2MCHPWR

hi - i guess its a silly question
But I bought a set and they are already rattle canned black (3 of them) and 1 is matte grey. they all look bad.

I wish they were the stock gray.
Can I remove the rattle can paint? how?
Or can I just find the stock color in a rattle can and hit them up again? anyone one if there is such a thing (speedline gray in a rattle can)?

or any other suggestions?

Not looking for show car but just decent looking for the track.

MongoZ06

Get some Aircraft Stripper and that will remove the current paint job plus the factory powder coating, otherwise expect to spend a lot of time sanding.

I've been working on a set of "wagon" wheels for the track and the aircraft stripper worked great. I went back with a wire wheel brush on my cordless drill to finish up some of the areas that paint remover didn't get that well.

I highly recommend using a good primer and possibly scuffing up the rim a bit before applying the primer on the machine finished sections if you do in fact strip the wheels down to the metal.

I'm sure you can find color that is close, I went with a little bit darker gray metallic and love it over the lighter gray that comes factory.

I did my factory z wheels a couple years ago and will be doing them again when it's time for new tires. That was my first time doing the wheels and have since learned from my mistakes and what to do differently.

Han Solo

I've used Duplicolor touch up spray paint before that looked pretty good. I think the last time I went for a factory look on some silver wheels I chose a Toyota metallic silver that was very close the the Vette wheels. Although I wasn't working on a vette.

I see they offer some wheel coatings but have not had any experience with them.
http://www.duplicolor.com/products/wheelCoating/

froggy47

I did this once (aircraft stripper) which is just a "brand" of stripper as far as I know.

These days you can't get a decent diy stripper in CA due to enviro laws.

I would get them done by a real painter shop before I'd do it again. Too much work to make them look good and if you don't put the prep in it'll just look like cheap rattle can job & chip easy.

Kubs

I would get a quote to see how much sand blasting would cost. No matter what color you paint them, I have not come across a wheel paint, high temp paint, or anything else rattle can that will not change color with brake heat. The CCWs on my car used to all be the same color. They all used to be a nice titanium silver, but look at the fronts:

johninar

Find a shop that does "sand blasting" with a bead of some sort. Too aggressive a sand blaster will pit the surface. Find the right shop and have it done. I spent hours and hours trying to strip wheels only to pack them up and have them blasted. Powder coating really worked well for me.

Donny Brass

platic dip paint...... paint it on, peel it off when you are sick of it

Han Solo

Bead blasting is a good suggestion. They should fit in a decent size cabinet. The media I have at work leaves a very fine textured surface.

Be damn careful if you plastidip them. Make sure to remove the plastidip from the lug surface prior to installing them. plastidip will be much heavier than paint also.

This is a set of wheels I painted with a metallic gold Rustoleum paint. These had been autocrossed for a year or so before this picture was taken.

FASTFATBOY

Look on Youtube for "stripping wheels".

Strip them, then clear.....instant Z16 wheels.

RogerT

For the stock appearance, hand sand lightly, prime with with Duplicolor's self-etching primer, then use Duplicolor's "Argent" color for factory look. You can clear coat or leave as-is so you can touch-up later.

Roger T

waddisme

Not sure if the silver would cover the black, but stripping them is a lot of work. When I was doing square 18" Z06 track wheels, I wanted to do them in flat black so the brake dust wouldn't show up. I wasn't sure if it was worth the effort to strip them, so I stripped 2 of them with the aircraft stripper and two I prepped with the Dupont paint prep and a scotchbrite pad. Then I rattle canned them flat black with 3 to 4 coats. 20+ track days later they have not even had to be retouched, even through multiple tire changes. And the paint prepped ones have held up just as well as the stripped ones. The only thing about the stripped ones, any small part of old paint not stripped tends to show up. BTW, the spray on stripper at Wally World is useless, it needs to be the professional grade if you go that route. HTH.

69427

Bought a set of C5Z wheels last year. The PO had painted them a color that was painful to look at. I spent a ton of time with paint stripper and sandpaper, and there's still paint areas that need removing. My next step is to pull the tires off and soak the wheels in a large bucket of lacquer thinner. If that doesn't work then glass beading may be necessary.

Way more headache than I had anticipated.

John Shiels

how much will that much thinner cost?

froggy47

$$$$$$$

PS I don't think it'll work.

Take the wheels to a local furniture stripper/refinisher and offer $20 a wheel to strip them.

They have a tank of nasty chemicals & do it all day long.

69427

Shouldn't be much. Just flip the wheels upside down in a large bucket and pour in a few inches of depth. A couple or three gallons should be sufficient.

moespeeds

Acetone will take off rattle can paint, but will not harm the powdercoat. It will take a lot of elbow grease, but it can be done. If you get them blasted, find a shop that does soda blasting. That will take off the paint very nicely, but will also leave the powdercoat.