Paulyy

I'm in the process of painting my wheels. They're stripped to bare aluminium. I've never painted a wheel before so i'm new to this.

The colour: Matte black or a real dark matt grey or matte hyper silver. But will be a matte colour.

If i paint them, I'll be painting them in my spray booth with a spray gun.

Requirements:

The wheels will be used for track days, weekend spirited driving ect. They will have a semi slick tyre on them. So i'll need it to last, with stand braking and brake dust, heat, and stuff flying at it.


Now options:

Option A : powder coating.
how good is it usually? will it last?

Option B aint
same thing, will it last? What paint to use... 2pac, acrylic ect?

anything i should know?

Thanks!

BTW, will post a DIY when i finish the wheels.

odurandina

I'd bake the paint on at about 180 degrees.

Paulyy

Only problem about that is i don't have a heated spray booth.

odurandina

on a calm day about mid-morning, make a SMALL fire on your lawn or small grill.

build up a small bed of hot coals and spread them out.

put like maybe an old radiator or several of bricks over the low fire.
then lay a few sheets of tin foil.


get your fully prepped wheel, (completely free of all oils, including the **** from your oily, sweaty fingers)
hot to the touch but not so hot that your finger gets burned.

lay on the paint slow, (maybe 7~9 thin coats) over the space 20~25 minutes.

set the wheel/s aside to continue to bake in the sun all day.


the paint will be hard as a rock shortly before you go to bed

but even harder not long after, and you'll be worshiping your fine work the following morning.

mikec944

Not sure if this is the direction you would want to go, but you could find someone giving away an electric oven for the cost of hauling it away and buy a powder coating kit from Eastwood.com. I personally can't comment on the quality of the finished product but I have read good reviews. In the long term, you would have the ability to powder coat any other metal part on the car that fits into the oven.

A cheaper way would be to use Spray on Plasti dip. There are many colors available online. It's easily touched up as well. But if the wheels have already been stripped, I would continue with a higher quality job instead of using plasti dip to cover nicely prepped wheels.

Ni944S2

I've done a lot of painting over the years, from wheels to complete cars.

Any catalyzed automotive paint is great for wheels. That's what's done from the factory. It's just the same as painting anything, clean surface, prep, etc.

Powdercoating is good for wheels, too. The only downside of powdercoat is you can't get as "fine" of a finish as with automotive paint. And, generally, you can't control the exact color as closely (for example, it's very difficult, maybe impossible, to exactly color match powdercoat to an existing color) But for a matte color, or race wheels, or situations where the exact color isn't required, powdercoating is a good choice, IMO. It is more durable than auto paint.

Baking doesn't do anything to make the finish "harder" or more durable. The only reason shops heat up cars is to speed up the drying/hardening process. They have to do this because customers need their cars back, and shops need their shop space back, ASAP. So unless you are in a hurry, heating or baking is a waste of time.

Paulyy

some good ideas but id like to stick to me 2 options.
I won't be leaving it outside in the sun, to many bugs or dirt flying around

No plasti dip or cheaper alternatives. I need something durable.

Please, lets stick to my two options

Ni944S2

Between your 2 options, either are great, but I'd go with powdercoat. Mainly because (1) you're not tied to a very specific color, (2) it is more durable than paint.

If you paint, I'd just use any decent 2 part, catalyzed auto paint, base then clear.

tman

I painted a set of turbo twists with urethane base and clear. BMW bronze metallic with flattening agent added to clear. They have a satin finish.
I had to experiment how much flattening agent to add to get the desired finish.
Some companies sell flat clear coat also (PPG).
They came out pretty nice, urethane clear is pretty durable too.
Powdercoat is durable but usually comes out orangepeely, at least what I have seen.
And if you end up damaging the finish there is no touch up you can do, basically complete refinish.
With paint its pretty easy fix or change colors.

tman

odurandina

can you guys post your favorite spray cans ?

admiralkhole

VHT wheel paint, gunmetal

Attachment 1362938

Arominus

I did the rattle can on the last few (dulpicolor wheel enhancement bronze) and it turned out decently. I'm going to refinish the 996 10 spokes i have due to peeling clearcoat but i'm going to do it with a base/clear. I'm avoiding powdercoat so i can refinish them easier in the future.

The bronze has held up well over the last few years, so even the rattle can do well from a longevity standpoint. This is right after i painted them on my 924S, these wheels are now on my 944S as winter rims and they still look good.



As an aside, tman, you car looks pretty awesome in that avatar. Good job sir.

Ni944S2

Good point about powdercoating being impossible to touch up if damaged. Hadn't thought of that.

For that reason alone, I'd go paint instead.

theporscheguy

I just had my Fikse FM10 centers and rear barrel powder coated to get rid of all the small nicks and years of use. The company that did my wheels said that they can repair powder coated wheels as long as they are not clear coated after the powder coating is applied. My wheels turned out very nice.