Hey everyone,

For those of you who have painted your wheels, what is the best thing to get them free of dirt and grease as well as the best sandpaper grit to use. Did you use a power sander or a sanding block or what? Thanks

Will

spray them with some Aircraft Remover. the paint will wrinkle off in a few minutes and you can sometimes just wipe it off with a rag or scrape it with a putty knife.

Sweet, can I get that stuff at a hardware store?

that's an option, personally i just degreased mine with carb cleaner, engine degreaser and then scuffed the whole wheel up with scotch brite pads.

for those who used clear, mine has a slightly rough feeling and feels like it needs to be hit with some super high grit sandpaper to make it really shine. any advice there??

When I did mine, I sanded with 80-160 down to as much metal as I could get then I primed it with a self-etching primer(good for bare metal), then I degreased them and then I painted. I used clear but after I sprayed the paint itself, I didnt get off the over spray/paint dust so they turned out all rough and gross looking. So if I were you do it like this:
-sand with 80-160
-degrease
-prime(if you go down to the metal or you could just scuff up the original paint with a scotch brite like Mavisky said)
-degrease and paint
-wipe off all overspray/paint dust
-clear coat
-and if you wanted to make them real pretty then wet sand

Hope any of that helps.

WhiteTSI, what color are your wheels? I've been looking for a gunmetal shade but can't find anything but black. Any ideas on where I can get something that looks more like yours?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

Will

Dupli-color has a whole catalog that you can view at most shops that carry their products.

They have a very exhaustive selection of colors. check their site first, that will save time.

ruf_round_edges said:

Sweet, can I get that stuff at a hardware store?

Click to expand...

I got a can at Wal-Mart

The best cleaner/degreaser that you will be able to get will be found in a auto paint supply store. They will call it "wax and silicone remover" or something of the like. I use this stuff everyday at work when we prep car and parts for paint. I have had experiance with several different kinds of "wax and grease removers" from PPG, R&M, Klines, and Omni. The best bang for the buck was the Klines, it was like $9 per gallon and cleaned just as well as any of the other brands. At work I use the R&M which rings in at $27 per gallon. The PPG is somewhere in the $18-$20 region for a gallon, and Omi is about $15 per gallon (PPG knock off company).

You will want to make sure to clean and degrease the wheels before you do any sanding, this will remove any residue on the wheel and will prevent you from grinding the residue in which could result in fish eyes. I would sand with something around a 400 - 500 grit - wet, there is no need to sand the other paint off. The other paint will most likely be powder coat which can be painted over. The only reason why the paint would need to be stripped is if it were enamel and you were shooting laquer over it. The thinners in the laquer would cause the enamel to loose adhesion and you would get a wrinkled finish. Since you will most likely be spraying your wheels with an acrylic enamel stripping will not be necessary. If you do decide to go that route anyways the best stripper on the market is called "TAL STRIP II" it is an aircraft coating remover and can only be found in an auto paint supply store. Now once your wheels are all sanded clean and degrease them again. Make sure you use clean disposable rags, otherwise a contaminated rag will spread the contamination on the rest of the surface, if at any time you think that your rags are dirty throw them out and start with new rags. Fold the rags in quarters and keep flipping them every so often so that you always have a clean rag. Once you are satisfied that they are clean, clean them again. You can never get them clean enough, don't touch the surfaces with your hands because the oil from your skin can cause fish eyes.

mavisky, you probably just have some overspray on the wheels. Check out my tech article it should give you some good advice, if you just need to remove this then use 1500 to 2000 grit rather than whatever I said in the article. http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150016

what if you wanted to paint your stock rims, but they were chrome?

Same deal, or is there a different technique?

I gave mine a good cleaning with some cheap all purpose cleaner from Walgreens, then scuffed the existing clearcoat with 400 grit wet/dry paper. After rinsing and wiping down, I went back over them with a clean rag and some alchohol. As for paint, I used brake caliper paint. I don't have the facilities to spray regular automotive paint, and I wanted something that would hold up to the heat, dust, and abuse. So far that paint has been hanging in there without a problem. They have a nice shine, and wax doesn't bother them. Pretty damn nice looking for a rattle can job!

ruf_round_edges said:

WhiteTSI, what color are your wheels? I've been looking for a gunmetal shade but can't find anything but black. Any ideas on where I can get something that looks more like yours?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

Will

Click to expand...

They are Gunmetal. I got my paint at Auto-Zone, so you might want to try there.