SaabCentral Forums banner

Painting my wheels

2K views 25 replies 13 participants last post by  vnv727 
#1 ·
starting to paint my wheels tomorrow doing two at a time cause i dont trust jackstands at all 4 points...im cautious i suppose...anyway prepping the first two tonight and gonna have the tires unmounted tomorrow probably so i can paint them tomorrow night/sunday morning...then have them remounted and have the other two unmounted monday...should be done with everything by tuesday/wed depending on how much time i got...i had a special silver metalic paint mixed up for me...ill post pics at the end of the week hopefully

wish me luck :D
 
#3 ·
thanks...okay so i just did a test sho of the paint i had mixed up....so i nece its alot like the stock silver alloy color only it has even more of a metal flake too it.....i just got to get the tired unmounted tomorrow and get some paint stripper to totally get the wheels clean and thee first two should be looking good by sunday or monday depending on drying time and such :cheesy:
 
#5 · (Edited)
im in ny but i have a big warm(enough anout 60-65 F) basement about 70' by 34' so i got enough space down there as it runs the length of most of my house minus the garage...yeah its nice having a big basement when i was a little kid my brother and sister had so much fun down there, and its great for working on stuff now that im older(18)

btw why no snow in ny yet..not one inch where i live(orange county ny about and hour north on the GWB)
 
#6 ·
yeah,i'm up in sullivan county. i'm home for the week from college in florida and i must say, the 4 flakes i saw come down were rather disappointing.
 
#10 ·
xxbrianxx said:
I agree.. I'm worried that the spray paint will scratch off to easy.

I resurfaced some wheels 3-4 months back. First time ever doing it. I washed them all down w/ simple green, then took simple sandpaper and sanded EVERY last speck of paint off, so they were pretty near direct metal. In the bolt holes, I used a brush/dremel attachment and did best I could without spending entirely too much time.

Followed by two solid coats filler/primer (rattle), sanding between each coat, and after the second coat.

Then I applied 4 or so light coats color (light goldish) to the rims, allowing them to JUST try up, before applying another coat. Must read the can for proper directions, to prevent running, etc.

The final step was 4 coats of clearcoat, high-temp, made for wheels.

They've travelled 3-4K miles on them, and are now outside getting snowed on, and look like I just sprayed them.

There are a few 'issues' in the coating, as I said it was my first time, and I wasn't going for 'perfect', but I'd consider them 95% brand new looking.

It cost me ~ $35 in paint total (all 'duplicolor', just so you know) and about 8-10 hours over 3 evenings.

It's a fun project, and I'm debating starting to do it *cheaply* for local friends, all depending on how the rattle-can's DO hold up.

You really want to clearcoat them, solidly. I think if you do, you should be great.

The texture of mine,a metallic paint, is near perfect. Like any painting job, it's not so much the painting as the PREP work that determines the final result.

Oh, I'm also a self-employed house painter, so perhaps Im just clued into painting things?

Best of luck, it's really not hard, and it's VERY rewarding. Just make sure to take your time; do it right the first time, and don't rush the drying. If you DO get a run in the paint, let it dry fully for at LEAST a day, to the point where you can sand the run down, reprime that area, and lightly feather the spray back in. If you do not wait long enough to do this, you will 'tear' the paint, and end up very upset at yourself, and a lot of work to resolve the issue.

Ask me how I know =\

-Bny
 
#13 ·
I wanted to go back to OEM look and so had to get a prfoessional job done, not that expensive at approx $200 for 4 wheels bead blaster, machined and powder coated.

I think you can get a good DIY job with rattle cans or better yet a real sprayer, in my case though I have to calculate the cost of my time and that rulles out 8 hours of painting time.

Good luck, you will like the results next spring when you can really show them off.
 
#14 ·
KevinC said:
I wanted to go back to OEM look and so had to get a prfoessional job done, not that expensive at approx $200 for 4 wheels bead blaster, machined and powder coated.

I think you can get a good DIY job with rattle cans or better yet a real sprayer, in my case though I have to calculate the cost of my time and that rulles out 8 hours of painting time.
I've done two sets of wheels at home in the last 12 months and would NOT do a set again! i would have them powder coated. to do a really good job takes a lot of time and messing about! if you just want to paint them to clean them up but there not in bad nick its not too bad, my m8 owns a body shop and i've worked there in the past so know how to prep, prime, base coat, lacquer, flat and buff to a good finnish, but all this takes time and money! i've done a set of swirleys (silver) and a set of speedline's (black) black is the worst colour to do it shows up every mark! from now on i'l just pay to get them powder coated!, it only works out a little bit dearer when you work out the cost for all the materials and dont forget your time and then dont forget about when you take them to get the tyre's put back on and you get a couple of chips or marks in your pride and joy that you've spent endless hours doing!!!!! ;oops:
 
#15 ·
True, but the evenings I had free, I wasn't bombing away from work to make my wheels as a priority.

*shrug*.

I agree though, it is a tedious process, but I found it to be very very rewarding. I was also very very impressed at the results from the rattle cans -- Far exceeding my hopes, especially for a metallic paint.

Cheers,
Bny
 
#16 ·
okay well i got the last two mounted today, but the place screwed up one and chipped it by dropping it on the edge of a palet..i was mad ...anyway i just finished sanding and repainting while blending it back...ill post pics when i put them on the car tomorrow hopefully itll be nice out

but pics coming in the next few days :D
 
#17 ·
eeke i know i took a while but here are three pics....i know my car is dirty as can be but i just washed her two days ago...damn ny snow and roadsalt:evil: anyway here a couple pics to give i an idea..the paint seems to be holding up really wheel exceot where the damn monkeys frigged up the outer part on the tire mounting machine

Front Side View:


Rear Side View:


Close Up Drivers Wheel:
 
#18 ·
Looks really good. Professionally done or did you decide to try it yourself?

As for the tire monkeys it really pays to find a professional shop with on eof the newer touchless tire installing machines. There is no need anymore for any tool to touch your rims, which is what does the damage.
 
#19 ·
nah i did it myself....had special paint mixed up and used a 2 part 20 dollar a can primer:eek: and a 20 dollar a can 2 part clear coat..overall it probably cost about 200 bucks but that still cheaper than one new wheel at half price so im happy about it.......still if i had to do it again id find out how much powdercoating would cost for all 4..if it was within a 150 dollars of what it cost me id have them sent out to get it done just because the car was off the road for so long because i was so busy and had to find time to do them
 
#20 ·
guess what i just did i made myself a quick sig from a pic i took today to show you guys the wheels and im not allowed to have code in my sig on this forum;oops:


heres what it looked like.... [img]http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/2040/nicesigip6.png
 
#22 ·
nah...i said my mechanic did that to his 95 cse....wanna see more pics of my car(sorry im giddy i never took pics of my car before but i figured i should cause eventually shes gonna be sold and i want some pictures to show my kids in 20 years:D )
 
#25 · (Edited)
They are called "swirleys" i done a set of them in gunmetal grey for my car and they turned out looking good like yours! but a week later i got some 16" speedlines of ebay so never put the swirleys on the car :roll: doing the speedlines black was a pain in the **** but they have come out A1 in the end, here's some pics! well here's a pic of how they was till i can load my new pics up (file too large) ;oops:
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top