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Thread: Painting steel rims

  1. #1
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    Painting steel rims

    Hi Portland/Vancouver locals. Any of you know of a reliable and fast sandblaster and powder coat specialist? I bought some wheels for my 4x4 that need this and I'm trying to leave town by Friday.

    Thanks in advance,
    Kestrel

  2. #2
    Administrator timsrv's Avatar
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    Re: Portland/Vancouver Sandblasting/Powdercoating

    I haven't used them before, but here's a place: http://portlandpowder.com/contact/. Take a look at their gallery (pretty impressive). Getting it done by Friday might be tough, but good luck. Tim

  3. #3
    Van Enthusiast bikerjosh's Avatar
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    Painting my steel wheels-

    OK, here goes: items used: dawn dish soap, drill with wire wheel, blue painters tape, med scotch brite pad, 1k or 1500 grit wet/dry sand paper, flat metal file, acetone, denatured alcohol, spray cans primer(1), duplicolor wheel paint (1 or 2), clear spray coat (1), optional can of black rosttolium heavy duty paint, index cards if your tires are still on. Heat gun, if really cold.
    Picture of materials needed (note: drill and wire wheel not pictured and primer was all gone so I sub'd a beverage for the picture)

    ingredients.jpg
    · Start by giving the wheels a good soapy scrubbing, I find that “dawn” does a pretty good job breaking down dirt and grease.
    · If the lip of the steel wheel has a lot of curb rash, I like to go over it with a flat file to knock down as much of it as I can so the paint can smooth/hide it.
    · If the wheels have rust on the front or back side, use the drill and wire wheel to knock it down. (in my case the back side of the wheels had a lot of corrosion so I needed a lot of wire wheel time.
    · Use the scotch brite pad to rough up the front surface in preparation for the primer.
    · Tape valve stems and anything else you don’t want painted.
    · Thoroughly wipe down all surfaces with acetone and let air dry.
    · Since the weather was pretty cold (low 50’s) I filled up a bucket half full with hot water and put all the spray paint cans in. To be honest I do this regardless of the temp, because IMO it helps the spray paint flow more easy/uniform.
    · Ok, ready for paint. Keep in mind I was doing this at night after dinner so I spaced it out of a few nights.
    o Apply a med coat of primer to wheels. ( I did front and back).
    o After ten minutes I applied a second med coat of primer and let the wheels dry/cure overnight.
    o Grab a glass of water (for the sandpaper) and lightly sand the front side of the wheel with very light pressure. Idea is not to remove the paint but to smooth out the finish. I didn’t sand the back side since I wasn’t worried about that finish. Wipe the wheels off with a damp rag and let air dry.
    o Grab denatured alcohol and splash some on a lint free rag. Wipe down the rims to remove any oil and or crud that settled on them. I usually use denatured alcohol after primer, since acetone may soften the primer.
    o If you have your cans sitting in a bucket of hot water make sure to dry them off so you don’t get any drips on your painting surfaces.
    o If you are painting the backside of the wheels with a darker color and you aren’t going to tape the wheels, spray the backsides now. I used the Rustoluim, paint since it is pretty durable the
    back of the wheels take a lot of abuse. Do a light coat of paint, wait 10 minutes and do a med coat.
    Here is an example of pre paint and post
    backside of wheels.jpg
    o For the fronts, I applied 3 light coats of dupli-wheel paint, waiting 10 minutes between coats, then one med coat which I let set over night.
    o For the clear coat I applied two light coats waiting 10 minutes in between and let them dry. I think you are better off doing medium coats of the clear. I had several rough spots on the surface of the wheels from the clear after letting the paint cure for a week. (note: if you are getting tires mounted it is important to make sure the paint is fully cured, to avoid chips/scratches or minimize them) I wasn’t happy with the finish so I grabbed some 1500 grit and water; very very lightly blended in the rough areas with the smooth ones, wiped with denatured alcohol. Finished all the wheels off with a medium coat of clear, and they came out very smooth.
    This was the condition prior to refinishing. (old wheel, newly painted w/tire, and helper-beware of stray hairs if using a helper)
    how the wheels looked .jpg
    If the tires are still on you can do the same process over a weekend, just using the index card method and tape to avoid getting paint on the tires. Google it if you don’t know what it is.
    Thanks
    1987 4wd 5spd Cargo van (uncut)-modding in 3,2,1

  4. #4
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    Re: Painting my steel wheels-

    nice job - pretty much the same method i followed - I am pretty happy with the results, can only be an improvement really when they get to this stageIMG_0412.jpgIMG_0409.jpg

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