chancecasey

The OEMs are glossy and most people prefer the look. Guess someone would have to try the satin finish and see what it looks like.

springer3

Important point. You risk having your new paint upset next to the lug holes. Worse, the new paint will creep behind the lug nuts and your wheels will get loose. Put masking tape around 5 nuts except for the sphereical seat. Smear the sphereical section of the nut with a thin coat of white grease or something similar, and place the lug nuts in place. Remove the nuts as soon as the clear is tack-free to break any paint sags between the nut and the wheel (spray light coats and this is less of the problem). Any yes, you do want the gloss version. Satin is more difficult to use, does not look as good, and for some reason I don't think it will shed dirt quite as well.

Post your pics when done!

chancecasey

DUDE - the taping the lugs is EXACTLY what I was thinking - I guess great minds think alike

So, I missed kind of an important point in the other thread - DON'T go down all the way to the metal. Don't have any idea why i thought i needed to. That OEM paint will take many many many applications of stripper, steel wool, and everything else you can find in your garage to thow at it. Oh well, I really learned my lesson on that one. Hours and hours on one wheel. But it's done. I will just cut the clear coat on the next one. sheesh.

The 2 bad wheels were exactly alike - here's the before

chancecasey

another before shot

chancecasey

As you can see just about every last bit of old paint is off on one wheel - i will definitely not do this again! It will be a good experiment to see how it goes though - hopefully the non-baked application i'll do on bare aluminum will hold up as well as the other. You can't really tell from this pic but those 2 spoke gouges and just about every mar on the rim are totally gone.

axl911

What silver paint are you using? Are you planning on matching the original finish?

chancecasey

The Einszatt (spelling?) Silber from Pelican. Supposed to be an exact match to the Wurth, which is supposed to be exact match of OEM. Pelican says Wurth won't have any more to export until Feb '07.

When I'm done I'll lay them side by side to the OEM, take some pics, and see if anyone can tell the diff.

chancecasey

OK a little progress and gratuitous pics.

On the left is the right way, on the right is the wrong way.

chancecasey

on the rear wheel

chancecasey

not much to see here except a little paint left over - but it has been sanded to match the surrounding aluminum very well - I think it should blend in fine with the new paint...

chancecasey

pretty, huh?

chancecasey

Well, after only going throught the clearcoat on the second one, much faster, I was able to mask and shoot a coat - just before my wife was ready to strangle our 4yr old boy

STEP 1 - thinner masking tape works best for this, work in small strips - right against the ridge (it's at the bottom of the tape line). everything to the 'outside' of that tapeline can get overspray harmlessly - no need to mask the curvy (and would be tricky and need to be remasked every coat) spokes. I'm leaving this mask on thoughout the process because it's on ridge on the inside and I can sand it if necessary...

chancecasey

STEP 2 - finish this mask with paper towels and more tape - when done loosely fold the towels in and hold with a little tape - they will hang away from the spokes but the inner rim is protected.

chancecasey

STEP 3 - mask top and paint - I just put tape sticky side out on the center hole and put some wadded paper towel in - and since I don't have any extra lugs - I just used little wads of paper toweld down there. decided it was no big deal because wrenches are clanging down that close anyway.

Important tip - no need for the outside mask tape w/o tires because of direction of spray - from here on out my only masking work between coats will be the center hole.

First coat looks good on both wheels - amazingly the totally stripped one looks a lot better - the one with paint left on it has some steel wool scars I couldn'nt really see until that paint went on. I'm done for now - will try to 400 grit the imperfections and do another coat. Maybe later tonight.

wsybert

Looking good. What did you use trying to strip the paint, or did you just sand them?
I was the one suggesting to strip them, hope I did not cause you a lot of extra work. I may not do that myself, seeing what it took to get the factory finish off.
I do have access to a bead/sand blaster, may be a faster way to go.
I will be curious to see how the clear goes on... I may opt to go with an automotive urethane clear.
Also, what are you using as a primer?
I appreciate the info and pics.
Keep us posted.