pghstochaj said:
Jonny sprayed his Punto wheels black, sure he will post when he gets a minute
'Deed I did
and this is how I did my alloys:
First thing is to get the wheels off the car and have the tyres taken off, otherwise it'll be awkward to mask the tyres and it'll end up messy. There's no way you can respray wheels that are still on the car without it turning into a disaster. If you need to drive the car it might be worth getting a set of cheap steelies with from the scrapper's, as it's not a quick job if you do it properly.
The wheels need to be prepped before you can spray them. Clean off any loose dirt with alloy wheel cleaner, then rub all the area that will be painted down with wet-and-dry paper. You don't need to strip them back to bare metal, but make sure to take all the old the laquer off. Start with fairly coarse paper (200 or 400 grit) to get the surface flat. This should show up any dents in the wheel, which can be filled using a decent-quality bodywork filler, then rub it flat when the filler is cured. Finally smooth the whole wheel with finer paper (800 or 1000 grit). Rinse all the crap generated by rubbing down off the rims, and dry them thoroughly.
Next you need to prime the wheels. Ordinary car primer is fine, I used one 600ml can per wheel (most spraypaint cans are 300ml so use 2). Apply the paint in lots of thin coats so that it's smooth and doesn't run. Leave a few hours between coats; I did one coat per day and left it to dry overnight.
Once the primer's on, leave it to dry in a warm place for a few days (I gave mine a week in the garage in summer), then give the primer a quick rub down with fine (1200 grit) wet and dry to smooth it. Rinse the wheels off and dry them, and they're ready for painting.
Again normal car paint is fine, I used metallic paint which also needed lacquer, but some paints don't need lacquer so check on the can first. Use at least one 300ml can of paint per wheel (I used 6 cans for 4 wheels i.e. a can and a half per wheel), again apply the paint in several thin coats (4 or 5) leaving plenty of time between coats. Once the final coat of paint is on, they need plenty of time to dry, again I left them for a week before lacquering.
Laqcuer should be applied the same way as paint, i.e. lots of thin coats, at least one can per wheel. Once they're lacquered, they need a good 2 weeks to cure, preferably in a warm place.
Right, hope that helps!
