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Give your wheels a custom look with these
custom painted wheel instructions. The process is very
easy to install and you can choose just about any color
you can think of. Whether you paint your factory rims
or aftermarket rims is entirely up to you. These instructions
will work on all wheels types including Magnesium wheels.
Please be sure you allow the wheels to fully dry before
replacing them on your vehicle. A clear coat finish will
also prevent your newly painted finish from chipping. |
| Required
Tools and Materials: |
| 1)
Spray Paint
2) Wheel and Tire Cleaner
3) Masking tape or other masking material |
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Painting
Your Own Wheels Process |
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| Do you ever get bored with your old rims? I sure did.
I have the old school Volk "knock offs" Konig Monsoons.
Instead of buying new rims, I decided to paint my old
ones a different color.
Let's get started.
.:: Supplies ::.
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| I used 2 cans of Duplicolor High Performance Wheel Coating
(Graphite), a Scotch-Brite scouring pad, and some smilie
stickers for masking the fake bolts. I also used some
blue masking tape and regular packaging tape for masking
the lip and tires.
The Duplicolor wheel paint can be usually found at your
local auto parts store (Kragens, Autozone, etc.)
.:: Wheel Prep ::.
Remove all the wheels from the car. It helps if you
have a spare set of wheels to put on temporarily.
Wash the wheels with some degreaser detergent to get
all the grease and grime off.
Grab your scotch-brite scouring pad and scuff the entire
surface that's going to be painted. Use a bucket of
water or hose to promote even scuffing. If your painting
straight onto metal (e.g. painting GSR rims or similar),
then make sure to thoroughly scuff the surface.
Reason being, scuffing the original paint is easier
then scuffing metal. The paint adhering to the surface
highly depends on good scuffing. If you feel like the
scouring pad is not scuffing the surface enough, then
you can use 400 grit sandpaper to prepare the surface.
Important Tip Make sure to avoid scuffing the polished
lip of your rims. It's very easy to accidentally scuff
the lip. |
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Once all the wheels are scuffed, wash them one more time
with your degreaser and let them dry completely.
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| .:: Masking ::.
After the wheels are completely dry, set the wheels
on some trash bags in order to protect your floor from
overspray. |
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| Use some blue masking tape to
mask the main edge that will seperate the lip and the
rest of the wheel. |
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| Then use some wide packaging
tape and apply it over the blue tape. |
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| Once you have this "wall
of tape", cut some plastic grocery bags and attach
them to the tape. |
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| Now, if you have bolts or rivets
on your wheel that you would like to keep silver, then
you can use the smilie stickers to mask them. |
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| The last thing to do is to put
the little valve stem covers on. You don't want paint
in those. |
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| .:: Let's Paint! ::.
It's up to you if you want to spray a primer before
the paint. However, the Duplicolor paint does NOT require
primer.
If you do decide to use primer and you're painting
onto bare metal, I suggest using a self-etching metal
primer. You can find this at any local auto-paint store.
The trick to spray painting anything is patience. You
want to spray light coats at 10 minute intervals. Make
sure to keep the nozzle 10-12 inches away form the surface.
Try to keep the spray direction as perpendicular as
possible to the surface.
Another trick to spray painting is to paint the "hard
to reach" places first. For example, paint all
the curves and crevices first. This way you can paint
the flatter, more visible surfaces last. This will result
in the best finish for all the visible surfaces (e.g.
front of the wheel).
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| Once again, it's up to you on
how many coats you want to put on. My suggestion is to
use at least 1½ cans of paint for all 4 wheels.
When the paint is fully dry, remove the masking and
the smilie stickers.
It's also up to you if you want to use a clear coat
over the paint. I chose not to because I wanted a matte
finish. If you choose to use a clear coat, Duplicolor
also sells a Clear Wheel Coating paint (WP103). So that's
it!
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