Repainting wheels

[RawrImAMonster]

Has anyone here ever gotten their stock wheels repainted. The aluminum coat is starting to come off on mine since they are 10 years old now. I would really like to get this done, but it might just be cheaper to get new ones. Anyways, if anyone here has had this done, could you post about how much it cost you for everything (sandblasting, repainting, clearcoat, etc).

[Fireball27]

Re: Repainting wheels

If you do it yourself theres no way it'll cost you more than a G

[T-Mill]

Re: Repainting wheels

make sure that if you do it yourself, you go get them rebalanced first, and ask them to put the weights on the inside of the rim. And make sure they don't static balance them, because that is when they only put weights on one side of the wheel. Most machines call it ALLOY-2 balancing, which is what you want, it's a crimped weight on the inside, and then a sticky weight toward the outter edge of the inside of the rim. I think I've seen kits before to paint rims.


What color were you thinking... just curious

[RawrImAMonster]

Re: Repainting wheels

I want them to be the same color as they already are. Most of the clearcoat of mine has worn away and the aluminum paint is starting to wear off as well so it leaves these nasty brown spots.

[cam98aro]

Re: Repainting wheels

I want them to be the same color as they already are. Most of the clearcoat of mine has worn away and the aluminum paint is starting to wear off as well so it leaves these nasty brown spots.

it sucks... im getting that also

[loser]

Re: Repainting wheels

sand them down, paint them, clear coat them and your done. spray paint works fine if done right. ask a body shop how much they'd charge, id guess around $300 or so, but thats a rough guess. $300 is really high so id figure it'd be lower. powder coating is also another option, but will be more expensive than paint probally.

[CDNFB]

Re: Repainting wheels

Why don't you look into having them Flame Sprayed?

Check out http://www.twi.co.uk/j32k/protected/.../ksrdh001.html

We get the fuel panels for our aircraft refurbished using this process and the results are really impressive. I will be having this done to my rims when the time comes.

[98 3.8]

Re: Repainting wheels

Why don't you look into having them Flame Sprayed?

Check out http://www.twi.co.uk/j32k/protected/.../ksrdh001.html

We get the fuel panels for our aircraft refurbished using this process and the results are really impressive. I will be having this done to my rims when the time comes.

Any pics of what this looks like?

[cam98aro]

Re: Repainting wheels

what if you went down to the store, and bought some of that Chrome spraypaint, painted the rims, with a few coats, sanded them down, and cleared them... do you think it would look just as good as the chrome ones?

[loser]

Re: Repainting wheels

what if you went down to the store, and bought some of that Chrome spraypaint, painted the rims, with a few coats, sanded them down, and cleared them... do you think it would look just as good as the chrome ones?

nope, just looks silver. i got bored a while ago and tryed doing it to my old pedal bike. just looked silver-ish, maybe a tad bit shinyer than normal glossy silver but not much. i wasnt surprised,disapointed yes. chrome isnt something that will ever come out of a can.

[Fireball27]

Re: Repainting wheels

nope, just looks silver. i got bored a while ago and tryed doing it to my old pedal bike. just looked silver-ish, maybe a tad bit shinyer than normal glossy silver but not much. i wasnt surprised,disapointed yes. chrome isnt something that will ever come out of a can.

Unless its molten... but then the can would be reeeeally reeeally hot... so thats probably not a good idea.

Anyway, i wouldn't waste your time. Just save up some money and buy new rims.

[CDNFB]

Re: Repainting wheels

Regarding Flame Spraying:

Any pics of what this looks like?

I don't have an pics at the moment. I'll try to drum something up for you to see. To explain it, the finish is the same as found on the original silver factory 5 spoke rims that are presently on my 99 FB. Aparently the finishes that can be obtained are now pretty good, but I would not expect it to be a mirror finish like chrome.