Painting wheels?

[TRD_ZERO]

Ive got a set of wheels that im wanting to change the colour of. They are currently satin black (rota slipstreams) but im wanting to make them silver or freshly blasted alloy colour. Ive searched for previous posts and found a couple of links which i called up and got a quote. They say to blast and paint would be about $120 per wheel. Is that the going rate now days? When reading the post its mentioned it was around $25. Anyone know of any other options?

[steroidcontaskie]

You could plastidip them, that way you can see if you like the colour, if you don't just peel it off.

Cheers
Edward

[Mr Ree]

Yes, plastdip is an option, although that relies on you wanting to paint your wheels one of the colours they already offer, which can be difficult.

I still havent got around to plastidipping my track wheels, as summer disappeared too quickly and the days are too cold/short to risk wasting the product, so I will have to wait until november/december to try again lol

[duddley]

What about powdercoat?

[Heylin]

I had great results doing custom colour from ColourPak cans (mixed and filled at Autolink or LinkUp). About $200 all up for all materials + 1 weekend of prep and painting. People think I have brand new custom wheels but they are just resprayed factory ones (nice met pewter). Great thing is if you curb them there is tons of left over to fix and its a perfect match.

Have had them on for 1 year now and they look as good as the day they were sprayed (no stone chips either).

3 cans of base metallic (pick from hundreds of colours). $90
2 cans of primer $40
2 cans of clear lacquer $50
few packs of cheap playing cards for masking between rim and tyre $5
800 grit carbide sandpaper X 4 sheets $10
scotch pads $4
degreaser $10

take 2 off car Saturday, prep, paint, dry overnight
Sunday, same deal

After a week you can use some fine cutting compound to bring the laquer to a smooth glossy shine and apply some wax for protection.

[GDII]

I'm in the process of repainting the face of some wheels with a similar design to the Rota Slipstreams. The paint was pealing and was badly scratched so I have removed all the paint with paint stripper. I will be using etch primer and Duplicolor wheel paint (silver). The lip has been machined so I will be masking that off and applying Duplicolor clear over the whole wheel when done. This process will take quite a long time. Stripping has taken at least 12 hours (really thick paint) and painting will be another 4-5 plus drying time.

Cost's around $100 for all four wheels.

I have done it before on my stock 15" SW20 wheels with good results. Photo before a clear coat was applied.

[TRD_ZERO]

Sorry i should of mentioned in my post that what i had got a quote for was powder coating. Im guessing my slipstreams are powder coated and removing that will be pretty tough. I wanted powder coating originally because it would last longer but seems like the rattle cans are the go. Ill be removing the tyres off them and selling them so ill have bare rims to work with.

[Bazda]

Sorry i should of mentioned in my post that what i had got a quote for was powder coating. Im guessing my slipstreams are powder coated and removing that will be pretty tough. I wanted powder coating originally because it would last longer but seems like the rattle cans are the go. Ill be removing the tyres off them and selling them so ill have bare rims to work with.

Graeme Hughes Panel & Paint do it for aorund $150 for a set I think. Give them a call.

[TRD_ZERO]

Sorry i should of mentioned in my post that what i had got a quote for was powder coating. Im guessing my slipstreams are powder coated and removing that will be pretty tough. I wanted powder coating originally because it would last longer but seems like the rattle cans are the go. Ill be removing the tyres off them and selling them so ill have bare rims to work with.

Graeme Hughes Panel & Paint do it for aorund $150 for a set I think. Give them a call.

That for powder coating or just painting?

[Bazda]

Sorry i should of mentioned in my post that what i had got a quote for was powder coating. Im guessing my slipstreams are powder coated and removing that will be pretty tough. I wanted powder coating originally because it would last longer but seems like the rattle cans are the go. Ill be removing the tyres off them and selling them so ill have bare rims to work with.

Graeme Hughes Panel & Paint do it for aorund $150 for a set I think. Give them a call.

That for powder coating or just painting?

Painting.

[Heylin]

$150 a set for painting in 2K is the way to go.

Make sure its $150 per set, not per wheel. I was quoted about $400 down here in Hamilton.

[TRD_ZERO]

I've got a friend that can blast the black powder coat off my wheels and then clear them. Will that work? I've been told the alloy gets all pitted once blasted. Will the clear finish it off well enough or do you need a filler to smooth it over.

[Bazda]

I've got a friend that can blast the black powder coat off my wheels and then clear them. Will that work? I've been told the alloy gets all pitted once blasted. Will the clear finish it off well enough or do you need a filler to smooth it over.

depends on what grit beads are used in the sand blaster. but it always noramlly leaves a rough surface.

There is a place that Sugar blasts. So its water with some other solution mixed with it. That leaves what ever finish is under the paint.

[GDII]

No idea if you can find anyone in NZ who does this but Soda blasting looks really good for this sort of thing. It's a modified baking soda used with water. Baking soda is sharp but soft so it doesn't eat away at things like sand.
Would bead blasting work too? Glass beads rather than sand.

I've just started putting etch primer on the wheels I am doing. Working out well so far. I need to sand it down to reduce the appearance of the casting on the face of the wheels then I can put the top coat down. Then after that I need to remove the masking of the lip and put some clear coat over the whole wheel.

[Grrrrrrr!]

Yes, there are soda blasting operators in NZ, former neighbour did it, also CO2 blasting (good for industrial on-site blasting, zero clean up of blasting media). Bead and shot blasting is also very common.

Sand blasting doesn't use sand, its usually garnet or other abrasive media, as far as i know it's illegal to use sand these days since fine sand in the lungs F%^&s you up real good.

The sand blasted look is sorta cool, have always wanted to get something blasted with a coarse grit then clear coat with a matt clear coat to seal it up and keep the blasted look.

[Snaps]

I recently tackled painting wheels... Never again. Turned out like crap - didn't get anywhere near as good a finish as powdercoating.

Powdercoating is definitely the way to go IMO - a HEAP less work as well, as you don't need to hand-sand the each of the wheels down. Powdercoating also helps to cover any previous curbing.