hey guys, i got motivated for some reason to paint my wifes wheels..
before i get any off topic questions.. I am a Automotive collission repair paint technician with a gold i car certified standard. i work in a shop that brings in around 20,000 cars a year. not to big of a shop.
I had contemplated having my wheels powder coated as it gives a extra benifit being on wheels but, the colors we wanted would not have been available, so this was my only option,
after painting 6 sets of rims in the past, i knew what liad of ahead of me and the task is overwheling on your lower back.
My original plan was to paint the center flat balck with color matched lip.
unfortunately i got to looking on the site and found others who have already done this, so i left it up to my wife. so she decided a three stage white with blue diamond pearl, and then a color matched lip.
I figured it would give it more of a pow, (look at me) rally car type appeal, so i liked it and so thats what i did.
As many of you know the prep work was intense.
I started by cleaning the wheels with water and comet with a 3M red scuff pad.
I then proceeded to wetsand the wheels with 320 grit sand paper as i prepared them to be sealed.
Most sealers cover 320 grit sand scratches without a problem, and since wheels take tons of abuse, i wanted the extra strength of deeper scratches and the durability of a sealed surface, as it's less prone to any sort of rock chips.
my fingers were litterly raw and litterly sanded though , 4 hrs after i started wet sanding, i then took comet and a 3m red scuff pad once again to go over all my work scuffing everywhere to make sure i didn't miss a nook and cranny.
2 more hrs later. i was ready to dry the wheels off with an air blower, and decided that baking them at 170 degrees for 25 min would be a good idea.
once dry i taped around the edges of the tires and then placed paper to keep any over spray off the tires.
sprayed my sealer and then 3 coats of white then 3 more coats of blue diamond pearl,, waiting 10 min between every coat.
then i had to wait 20 min for the paint to dry before i could tape the white off on every spoke. their was no good way to paper off the spokes, so i had to tape every one off so no blue overspray would get on the whit, 2 more hrs later they were taped up.
i then took my blue paint that matches my oem car finish and sprayed 3 coats untill covered, waited in between the coats, then wated 20 min to untape the wheels and get ready for clear.
I decided to use nexa autocolor 643 high solid clear coat. sincce wheels are abused.
sprayed 2 coats of this waiting 15 min in between coats.
once they were pretty and shinny, i baked them for 25 min at 170 degrees.
left them in the shop over nite went and got them this morning, and will be putting them on tonight when the rain is suppose to pass.
wished i had the camera to take the proccess photos... sorry.
special thanks to taylor for staying late helping me with these suckers.
before i get any off topic questions.. I am a Automotive collission repair paint technician with a gold i car certified standard. i work in a shop that brings in around 20,000 cars a year. not to big of a shop.
I had contemplated having my wheels powder coated as it gives a extra benifit being on wheels but, the colors we wanted would not have been available, so this was my only option,
after painting 6 sets of rims in the past, i knew what liad of ahead of me and the task is overwheling on your lower back.
My original plan was to paint the center flat balck with color matched lip.
unfortunately i got to looking on the site and found others who have already done this, so i left it up to my wife. so she decided a three stage white with blue diamond pearl, and then a color matched lip.
I figured it would give it more of a pow, (look at me) rally car type appeal, so i liked it and so thats what i did.
As many of you know the prep work was intense.
I started by cleaning the wheels with water and comet with a 3M red scuff pad.
I then proceeded to wetsand the wheels with 320 grit sand paper as i prepared them to be sealed.
Most sealers cover 320 grit sand scratches without a problem, and since wheels take tons of abuse, i wanted the extra strength of deeper scratches and the durability of a sealed surface, as it's less prone to any sort of rock chips.
my fingers were litterly raw and litterly sanded though , 4 hrs after i started wet sanding, i then took comet and a 3m red scuff pad once again to go over all my work scuffing everywhere to make sure i didn't miss a nook and cranny.
2 more hrs later. i was ready to dry the wheels off with an air blower, and decided that baking them at 170 degrees for 25 min would be a good idea.
once dry i taped around the edges of the tires and then placed paper to keep any over spray off the tires.
sprayed my sealer and then 3 coats of white then 3 more coats of blue diamond pearl,, waiting 10 min between every coat.
then i had to wait 20 min for the paint to dry before i could tape the white off on every spoke. their was no good way to paper off the spokes, so i had to tape every one off so no blue overspray would get on the whit, 2 more hrs later they were taped up.
i then took my blue paint that matches my oem car finish and sprayed 3 coats untill covered, waited in between the coats, then wated 20 min to untape the wheels and get ready for clear.
I decided to use nexa autocolor 643 high solid clear coat. sincce wheels are abused.
sprayed 2 coats of this waiting 15 min in between coats.
once they were pretty and shinny, i baked them for 25 min at 170 degrees.
left them in the shop over nite went and got them this morning, and will be putting them on tonight when the rain is suppose to pass.
wished i had the camera to take the proccess photos... sorry.
special thanks to taylor for staying late helping me with these suckers.
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