Ktholin

A few months back I posted a thread asking how to apply paint to a highly polished wheel cover. DUB suggested that the areas be masked with vinyl tape and carefully etched using aluminum oxide media in a blast cabinet. Well, I finally got around to trying his suggestion and it worked great!

The masking itself took about 1.5 hours per cover using 1/4 inch tape. After etching with the media, I used SEM self etching primer followed by two coats of single stage polyurethane. The tape pulled off cleanly leaving sharp lines. I couldn't be happier with the results. The photos below show the cover after etching and the final result. Thanks, DUB for your help.

DUB

It turned out really nice. Glad to be of some help with my suggestion.

Yeah...and at 1 1/2 hours per hub cap....I have NO DOUBT that is what you spent to get it right. I know some people would have a cow if I priced them to do it for them and they would thing I am crazy. At that point..I would hand them the tape and let them have at it and show me how to do it.

VERY NICE JOB!!!!

DUB

Dave Tracy

Very Nice!

Ktholin

One of the tools that really helped with the tedious and precise application of the 1/4 inch tape was a set of 2.5x dental magnifying loupes. In fact, because each of the 72(!) ribs were slightly wider than 1/4 inch, I had to use 2 tape strips for each one! Magnification really reduces the tedium. I also had my paint supplier make up aeresol cans of my paint so it was much easier than dragging out my spray equipment.

csherman

Great work