Steps for painting steel wheels?

I just media blasted some old steel wheels for my truck. My plans for tomorrow are to wipe them down good with lacquer thinner, spray with etching primer, then several light coats of rustoleum out of a rattlecan. Then bake in a paint booth. Hope to do it all in one day.

Am I leaving anything out? Anyone got a better method for low-buck, durable wheels? I tried a search but the couple posts I found didn't go against what I am planning on doing.

 

hey man i have painted alot of wheels and some on my own car, they dont hold up , first time you mount some tires with the machine there goes the paint. even with the new fancy machines that are not supposed to damage the wheel, spend a little extra money and have them powdercoated. will last much longer and you wont hate your local tire shop as soon as they scratch your wheels. good luck!

 

That paint is soft , it will chip easy.

 

thats right, powdercoat dude!

 

I rattle canned all four wheels on my truck. Scrub the WWW with an SOS pad, the odd shot of degreaser. Still looking good.
I mounted them myself but took my time.

 

I wire brush them, wipe with laquer thinner, and shoot with Krylon. Then bake them in the dear wifes oven. All the wheels I've done have held up great.

 

If you're going to bake them in a paint booth why not go the extra step and spray them with a gun. If you have access to a spray booth you must have some guns available to you to use. Powder coating my be the way for durability but if you're tight on a budget but want some durability don't use Rustoleum, at least not out of a rattle can. I use Valspar paint with their hardener. I've had pretty good luck with it. It dries faster than Rustoleum, which takes for ever to try, and it will out last Rustoleum especially with the hardener added.

 

yea try that oven trick, may work but i mean you can get those things powdercoated for like 50 bucks a piece but the oven idea could work and save you a little dough! cool tips. just try it there is nothing to lose you can always reblast them if you are not happy.

 

I've done both..powder coat is a bit pricey but durable. Paint is fine too. Usually any mounting mars happen on the curved edge of the rim next to the bead. Mount the wheels , use a soft camel hair brush and turn the wheel while you apply the touch up. Lay it a bit heavy for flow and nobody should notice. I've also found that my old eyes make all my work look better!

 

i've blasted, primed shot some color/topcoat on the inner part where the tire goes. had the tire mounted (not inflated and no valve stem), plastic/tape over tire, then shot color on front/rear of wheel. let cure, then put the stem in, inflated and had them balanced.......i don't have to worry until i get a new set of tires.

 

I figure that anyone who is going to rattle can a set of wheels is about on the same budget that I am and 200+ for powder coating the wheels just isn't in the budget.

I think I would go for the Catalyzed paint out of a gun over spray cans if I had access to the equipment rather than the rattle cans though. Usually a quart of standard colors like what you would use isn't all that expensive and the job will turn out a lot better. Otherwise Rustolium rattle cans and be happy and if it looks like hell in a few months scuff them down, tape the tires up and spray them again. My first wheel painting job was on my 51 Merc when I took the wheels from mismatched to matching black with a pint of black enamel and a one inch brush. It didn't look bad from fifty feet away.

One thing I see on here way too often is guys attempting to answer someone's simple question with their own pie in the sky answer that often may not consider the hotrod budget of the person asking the question. This goes with anything, not just the spray can paint verses powercoating thing. I don't know what Dotcentral's car budget is and it damn well isn't any of my business but I do try to read and fully understand what he is saying when he makes the post and give a solid answer.

 

glad you are lookin out for all of us!

 

Powder coating is no question the best route to go....but, budget has to be taken into consideration. Average guy may not have access to a spray booth and equipment and has to deal with the rattle can. Blast them, prime and paint, oven not used for cooking would be a good idea. No oven, maybe try clear coat. Probably don't want to use the wife's oven as the next pot roast might have a different taste.

 

If you're going to just rattle-can them, prime them, have the tires mounted, then come back and paint them.

Rustoleum will hold up ok, but plan to redo them annually.. well, you're in NC, and putting these on something you're probably going to take decent care of, so maybe not that often. I did some years ago, just wire brush and spray, and bascially after a year here including a winter's worth of snow and salt, they started to rust again. But they still looked better than they had previously.

And FWIW, I just picked up a couple rims, one had apparently never been on a vehicle before (was a spare), just putting it on and hitting it with a lug wrench messed up factory GM paint around the lug holes.

 

Yeah, powder coating is not in the budget for this vehicle. I figured spray cans would be good for touch-up. But I am going to use a gun for the etching primer, so it makes sense to do the same with the color. Probably by the time I return the rattle cans I can pick up a small can of single stage in a basic color.

I have access to a tire mounting machine & balancer, so I will only have myself to blame if they get nicked up mounting tires.

 

This is an excellant way to do it. I'd like to add that lacquer/paint thinner is designed to flow paint and evaporate quickly. When used as a cleaning agent it merely SPREADS contamination around and evaporates before it can be wiped from the surface thoroughly. Wax and grease remover is designed to LIFT and FLOAT contamination and should be WIPED DRY. Get a quart for your shop and try it instead of thinner for cleaning. You will probebly find other cleaning jobs that it's good for also.

 

Brake caliper paint will be durable. VHT. Color choice may be limited.

 

You can do your own powder coating at home.Harbor Freight sells a inexpensive powder coating gun and they also carry some colors. Eastwood also sells powder coating equipment but they are more expensive. I am not sure, but I think Sears now sells a powder coating gun in their Tools catalog.

 

If you're going to spray can them, here's what I would do...

I'd leave the wheel mounted. I'd use a wire wheel and take them to bare metal. Then I'd jack up the front and put it on jackstands. Then I'd tape and mask the tire and surrounding fender and whatever else within overspary danger. I'd use four good coats of Rustoleum primer, spinning the tire as I go. That's why I jacked it up, it keeps you from getting into contorted wrist positions and makes it tons faster and smoother.

Anyways, let the primer dry for a little bit. I'd be smoking a marlboro right about now. After the smoke break, I'd hit it with Rustoleum gloss black. A lot of thick wet coats, I'm good with a spray can and can lay it on thick without running. Maybe six or eight coats total, usually about a half a can per wheel. Another Marlboro. Then the same thick and wet with some Duplicolor High Gloss Clear, same thing- about a half a can per wheel. This whole proposition takes about an hour per wheel total.

Repeat for the other three wheels. Make it easy, jack your vehicle up and spin the tires but you sure don't have to. After all four are done, don't mess with the wheels for a couple of days to let the paint get hard. Then I'd wash them and the best part, wax them really well. The wax will help keep it from fading and make them really SHINE. Keep 'em clean and waxed. I almost never wash my vehicles that don't have nice paint, but I keep my wheels and tires SHINY and CLEAN.

You'd be surprised what $25 in spray paint and a half an afternoon can accomplish. I've spray painted TONS of stuff and have gotten quite good with a can. Regardless of what others say, you can get a good quality and good looking job out of it. It's all in the prep. The paint doesn't care if it's coming out of a can or a $100 gun. And I've never baked spray paint other than letting it harden in the air. Just make sure it's not too cold- around 70 is best. Painting your wheels can be done with zero tools and is the one easy thing you can do to make a BIG change to the way your vehicle looks. I personally think you can never go wrong with some shiny gloss black. It always looks good with white or black walls. Post some pics when you do it.



***EDITED TO ADD***
I just realized the wheels don't have tires on them. Disregard my posts dealing with that. Here's another tip since they're off the car. Rig yourself up a lazy susan device about waist high. You can use a bicycle wheel on a 2x4 or something like that. Anything to get the wheel up and spinning. You'll be cursing after spending all day bent over going around in tiny circles.

 

What he said
I just purchased a cheap powder coating set up from eastwood and found an old electric oven for free on craigslist, started powder coating my own stuff including wheels and it turned out great, cheap and durable. I cant paint for sh#t but I can powder coat. Turns out the H freight system is almost identical to the Eastwood.

 

you're on the right track. bead blast, clean very well, primer, paint, etc.

to anyone who says the wheels will be damaged when you mount the tires-you've obviously never worked with a tire machine yourself.
i've personally mounted and balanced probably 10 sets of freshly painted wheels for myself-the machine will not damage them if you demonstrate even a small amount of common sense when you do it.

i know where i can get my wheels powdercoated for $100 for a set of 4, which is pretty cheap-but i always just paint them instead because i have great luck with that.

just paint them!

 

You're right shooter...I've spray painted many sets of wheels...even a set of alloys that held up to some off-road abuse (Rally). Take your time, DO NOT cut corners, and have them mounted at a reputable shop that deals with custom wheels and/or someone that will understand the hard work you put into painting them.

My steelies are sitting in my spare room, blasted and ready for primer...

 

I've done it this same way in the past...works great...try it you'll like it!

Murph

 

hey! thanks again for getting the wheels for the newport blasted for me-they're looking great! let me know if we're putting those springs in your truck.

 

There is a fabrication shop in a town down the road from me that powder coats the stuff they make. They blasted and coated my wheels for just over $60. I just had to wait til they were doing the color I wanted (gloss black). I could'nt buy catylized paint for that kind of money!

 

Scratched paint can be touched up, I have powder coated rims on my 50 and lacquer thinner got spilled on them at the body shop, and... they're still like that. I didn't want to have 1 rim stripped and recoated, hubcap covers it anyway, but something to think about if the rim shows.

 

That's a darn good idea...

 

I've never seen Terd's work, but Unclee is a wizz with a spray bomb, and I've had good results as well. Powder coat is nice if you can afford it but, if not, BOMB IT!
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These are painted with Rustoleum, the color is matte nickel. I had the wheels blasted and then painted them without priming. I've done several sets the same way and have never had any problem with fading, flaking or chipping. I wouldnt use anything but Rustoleum, the other spray bomb paint is too thin.

 

The Fords had wheels color matched to the body when I worked there. They came in already primed, we hung them on a moving line, spun them, then gave them a 2 second burst of uncatalized paint, then they went into a oven for about 10 minutes, then on to the tire shop.