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DIY Wheel painting ?

T

theSCHAFF

Hard-core CEG'er
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Nov 21, 2006
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I'm going to pain my E1's black and was just wondering if anybody's done a DIY with pics of this process ? if not, no big deal it's pretty self explanitory, take wheels off, mask tire/center cap, and spray. but it would just be helpfull.... and need your oppinion, i'm sellin the car in a few months and my g/f says she doesn't think i should paint them cuz it may hinder the # of buyers ?
 
theSCHAFF said:
I'm going to pain my E1's black and was just wondering if anybody's done a DIY with pics of this process ? if not, no big deal it's pretty self explanitory, take wheels off, mask tire/center cap, and spray. but it would just be helpfull.... and need your oppinion, i'm sellin the car in a few months and my g/f says she doesn't think i should paint them cuz it may hinder the # of buyers ?
Click to expand...

:nonono:

Do not paint them. If you think it is that easy to paint them, then it is not worth painting. The paint will not last. It takes much more effort (sanding, many coats, wetsanding) to get them to come out nice. If you do not do it properly, the paint will chip very easily and will not last.
 
Why would you bother painting wheels if you're going to be selling the car in a couple months? :shrug:

And the correct way to do it would involve a lot of prep work. I would pop the center caps off and put them in a safe place.

1. Clean the wheels COMPLETELY of any dirt/tar, rinse them clean, dry them off.
2. Sand the entire surface that you're going to paint with some rough grit sand paper
3. Rinse and dry again.
4. Tape off tire and valve stem.
5. Spray several thin layers of paint rather than a few thick ones.
6. You can also sand between layers with a fine grit sand paper if you choose.
7. Give them time to dry.
8. Spray with several thin layers of clear coat (you can even sand between these with fine grit paper)

That's not a perfect tutorial by any means but that's what I followed when I did the wheels on my old beater:
probe-1.jpg
 
If you're hellbent on painting them, which as stated above is not recommended (i'd go with powdercoat). I'd go with aircraft paint stripper instead of sanding.
 
it's deffinantly something i've been wanting to do, because i think it would look really nice. but like i said since i'm selling it, i may just ignore the itch to paint them and leave them alone.... i keep havening to talk myself out of buying more parts for it! I'm going to be soo sad once she's gone! :mad:
 
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