Self Painted rims
 

Just wondering if there are many people out there who have painted their own rims? If so what steps did you take? What kind of paint did you use? etc etc.

Not many who've self painted.

What do you mean? People usually always plastidip their rims, not paint. A professional would either powdercoat or paint your rims.

I've done a lot of time researching this on my 2012 370z with the silver 19" rays on them.

Basically the painted used on alloy wheels and nissans is really pretty thin an cheaply applied, its basically a black base coat, with silver sprayed on it and then cleared coated.

I had a few scratches in a couple wheels that I had toched up for by the chain called Alloy Wheel Repair at $60 a wheel , the guy did a perfect match.

Note the paint on nissan wheels is some thin, you can rub it down the the bare primer in only a few passes of a polishing paste etc.

With aluminum the key thing to remember is to avoid all laquer finishes as it will lift and peel

On bare aluminum you first need to use an paint that in an acid etching primer first, then you can use laquer if you wish over the etching primer.

Your best bet is to just use any of the alloy wheel paints offered by VHT or duplicolor and if bare alloy is exposed than apply a coat of etching primer, before the wheel paint.

I actually prefer VHT frame , chassis and roll bar expoxy can spray paint as it is very durable, it takes about a week to dry hard in the hot sun , or a month at room temperature , but once it cures it is a very durable finish and will far outlast any factory wheel finish.

I was toying with buying a set of used rays takeoffs and having the finish stripped and just leaving them polished bare alloy, as for the paint on nissan wheels I feel it could be easily stripped to the bare finish with any aircraft paint stripper.

Yea the overcoat is very thin, I bought my nismo used and in some places the black under coat is fading through first I thought it was brake dust but I have come to find out this is what is happening. I believe strong chemicals were used on the rims before and it hurt the over coat. So I began toying around with self painting them not sure if I could make my self try it.

I've been contemplating this for the last few days myself.

Check out these wheel specific videos from Dip Your Car if you are interested in PlastiDip. I am contemplating either the gunmetal plastidip or a lot of coats of the gold metallizer plastidip.

you can def paint your rims, I painted mine a while, back used black enamel engine paint, lasted pretty long, but now they are powdercoated. :tup:

Did you have to sand your rims first or just paint right on top of the finish?

I did mine. I scuffed them with a sanding pad. then primed and painted them. Clear coat is optional. I used duplicolor paint

please dont plasti-dip them.....

yup dry sanded with 120 grit sand paper, then primer and paint. But if I may give you advice, just save yourself the time and just get them powdercoated, I didnt realize how much better they looked PC rather than painted. You can check my albums to see the difference for yourself the most recent pics from the photo shoot are PC, the other ones painted. GL :tiphat::tup:

also this I would prefer paint over plasti-dip and powdercoat above plasti dip and paint so from least to most preferred being #3 would go:

1) plasti-dip
2) paint
3) powdercoat

only benefeit of plasti-dip is easy removable, but I think it looks pretty cheap, imo

:tiphat:

i would rather not clean my rims and let the brake dust accumulate than plasti-dip them a darker color......

Here was my process:

Sand. I believe I used a 400 just to get the gloss out then washed and cleaned it with a prep
http://distilleryimage4.s3.amazonaws...38016265_7.jpg

Used a Index card trick so I dont spray the tires:
http://distilleryimage11.s3.amazonaw...380fe523_7.jpg

Then used very light coats spraying as evenly as possible in long strokes. Primer first then paint then clear. I think I used 1 can of each step from Autozone. Maybe 2 greens cant remember.
http://distilleryimage7.s3.amazonaws...3804a181_7.jpg

oh yeah clear, forgot about clear def clear it, will last much longer and more durable. :tup: