painting wheels

[stevesfocus]

is it possible to paint chrome wheels? if so how do you go about doing it? thanks

[Nliiitend1]

Are we talking genuine chrome here (which implies a coating process), or polished aluminum?

Real chromed wheels would pose a bit more of a challenge I believe, but polished aluminum can be done pretty easity. It just needs to be scuffed (or acid etched), primed, and painted.

[stevesfocus]

real chrome no polishing here the rims were 1500 so they better be real chrome haha

[2xtremefocus]

It's pretty simple. Except with chrome, there's an extra step or two you have to do to make it work.

It's just like painting any other metal body part on a car. Except, with chrome, you have to use a grinder or fairly coarse sandpaper to take off all the chrome plating, or acid dip them to remove chrome. Then, it business as usual like you were painting any other metal body part on a car.

I'll lay it out for ya.

1) Remove chrome plating, grind it, sand it, or acid dip it.
2) Smooth out areas to be painted
3) Do any bodywork needed (filling of scratches/gouges)
4) Sand Fillers smooth
5) Apply self-etching primer to bare metal. You can also use epoxy primer, as both will give corrosion protection, I prefer etch primer myself, you don't need but one coat of it, as opposed to a couple of coats of epoxy.
6) If using epoxy primer, give it a light sanding with like 600 grit to take out any imperfections. Etch primer shouldn't need any sanding, as it's a one coat deal, and not a heavy coat, so you shouldn't get any runs or imperfections that need sanding.
7) Apply a good primer. I like a nice grey high-fill primer. 2-3 coats will do fine. I usually do 3 coats on my jobs.
8) Sand out your high fill primer to 1000 grit. You should be able to start with a light 400, then 600, 800, then a final wetsand with 1000 should give you a beautiful surface to paint.
8) Apply your color coat. If using a basecoat/clearcoat system, I'd go with 3 coats, you may want to go with more if using a light color like white or yellow, but even then 4 should be good.
9) Colorsand to remove any dirt nibs or runs.
10) Any spots that are down to primer after colorsand will need to be re-painted.
11) Colorsand your areas you had to re-paint.
12) Apply clearcoat if using a basecoat/clearcoat system. If using a single-stage paint, you don't need to go any farther than Step 11. I usually go 3 wet coats of clear. Wet coat means heavy, but not heavy enough to run the clear.
13) Wetsand your clearcoat starting with 800 grit lightly, then 1000, 1500, and 2000. I even go one step beyond 2000 and use 3M Trizact 3000 grit to get it perfect.
14) Wheel out your clear to get that nice shine. When wheeling, you don't want to burn the clear, so don't sit in a spot, keep the wheel moving smoothly over the surface. Wheeling is probably the most boring, tedious process of the process, but it's what gives you the shine, so take your time, and be patient if you want it to look good.

When I did a fender on my car, I used single-stage black on it. I didn't even have to wheel it out, it laid out damn near perfect, and it looked like the rest of the car, even up close it looked great. So, to save a bit of time and money, I'd use single stage on wheels.

Another good option for wheels is powdercoat. I've got a couple guys up here that do great powdercoat. One in Belleville, MI that quoted me $45 a wheel for 16x7 inch wheels, and one in Grand Blanc, MI that quoted me $25 per wheel. The guy in Belleville is closer to me, so I'd use him when figuring in cost to get to Grand Blanc, about an hour drive. Both guys prefer to have wheels sandblasted/media blasted and ready to go when they get them, but they both have sandblasting available for an extra charge. The guy in Belleville charges $35 a wheel for blasting. I can get you info if you're interested in possibly sending you wheels up this way to get them done.

Any other questions, feel free to ask, just shoot me a PM.