’t come off that easily... well scrub a bit harder and it will eventually come off. I used a butter knife so I had something a bit harder to get the black stuff off with. - WARNING: Make sure you wear gloves for this. Lacquer thinner on your skin is not good for you. Safety first. - After you’ve cleaned the rims, dry them off with a cloth or paper towel. To make sure all the grease and such is off as well, I used the lacquer thinner and wiped all surfaces of it. Using the same procedure as you would clean your dishes. Don’t worry about drying the rims this time. The thinner will evaporate rather quickly. But to make sure, I left my wheels outside in the sun for the day. - Don’t have a picture of clean rims... sorry... you should know what they look like though. 2. Masking time! - This part is crucial to keep your tires black! The more time you spend here, the safer you’ll be. - NOTE: At this point you can take your center caps off if you’d like. I chose to do so to ensure I got in all the cracks and edges of the wheel. To take these off, simply take a flathead screwdriver, or something of similar shape, and pop them out from the back. - Depending on what kind of tape you have, you can use newspaper for cover or just tape. The masking tape I used was rather thick so for one of the tires I didn’t even use newspaper. - After you go around the edges of the rim with tape, you can do the rest however you want. If you plan to paint the inside too, I recommend masking them like I did. If not, you can just do the simple newspaper taped around. I’ve also seen people use flash cards and slipped them into the crack between the tire and the rim. - Another tip to get the tape around the rim is to tape over the edge of the rim a bit and then use a butter knife or something to push the overhanging tape into the crack between the tire and the rim. - This is how I masked my rims. - WARNING: If you do this method, taking the tape off afterwards is a pain in the a*!! - And here is the flash card method I’ve seen (picture taken from the internet) 3. Roughin’ it up! - To ensure that your paint adheres to the rim, you have to give it a rough surface to stick to. This is where your scuff pad and sand paper come in. - I used 320-grit sand paper and went around the entire rim until there was no shine left on it. Following this, I repeated with the scuff pad. - Some people use a “wet-sand†for this to make sure the dust is washed off. I just blew off the majority and then used the thinner to clean the rest. - When you sand it, if you shine a light on it, it will still have a reflection, however you should be able to tell that it’s been roughed up or not when you look at it. You’re essentially sanding off the top clear coat of the original paint. - Here this picture shows (or at least tries to show) the difference between a sanded wheel and not. The original one obviously has a lot more glare on it. 4. It’s time to paint! - Make sure you do this in a WELL VENTILATED AREA. I set the rims on a stool outside in my backyard. (covered the stool with a plastic bag to keep my nice green stool from ending up white ) - You can also paint in your garage... but make sure the door is open to allow ventilation! (The garage will provide protection from the wind) - The best time to paint is on a nice sunny day with little to no wind and low humidity in the air. The sun will help dry the paint quicker and the absence of wind will allow an even coat of paint. - An ideal temperature to paint at would be between 20-30 degrees Celsius(68-86 degrees Fahrenheit) - When painting, the can should be held 8-12 inches away from the rim and parallel to the painting surface. - If you’re uncomfortable, practise on something else first. This way you get a feel for how hard you have to press the nozzle etc. - You should use short, small strokes opposed to long and continuous ones. The action here is simply a quick spray of the surface once. (This is a great video to see the painting technique. It also briefly explains the other steps as well. http://www.duplicolor.com/training/wheelcoating_training.html) - Here is another video of good spraying technique. My dad has years of experience =) http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll205/stefanbounket/White%20rims%2005312008/Painting%20Rims%20DIY/12.wmv - Many thin coats will result in a better product than one thick coat. - If you paint too thick of a coat, spray too close to the rim, or spray one continuous burst for too long, you risk the paint building up and dripping/running on the wheel. We don’t want this... - When you’re ready for another coat, the paint should be slightly tacky, but for the most part it should be dry. 2-3 thin coats should be good. 5. Add that shine! - After you’re satisfied with the colour of your paint job (too thin and you’ll slightly see through the paint to the original silver colour), you’re ready to add some clear coat. This will not only add shine to your wheel, but increases durability of the paint. - This should be done within 1-2 hours of painting the wheels. If not, you run the risk of having the clear coat wrinkle on you. - This was done about a week later... We believe the paint/clear was too thick. (We had to re-spray because it was rough and turned out funny. It’s actually pretty hard to notice though. It blends in pretty good) - This should be done the same as you did your paint. You should be comfortable with it since you’ve already done few coats on each wheel . Note: you can do your caps the same way. But they may need an extra coat of paint since they are plastic and not metal. [size=11pt]Finishing up[/size] • I guess all that’s left now is to let the paint dry... take of the masking tape and newspaper... and then put it back on your car • If you want to do a stripe or something around the rim, tape off the rest of the rim and paint just like you did for the rest of the wheel. • Here are some pictures when it was partially finished… weather postponed the completion of this project. Here’s a little cool thing I found... check out the tape afterwards... Cleans your tire really good =D [size=11pt]Finished Product!!![/size]
i just went to go buy all the stuff i need to paint my wheels. i'm going to paint them graphite grey/ gunmetal the colors are almost the some. i just don't know it i want the chrome lugs or black lugs, i have both so i will try both when i paint it this weekend. will post pick of the finished product.
i dont think its a bad idea to do an all white..havent seen on yet but i can imagine it would look good.. i wanna do the white on my aqua metallic (the light blue) any opinions??
dude, it would look good white or black, and I think it would help if u paint the nuts the same color as the car, thats my opinion. Like I'm thinkin about goin white on mine and paint the nuts black so I can have that same contrast with the tires. I think I'm gonna make up a "whiteout" theme; everything white, grills, side mirrors, vent visors, rims. my little project in new mexico.
hey bro its better to have it painted with powder coating paint. Or you can go to wheel plus it will cost you $85 each but at least it will be for a longer life.
