kghaas

In this time of economic turmoil, the cheapest way to improve/change the looks of your car is to just paint your wheels.

I am particular fond of white, but all colours goes

Show your painted wheels!

2008- Winter tires: 15" Enkei


2009 season: 17" Turbo copies. Heavy as hell!


2010-11 season: 16" phones.


2012 season: 18" Techart performance



Red stripe is now off. Couldn't get it even so it didn't look good...

pa951

'86 951 Wheels: 8j18 et 49 with 32mm spacer and 9.5j19 et 52 with 42mm spacer. Tyres Pirelli 225/40/18 and 265/35/18

Scott 951

I gave up on trying to maintain the Anodized finish on my FUCHS.....found a tip over on the 911 board where you simply paint them using "Rustoleum Satin Black".....they look great wouldn't win a concours with them but I drive my car.

Also, I cringed at paying $100+ for painted center caps....just used some old fashioned testor model paint for a total cost of $10.00 and viola !!!!!!!!!!!

drift a 944

Mine started out with silver phone dials.


I quickly painted them a flat olive green primer, which would be the base for whatever was next to come...


I chose Porsche factory color "Signal Green" with a front splitter to match.


Eventually picked up a set of Cup-I's and temporarily painted them pumpkin orange.


But I got tired of everyone calling it the "halloween car" so I went back to the signal green, with hand painted center caps.


The green front splitter went back on of course.


For a short while I rode around on these custom 3-piece wheels. Unknown make or origin. The look just wasn't suited right though, at least with the green. I have big plans for these wheels on my other car.




I also tried a set of Fikse FM10's, however they were a bit too expensive to risk smashing up. (as you can see by this close call)!




So for now I'm sticking with the Cup-I's until I find something cooler. The Cup-I's look more adequate for the color scheme, are light and (almost) wide enough, and are easy to clean after a full day of shredding.

dillon410021

boxster wheels, phone dials

aben8057

Elliot-
How about some tips on painting them. I like how your white ROH's look and wss curious if you guys had any tips to share.

dillon410021

dillon410021

more shots. the last one is my new wheels. TR Motorsports F2 wheels

Dougs951

I like orange.

alxdgr8

Rattle canned over the half sandblasted original paint just to see if I liked the scheme. I will be reblasting and powdercoating them red eventually. Have two sets of 18" cup II's so I am planning on doing one set in red and one set in white to go on the 968.

fortysixandtwo

More white phone dials.



I added some pearl to help give them some definition

drift a 944

It mostly depends on the beginning condition of the wheels. I suppose I could do a mini write-up... With painting wheels everyone has there different ways of doing it, but I'll admit I'm no perfectionist so my method is pretty easy and I like to skip some steps like removing tires, etc., but it has proven to be effective and the finish is overall great.

1. If they are pretty smooth already and you just want to change the color, I usually just use some 3M Scotch-Brite scuffing pads and scuff the wheels so there is no shine to the old finish.
If they are rough, pitted, curb-rashed, etc. then you will need to sand and sand until you are content with the smoothness. You can also sand or bead blast them if you have the resources. I NEVER recommend aircraft paint stripper personally because it's such a huge mess and difficult to remove every spec of paint. But if you have the time and patience, it does work.

2. Clean well with some Prep-All wax & grease remover. It cleans the surfaces really well, and evaporates super fast so you are ready to touch or mask immediately.

3. Mask off tires, valvestems, maybe the back barrels of the wheels, anything you don't want to get overspray on.

4. Prime - Since I usually don't sand to a super-duper smooth finish before priming, I usually use some good filler primer, or something with really strong adhering properties. If you are priming onto bare metal, try some self-etching primer. A lot of people like to skip the primer step, but that's really what keeps the paint from flaking.

5. After primer is dry, inspect carefully for flaws like runs, crackling, etc. If you see any, lightly wetsand and then put another coat on.

6. Paint away... For the best finish I like to use 2-stage paint (same type to paint a car, nothing fancy). Since wheels take a lot of abuse from road debris and heat, I like to mix a little extra hardening agent in while mixing my paint, at least in the clearcoats. Apply at least 2-3 coats of color, and then another 2-3 coats of clear.

That's basically what I did with the green wheels I pictured above, as well as the white ROH's and many many other wheels for friends and family. It's fun and by doing it yourself you get that good self fulfillment feeling.

kghaas

I totally agree with Elliott's write up. Identical to my own process. I prefer to use industrial paint, like the one used on trucks, lifts, containers etc. I then put on a layer of industrial clear as well. Looks good and is more durable than car paint. I guess its somewhere between powder and car paint in durability. Had no issues with flaking on my winter tires for 5 years.

The nice thing about industrial paint is that it can be applied directly to the metall. So if you have polished alu, you can actually paint it without primer. On all other surfaces I use primer.

drift a 944

kghaas - thanks! And your new Techart wheels look AWESOME by the way!!!

Wishmaster