painting probe rims

[10fold]

My rims are in pretty rough shape and I don't exactly have the money for a new set, so I've decided to paint them. I've painted my intake and j-pipe last summer and they're holding up really well, so I know what I need to do as far as actual painting goes. However, I have a few questions before I get started.

Is there an easy way to get the wheel weights off and back on? I just had my tires rotated and balanced last week.

Should I try to do a chrome lip, or just paint everything black? My probe rims don't exactly have a nice lip to polish or anything like that and I was wondering if you guys can offer me some opinions here. (I did a search, but nothing really came up for probe rims)

Lastly, I don't have any jack stands and I was wondering if it's ok to do one wheel at a time using only a scissor jack because my floor jack broke.

Oh and also, if anyone can show me where to get some different center caps that would fit these rims, I'd appreciate it...I'm tired of the Ford center caps that are on there now.

 

[92AWDTalonTSI]

I am currently in the process of painting rims right now. I left the weights in there because it didn't make sense to remove them. They were also just balanced. If you choose to remove them you should mark where they were on the tire and number them. As for the painting process, doing them all an once is best because you have better control over the overall quality of each rim. Just borrow some jack stands or use cinder blocks or similar to hold the car up.

The chrome lip is your choice. Although if you don't have a large enough lip you could just polish them completely and call it a day. Or just polish the very edge and paint the rest semi gloss. I would not paint them flat black. Because if you want the sun bleached black steelies look. You should go get steelies.

What we did was we got some quality Rust-oleum. The face is Semi gloss black and the sides of the spokes are going to be red.

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Here are the rims before and I'll edit in another after. Wait to paint till you see the ones I'm doing. then make your decision.

I'll post the black faced rim later tonight and after I get about 5 coats of red I'll post that up too.

 

[knieghtz]

Nice Cougar, i use to drive one back in the day. I had the Chrome headlights (2001 Model) and the same VIS hood. Sharp looking cars, but ssssllllooowwww as hell.

 

[10fold]

Thanks for the advice, I might as well pick up some jack stands while I'm getting supplies. The reason I asked if I should take the weights off is because my wheels are all black right now, but its starting to flake pretty bad. I didn't plan on going flat black, I was looking for a gloss like you said, but I didn't go looking for supplies yet . I painted my intake and j-pipe a silverish color that looked almost as if it had metal flake in it. I don't remember the name, but I know dupli-color put it out. I think I still have pics of the process if anyone wants to see.

 

[92AWDTalonTSI]

Dupli-color makes some wheel paint.

HWP100 White
HWP101 Silver
HWP102 Graphite
HWP103 Clear
HWP104 Satin Black
HWP105 Bronze

They might have them at Autozone.

But remember this paint is expensive.

 

[TurboMR2]

if you get some tire chalk just mark where to 2 edges of the weights were. then wait for it to dry good (dry it in the sun will help) and put it back on with a little hammer

 

[tallywacker]

Nice Cougar, i use to drive one back in the day. I had the Chrome headlights (2001 Model) and the same VIS hood. Sharp looking cars, but ssssllllooowwww as hell.

My sister had a V6 cougar. Changing the alternator in that car is a complete nightmare. The bad thing is that its a common issue.

 

[10fold]

Dupli-color makes some wheel paint.

HWP100 White
HWP101 Silver
HWP102 Graphite
HWP103 Clear
HWP104 Satin Black
HWP105 Bronze

They might have them at Autozone.

But remember this paint is expensive.

Yea, I've definitely seen the cans of paint there. I never took notice to how expensive they were, I only needed one can of color, some sandable primer and a can of aircraft stripper when I did my intake. Would they have the sandpaper at Autozone too? I remember looking all over for 400 grit (this is what I need right?), but I don't think I found any.

Or would you guys recommend using a Rustoleum paint and then a clear on top of that?

 

[10fold]

I finished them up yesterday, but they dried a bit strange. Some parts are glossy and exactly what I was looking for, but others dried like they were powdery. I read online that it had something to do with the satin black I used...which would have been helpful BEFORE I started ha. They look alright though...I was wondering if I should give them more clear coat and that would remedy the problem and if so, when is the soonest I can do it? Should I just wait the 7 days like it says on the can?

 

[manny correa]

ive seen lots of cougars (like the red one in the pic) that seem to have a 2gb turbo high wing look-a-like! or is it just a dsm spoiler that they bolt on?

 

[Calan]

Nice Cougar

Pffff... That's not a Cougar.

THIS is a Cougar.

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[ziggo0]

ive seen lots of cougars (like the red one in the pic) that seem to have a 2gb turbo high wing look-a-like! or is it just a dsm spoiler that they bolt on?

They have a similar one but it's not a 2g wing. There's an aftermarket one that looks like it as well as a stock high rise one.

 

[10fold]

Awesome, so apparently the black paint didn't even stick to the primer. I went to wipe off the "powder" earlier today hoping that it was just dust, but of course not. Can I just sand down my rims and give them a few more coats of paint? Or do I really need to re-strip them...and start all over again...

 

[92AWDTalonTSI]

Yup. You can sand them down. Stop by a junk yard and get an old rim with a nice tire that will fit. Find a local sandblaster. He/She can take all the paint off and you wont need to sit for hours sanding. It is a pain.

I'm going to post a link here for painting rims.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/92awdtalontsi/1634-rim-painting-rustoleum-paint.html