I think I should have waited to paint my wheels

puckshaw

I decided to paint the stock sport wheels black over the weekend. This project is turning out to be a nightmare. I spent a lot of time prepping but I think the weather ruined everything. I'm guessing it was a bit too cold (in the 50's) cause on the first day of painting I could not get the paint to go on smooth. I was in the garage with a propane heater. It was probably around 60 cause I felt quite comfortable working in there with a short sleeve shirt on. The paint turned out very rough looking though. I painted 2 wheels that day and had to go get more paint so I called it quits for then.

The next day the weather was in the low 60's and the paint went on much better. I was fairly happy with the results of those and decided I would go over the first 2 wheels with some sand paper and try again. Weather should be good tomorrow so I'll do those then.

I'm pretty concerned about how this will hold up though. I mounted one of the good wheels on the car. Even though I was very careful the paint chipped in a couple spots around the lugs. This stuff feels very soft. I let it dry for about 30 hours before I put it on. I'm scared to even wash these things. Maybe I should let it sit for several days before driving it? This sucks. Put a lot of work into this but I think I should have waited until spring. Hopefully they'll hold up for a while. I really don't want to go through this again.

Marco_xyz

Powdercoat FTW!!

There is a shop around where I live that cost 70/wheel to powdercoat, I am sure you can find one near you. It will save you the headaches in the long run!

shabarivas

Well its gonna chip ALL kinds if you painted it lol.. get ready to repaint every 3 months haha... I would just powder coat the wheels if I were you man..

shabarivas

Hit up JNZ.... they do some good PC jobs

280z/300zx

Did you at least do a couple coats with a clear coat? If it's just 1-2 coats of paint and thats it then it will cont. to chip very easily.

puckshaw

Yeah I did 3 coats of primer, 4 coats of wheel paint, and 2 coats of clear. This paint is made for wheels and many people have had great results with it. It's supposed to be really durable. I'm thinking the cool temps are causing all my problems....or I suck at painting lol

I wanted to get them powder coated but was trying to save some cash. I heard a lot of good things about this paint but it's not working out for me.

SeeyaBud86

I got my rims painted black, I've had them like it since June...I do not have one chip on any of the rims and I drive it everyday. It has 3 coats of black on them. They have held up really well, so I think it all depends on how you go about doing them. The guy I got to do them is coming here tomorrow because I'm going to paint my S-Tune front like the guy with the TT kit. I'll ask him exactly what he did and tell you...

Here's a picture of my rims
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darkROAM_1

Well, it doesn't help that you painted outdoors. If you can, do this in a garage w/ a respirator and the doors closed and make a temporary paint booth. I've had to use the tool shed a few times in the past.

And yeah, the cold really hurts on painting as it never really settles properly. You could wait til the spring time ~72 is about right.

I would agree with others that powder coating is normally a preferred method but if you're trying to save money or just want to see how it looks before having them sandblasted and powdered, that works great.

Best of luck to you, just remember, wind and open air outside is bad for drying paint >.<

NYBladeZ

I've heard on this forum that powder coating has negative effects on the overall strength of the wheel.

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SeeyaBud86

Yea, thats what I came to find. Whenever I asked someone about powdercoating thats what I was told. So I went with paint, and I'm satisfied.

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puckshaw

Looks good! I thought I did everything necessary but didn't get those results. Here's what I did:

- washed the wheels and let them air dry
- sanded with 320 grit
- hosed them down and let them air dy
- taped everything off
- went over them with tack cloth
- went over them with Duplicolor prep wipe
- 3 coats of Duplicolor primer
- 4 coats Duplicolor wheel paint
- 2 coats duplicolor wheel clear

puckshaw

I painted these in the garage. I did have to open the door to ventilate though as it was building up quite a haze in there.

puckshaw

I've heard mixed things on this as well. My main motivation for painting was to save some money though. I really only needed the paint to hold up for a year or so until I could buy some wheels. I don't even know if these will last a month though. Hopefully it's not as bad as it seems. Maybe they just need more time. It's supposed to rain later this week so I'll just paint the other ones and let it sit until the weather clears up. Maybe by then the paint will be good and hard.

NYBladeZ

good luck finishing the project, post pics when you are done!

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2009 Carbon Fiber/Red 370z aka Trish: Sports Package, Meisterschaft full catback, Fast Intentions Longtube Headers, Injen Long Tube Intakes, UpRev Tune: Sold
2008 Lotus Exige S Club Racer aka Bella, always leaves me smiling

puckshaw

Thanks!