Lets Paint Some Wheels!!!
 

There is no denying that the wheels on the 89 pulling truck needed some help. There are a low end set of aluminum wheels that have been on the truck lord knows how long and have been neglected almost as long. The clear coat had begun peeling off the wheels LONG before I got it so the aluminum had become SEVERELY pitted and stained.

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After talking with some REAL big names in Adam's (on here) I came to the conclusion that yes I could polish them out... but the Hours upon Hours of time would not be worth it. I would have to strip all the clear, polish the wheels, then either pay to have them clear coated of polish them up every other weekend... 1st I refuse to pay for them to be cleared (read cheap ass) and 2nd I don't have the time or motivation to polish them all the time. This leaves me with one option... PAINT!!! :D

1st step was to remove all the clear. I used a REAL tough paint remover for this... Nasty Stuff... Bubbled right up and came off with the help of a pressure washer.

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Next I sand blasted what was left. I still had alot of oxidation left over after the clear was removed and the sand blaster took care of this.

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After the wheels have been blasted clean them off REAL good. I used some brake cleaner that would not leave a film behind. Then hit them with two coats of self etching primer of your choice allowing the primer to tack in between coats.

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Once that is dried its time to paint. I used this Dupli-Color paint made just for wheels. Its a little more expensive then the regular paint but is the BOMB!!! Also this little gun/handle thing you see in the picture is awesome for keeping you finger from cramping up real bad.

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I did two light coats allowing about 10 min between coats and then followed that with 2 more medium coats. Came out nice... And all for about $60 and an afternoon's work.

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:humm: looks good bud:U:

sweet.... now get 4 chrome center caps and mount them up and take some pics.... :U:

looking good man like the painted look better than polished:U:

:U::U:

Now we just need some pics of them on the truck!:U:

looking good... no after pics of them on the vehicle?!?!?!!??!!

Not bad at all. We used the buff ball on my buddies wheels and they looked like new after we striped the clear off of them.

Andy

I went at thise with a ball for about a half hour... Had a spot about the size of a half dollar kinda somewhat shinny... they were TOAST! :D

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No tires mounted on them yet. The truck is runing the factory steelies right now

Man they look good. :up:
I got a set that looks about as good as yours did at first.

Think I will give this a try!!

hhmmm.... night have to do that ben...

don't forget new chrome lug nuts..... 32 of them.....

the spiked ones lol

Wow, Bobby, They came out great. :U:

I like them better than the polished...:c:

I'm just gettin ready to do a set a these myself. Got an old aluminum set of wheels in the basement I'm gonna paint and mount up on a friends jeep. Were these steel or aluminum rims you did here. I know what they look like but I wanna be sure the paint your talkin about will stick right to aluminum. Never heard of the wheel paint but I'll find it.

Looks good man.

They are aluminum. This paint is awesome. Dries pretty fast and is tough as nails. A buddy turned me on to it. He mounted a set of wheels and drug the arm over the lip by accident and it didn't even touch the paint. They also sell a clear that will make them even tougher if you want. I decided not to use it though because I didn't want a high gloss. The wheels are not as shiny in real life as they are in the pic.

Looks good Bobby. :U:

I just want to say,,, DANG lugnuts are pricey... :D

Wow! those look outstanding! :U:

Wonder how that wheel paint would do on some steel wheels if I sprayed it over the white paint. :humm:

i think i might have to try them on my stock rims... see how that works....... thenm look sweeet......

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1st step was to remove all the clear. I used a REAL tough paint remover for this... Nasty Stuff... Bubbled right up and came off with the help of a pressure washer.


did that bottle have an airplaine onit......aircraft , blue can.. i used that on my horse trailer. when i repainted it..... yea . no sanding. just wipe it off . down to the shinny metal...

No but that stuff is just as good. They were out when I went to get some.

lol.... mine were free with the purchase of 4 rims and 6 tires :w2:

dang bobby ya are a whiz with wheels think ya can fix up mine :w2:

Sandblaster will make anything look like new. But mail em to him, we don't need you on the road any more then you have to be, eh Stuntman.:c:

Get hold on nitelord... That shat will buff out.

I tried this paint on my white steel trailer wheels. You are right, that paint is awesome. Sprays on nice and dries fast.
I hit the wheels with a wire wheel on a 4" angle grinder, cleaned it off with mineral spirits, then followed your advice with etching primer and (graphite) duplicolor wheel coating. Looks great.
Thanks for the write up :U:

How expensive is the paint? Im thinking it would work good on anything under the truck - diff covers, driveshafts etc. - might last longer than the regular rattle can paint.

I think I paid $7 or $8 a can yesterday @ Autozone. I brought it home and painted the rear diff cover on my truck. That paint seems to go a long way because it covers so well.

~6 to 8 USD per can. our major chain Auto Parts stores carry it.

Toss up some pics if you can. I want to see what the Graphite looks like

They got it doc!

got them mounted up yet?

Saturday

Here is what graphite looks like on a steel trailer wheel.(the camera and flash show a lot of flaws I didn't see with my eyes)
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not as nice but definitely an improvement IMO
should look better than white wheels

I dont even have the truck or the tires! How could I put them on?!?

lol

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hhhmmmm.....

Almost wish I had went with that color now. They look NICE!!!