Painting wheels

[mikejt]

Getting window tints tomorrow, and want to change my alloys

I have a spare alloy to try out on (got it for free as its been sanded-sprayed-sanded so looks a mess)

I'm thinking about sanding the spare, priming it, spraying it with gunmetal gray paint, then laquering just to see what it looks like first...


My question is, how long will this last? i know normally alloys are powder coated... but an advantage of doing it this way is if they get scratched or flake, its not hard to re-do them

what do you think about this?

 

[bredsticz]

I did mine with a spray. 3 coats of each I did. Lasts well and mine were white! I suppose your grey would last longer

That was it sprayed, and now touched up after being off for months and back on

 

[mikejt]

Very nice!

Thanks for the reply, looks like you did a good job on those! Think i'll give it a go with my spare first, i want to try gunmetal gray or matt black.. might try a photoshop after the tints have gone on tomorrow..

Did you use 3 coats of primer, colour and laquer yeh?

 

[bredsticz]

Very nice!

Thanks for the reply, looks like you did a good job on those! Think i'll give it a go with my spare first, i want to try gunmetal gray or matt black.. might try a photoshop after the tints have gone on tomorrow..

Did you use 3 coats of primer, colour and laquer yeh?

Yep, sanded down. 3 Coats primer - 15min between each coat. 24 hrs to dry fully and harden.
Then same again for the colour and lacquer. Leaving 24hrs between each again and the last coat thicker than the other 2

 

[mikejt]

24hours between each coat of colour? jesus, going to take about a month to get them done one at a time working around my shifts!

not ideal weather at the moment though cold and moist..

 

[bredsticz]

24hours between each coat of colour? jesus, going to take about a month to get them done one at a time working around my shifts!

not ideal weather at the moment though cold and moist..

Better if you have a heated shed or garage to do it at this time of year.
Takes a full day nearly to sand them all down

 

[mikejt]

thanks for that

I have got a 2nd set of wheels and have made a start, do you think it will be alright keeping them warm for an hour or 2, then leaving them in the garage? just my nan is paranoid about the electric, i said i'll give her the money for it but she wont take money off me

two of the alloys ive got are kurbed, i might swap 2 of mine and keep the others as "spares" will need to get the tyres swapped though

 

[bredsticz]

How badly? Alot of scratches come out when you sand them down. 2 hrs heat should be fine. Maybe leave them 2 days instead in the cold

I cant remember if paint like that needs to cure or not. If it does then it may crack or peel come summertime.
I know high temp paing does but that may be different

 

[mikejt]

to the point where they will need some kind of filling to get close to perfect.... but like i say, just going to swap 2 of them probably, 1 of the new ones is bucked anyway, so that will just be another spare

so you reccoment 2 days between each colour coat? or 2 days between colour and laquer?

sorry to be a pain with all the questions

 

[paul12345]

once you've filled anything that need filling, sand down any ruff areas/filler with around 400 grit then go over the whole wheel with 600-800 grit.

clean then warm the wheel for a few mins with a hair dryer / heatgun to make sure its dry and to warm it slightly so the paint sticks better.

Give it a coat of primer then use a hair dryer etc for around 5-10 mins you should see if go dry once it does give it a few more mins.

Then give it another coat - heat - and then repeat a 3rd time.

I'd give the 3rd coat an extra 5 mins

Once done - use some 800 grit to lightly sand the primer being careful of edges. This will flatten the area very well and remove little marks.

clean the wheel, then you can heat up again to dry it off if you've sanded too much off then give it a final coat of primer else spray the colour coat.

repeat the heating spraying untill your happy, then repeat for the lacquer.

you can then give it some more heat the longer the better.


I used a heatgun on full and held fairly close to the paint but constantly moving within a small area. If your going to use a hair dryer hold it furthur away as theres more airflow which could disturb the paint.

 

[bredsticz]

That's the proper way to do it but I cba with all that.
I'd leave 2 days between primer and colour then again between colour and lacquer. Then a day or so untill you fit them

 

[paul12345]

if your not going to sand the primer then you might as well only spray one coat as it will have the same benefits and will dry faster

 

[Hellcat]

What you really need is an airing cupboard and some boards to put the wheels on!

 

[mikejt]

Cheers for the replies people!!

I have matt black paint.... the laquer will give it a "glossy" finish wont it?

is there any protector similar to laquer that doesnt give a glossy finish?

 

[bredsticz]

No, if you want a real shiny finish then Matt won't give it. No matter how much lacquer is used. You need gloss

 

[mikejt]

No sorry, i ment i want a matt finish, so have sprayed them matt black, but will the laquer make them glossy? or will they stay fairly matt?

 

[bredsticz]

They'll still stay matt. Lacqaer doesn't really make it shine

https://www.fiatforum.com/members-motors/216589-out-old-new-my-punto-mk2a-progress-thread-6.html

I think Jacko painted his matt black

 

[mikejt]

Thanks for the reply

They are sat at my sisters at the moment, leaving them for another day or 2 before laquering.... I have only done the spare and 3 others so i will have to put those 3 and the spare on when im done and paint one that is currently on the car

here are the pics so far:

 

[paul12345]

normal lacquer will make them glossy, you want to make sure its a matt finish lacquer

 

[mikejt]

ahh thanks for that! think i will just use the normal laquer as i already had it, should hopefully look alright!