jimo

Hi everyone,

I posted a thread a little while ago asking for photos of painted rally wheels and spinners, and i received many great photos and ideas, so i have decided to paint my wheels.

Thanks to Redcruz1120 for finding me some spinners (which im awaiting delivery to Australia) so i would like to get started and paint my rally's, but as they already have some silver paint on them, im not sure whats the best approach????

Can i simply paint over the existing paint or should i sand it back, do i need to use a primer before painting, and is it better to spray paint or use a brush?

awaiting your response!!!

Rudy's Stingray

1.) No tires mounted to wheels.
2.) Media blast front and back, remove all grease, oil, road grime.
3.) Be sure to throughly blow out all of the media used to blast.
If you use sand, it will take a while. They like to hide in crevices (between welds)
and will leach out during painting, providing fine graduals all over your painted surface.
Primer will not cover them up.
4.) Self etching primer front and back.
5.) Argent Silver on the front with a semi-gloss black enamel on the back.

I would stuff paper towel or newspaper in between the slots in the
wheels to prevent the two colors floating from one side to the other.
Or for a cleaner way, cut and apply duct tape on the back side.
Now you will not see the backside of the wheel once their mounted
and although these areas are not painted, you still have the etching primer
bonded to the wheel after you peel off the tape.

The semi-gloss black will look stock and will allow for easy cleanup.

Time consuming? Yes.
Worth it doing it right the first time? Priceless.

Trust me.

Rudy

jimo

Hi Rudy,

thanks for the info, yep it does sound time consuming, but your right, its worth doing it right the first time!!

Jim

stpman

THis is how I did the wheels for my 77 Sierra

jimo

thanks

Jim

rvazquez

Rudy, those came out great !!

682XLR8

I did the rallys on my Camaro the same way Rudy did, except I didn't use primer(probably should have). I bought them used, sneaked them into the bead blasting cabinet at work, and went at it

You should be able to find the correct Argent Silver paint any place that sells classic Chevy parts

hicswa

If you want it to look like the factory, let the silver blow pass the holes. The overspay is on the originals when they left the factory.


Danny

64Corvette

If you will get a sword tail bush and drag some of the paint from the spray can or gun down into the crack where the center is fasten to the rim this will prevent rust showing up in the seam. Dragging the paint with a sword tail brush you will have very little paint on either piece. If you do get some paint outside of the seam you can clean it up before you spray. It is very hard to get spray paint down in that seam and inevitably rust begins to show after water gets into the seam!

jimo

thanks for the tip

7T1vette

Suggestion: Paint the back-side of the wheel first, then paint the outside Argent silver. Use blue painter's tape to block-off the lug holes and the slots from the backside, but don't 'fill' those holes with anything when masking. The inside edges of those holes should be painted silver, as well.

jimo

thanks

Rudy's Stingray

Greetings!

Initially, I did try using the painters tape.
When I give a recommendation for anything,
it's after I have tried the "Choice" or "Preferred" method first.
Unfortunately, the painter's tape (in my case) peeled back off of
the wheel.

The 3M tape adhesive apparently didn't cure against the
self etching primer. Depending upon the various adhesives tape
manufacturer's made, could be the reason why the adhesion for one,
didn't work for the other. I thought 3M was the best.

Hence, the recommendation for the duct tape.
Superior adhesion and no chance for drips. Again, depending
about how "****" you want to be in regards to how the "Correct" look
will be if, the tires/wheels are ever removed from the car for judging -
I don't think NCRS or Bloomington Gold go to that extreme, duct tape
would be your most guaranteed way.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but only about 45% of the entire painted
surface (show side) is even evident once the center caps and trip rings
are in place.

Personally, I'm pretty "****" when it comes to the "Correct look".
However, I think my wheels look quite nice from the show side and
with the rust preventive, self-etching primer on the backside of
wheels, I'm quite confident the wheels will live beyond the
rest of my life and I'll be 48 this year.

Rudy

Mark G

I pretty much agree with the main response, with the following suggestions:

1) You could also strip yours with stripper if the rims are not rusty and you don't have a blaster of any type available to you. Light sandpaper on lightly rusted areas.

2) After the self-etching primer, spray backside with semi-gloss paint.

3) Spray argent silver, but when I spray rims, I spray with a catalyzed paint out of a spray gun. It cures much harder than spray can paint and lasts much longer ..and cleans off better. If you want to knock down the shine to a semi gloss appearance, add some flattening agent to your mixed paint (PPG make flattening agent). This assumes you have access to a compressor and spray equipment.

4) If you want them to have the factory appearance, you would want to paint with the slots uncovered allowing some overspray on the backside of the rims. There is an article on how to do this in the most recent article of Corvette Enthusiest.

Mark G

jimo

thanks for that Rudy,

jimo

sounds good to me Mark.