Catfood

Im planning on painting my wheels over my spring break, they are the phone dial wheels, Im not really interested in powdercoating I would like a cheap way to do this. I kinda wanted to be done with them before the break was over. I was just gonna clean em up real good and then spray paint them. Is there a better way, please lend your expertise rennlisters.

Keithr726

Its all about prep work, the more you do the better they'll look

https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-944-951-968-forum/287648-my-phonedials-redo.html

Potomac-Greg

I did some mercedes wheels. Clear coat is your friend. If possible, start by unmounting the tires. Masking the tires off is a bear, and you'll miss spots.

CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN. Even a tiny residual of oil or tire black will totally screw up the paint.

I found that one of those 5 gallon buckets is the perfect stand. You put the wheel on there and you can spin it and walk around it. Avoid windy areas.

That write-up (above) seems to skip a step. You do NOT end up with bright, polished aluminum just by stripping the paint. Someone put a lot of muscle into polishing those lips.

AND, unless the old paint was really loose, I would not strip it. I did this to polish my wheel lips, and unless you're polishing the wheel, you're much better off leaving the old paint on. The primer is very thick and hard to strip. And once you start, you can't turn back.

potent951turbo

I have repainted two sets of phone dials in the past. Do not try and strip the old paint down to the bare metal. Stripper does not work all that well in taking the factory primer off so once you start trying to go to bare metal you find out it is a lot more work for nothing, and the metal has a rough texture to it. I would recommend just prepping the surface and cleaning off the old silver paint, and using the factory primer as your base starting point.

knfeparty

I wouldn't do powdercoating just yet- I am actually going to be doing some experimentation soon to determine how much powdercoating weakens the wheels since the question comes up a lot.

944obscene

Please don't do flat black. Every time I see flat black painted wheels, I can't think of anything but pressed steel wheels, missing their hub caps... I hate that look.

FRporscheman

Whatever paint you intend to use, test it out on some cardboard first. My dad bought some boxster twists that had realy bad curb rash, and he bought some silver wheel paint and gave it all to me to refinish for him. I told him he should buy the Wurth silver wheel paint as that is the OEM paint for the wheels... he said "nah, this stuff is good". I painted the wheels, and the damn paint was sparkly glittery silver. Ick.

944obscene

lol, like boat paint. Ready to go fishin'?

Catfood

good stuff guys I must say Im impressed, I guess I just need your opinions, I was gonna unmount the wheels, but I was gonna paint the entire face black, like the porsche center caps and the lips. Is there any type of spray paint that is preferred? Should I paint it all black?

Marcquito

sandblast them if you can- then paint.

FRporscheman

Personally, I'm not a fan of black phone dials. But they're your wheels and you should paint them however you like. It would be best to buy paint made for wheels - it should be available in many colors at Kragen or NAPA or whatever. Don't forget to get primer and sand paper while you're there!

I think a really dark silver / gunmetal might look cool.

potent951turbo

IMO I would respray them with the Wurth silver wheel paint that was mentioned already. I have seen pictures of it, and it looks factory. I have considered black wheels before but they really don't make the car stand out much. Plus I just sold a red 951 this past summer that had black wheels and it really took away from the car IMO. It looked good at first, but quickly lost its appeal.

xsboost90

dont sand blast them or strip them. The original paint makes the best primer you could need. Unless your powdercoating them. If your doing the can thing i would use duplicolor RIM paint-wheel paint cant remember but it has chemical resistance and cures out alittle faster. Keeps brake dust from sticking and holds up better.

jstand22

I used the dupli-color wheel paint xboost is talking about...it's available at autozone.

I stripped these as bare as I could, using Aircraft Remover, sandpaper, and my tears (the factory primer is awful, I'd recommend leaving it on as xboost said.) I did 1 light coat 1 medium and 1 light coat of primer, 1 light coat 2 medium coats of silver Dupli-color wheel paint, and a light and medium coat of dupli-color clear coat...make sure you do a clear coat.
Here's some pics of two of the finished wheels:

Sysgen

I had to strip mines because they were so badly damaged but I agree with others, if the surface is not damaged, just lightly sand them and use that as a base coat. Take your time and it will turn out great.

I've finished mine with a clear coat and it really makes a difference.