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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 Type S 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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