So a friend of mine made me a deal:
He buys me dinner and I paint his wheels (he supplies the paint)
So I did a test-run on a spare rim I had lying around.

There's the rim.

Starting the taping

That razor made such an amazing difference! Smooth edges and nice lines

Almost all taped up

Decided to add a little bit of Lip

All Taped up!

Primered

And colored

Another shot of the color. The particles sticking through are from not blowing dust off before primering... Would have been a good idea to have done that. (mental note to self for next time). But otherwise it is nice and flat.

 

Now here's where I have messed up in the past and... well... messed up again

The Clear coat...

Very textured, it flattened out a little but not much...
A friend decided I was putting too much on at once.
Thoughts? Too little air? Maybe too much hardener?

Unveiling

The finished product.

Looks a little star-wars-y to me. Not sure if I like it or not...
If I were to actually be doing this to use, I'd polish out the lip but it was just a trial to see if i'd mess up.

 

Call me nuts but i kinda like the textured look on the black. the brown does make it look too star-wars-ee for my taste tho. prolly use a diff color like red or just polish it all out real good before you paint. Looks good for a test run. As for getting rid of the texture...no dice from me. I'm a paint virgin.

 

lol ok its crinkling. you need to wait for the paint to flash then apply another coat. i dont suggest a can paint because it does not have a hardener in it. u should really scuff the wheel b4 u apply paint so it sticks better.

 

The texture look isn't that horrible I suppose, I might be able to flatten it out still with some 2000 grit paper... I'm glad someone else understands what I mean by it looks like star wars. All my friends think i'm crazy.

 

ditto ^^^^

go with lots of thin coats. and let a half hour between since it should dry fast as a thin coat. dont just scuff it either. completly sand it so its clean use like 1000grit and then wipe it down with wax and grease remove. then go with thin coats and kots of them and plenty of time inbetween so they dry. looks like your just rushing in and not preping nor allowing the coats to dry.


i say powder coat them though honestly. got a old oven? buy the powder and go to town.

 

For the primer I used an aerosol can since I plan on doing a lot of primering in the future and I didn't feel like having to mix that each time.
As for the color and clear coat, I used a gun and mixed the stuff myself.
The color was 2 parts color - 1 part reducer
The clear was 4 parts clear - 1 part hardener

(you're saying can as in spray paint can right? if not, could you explain more?)

How long do you suggest waiting? I kind of had a panic when I saw it textured so badly while i was doing it thinking there was not enough on the first coat.

Do you mean scuff between the primer and the paint? Or is just before the primer good enough?
I did lightly sand the wheel before I primered but it was kind of half-assed since this isn't for keeps. (forgot to mention that step and take a picture of that) On the real wheels I'll probably put more time into sanding them.

 

I was reading on the can for the color to do about 3 wet coats (like waiting 5 minutes or so between coats - which I did and I think the black came out well - and then laying one last coat down around 20 minutes later) do you suggest that? Or should I wait for each coat to fully dry?

For the clear I did not wait like I did for the black cause it looked really un-even. When you paint clear, does it look really bad like that all the time between coats?

I don't have an old oven and the kid seemed pretty set on paint. *shrugs*

 

when i paint with sutff like that i wait almost an hour between coats. i thought you were using rattle cans. and clear is a slow drying process. just toss on one heavy coat and then dont go over it for a WHILE! clear has a wierd drying process. one coat of clear, wait a long time then sand it and throw on another coat and wait a while and sand and thats all you realy need. i usually dont sand clear until the next day. and like i said once you got on coat down dont try to go over it

 

how warm was it when you were paintin?

 

also i wouldnt paint outside. and clear requires a specific tempurature to cure.

 

actually clear will harden depending what hardener you use. its its cold you use slow hardener if its hot fast hardener, if its warm medium hardener. about the paint what was ratio to the paint? 1000 grit i really doubt will get out those wrinkles in the paint. i would 400 over it. 1000 grit is good if your gonna blend or have a small run. gotta be careful with fine grit because they can burn the paint. since your not baking your paint let your paint flash (when the paint gets tacky) also wax and grease b4 u put your coat on will help from fish eyes. The reason why your paint wrinkled is because the bottom coat was not dry before you put on your other coat.

by scuff i meant 400. sorry its just a collision repair term we use at school.

 

i wasnt talking 100 for the paint, i meant on the bare metal to clean it up prior to paint. and slow hardner still is like a 60 degree requirement.

 

you can 240 grit it, then u prime. block the primer. wet sand it with 400. dry, blow it off, wax and grease it, tack rag it, then put a dull coat of paint, tack rag it to get over spray off, apply another coat dull coat of paint, let it fully dry. Once its dry tack rag it again for the last time and apply your clear coat to your liking. ... truly primer is only a liquid putty. aerosol cans do not protect corrosion. since its a alum wheel no real biggy. why in body shops we use a sealer before we paint. we can even tint the sealer to help the paint. other places have different techniques but this is how I was told to do it and is how i do it.

 

awww yes, forgot about tack ragging it. its like this waxy rag the doesnt leave residue really but picks up dust and crap when the paint is dry so you dont paint over dust/over spray. etc.

 

It was about 60 - 65. Definitely warm enough to be in shorts and shirtless outside. I have to paint out back for fear of the Boulder-ites and their hippy ways.
(actually really the fact that our garages are all close together and so neighbor's cars are within just a few feet from my garage.)

Ah-ha makes sense why on another forum I saw people sealing it first.
Also, I was using the Etching primer, I dunno if that helps at all. Just know I should use that on metal.

Was just about to ask what tack ragging was - Thanks.

 

you know why it looks star warsy? it looks dead set like the imperial logo. i found with painting metal surfaces (my brake calipers) that the uneven paint was a result as a ill primed surface, by primed i mean prepped too. in knowing that your going to paint them, the first step would be to clean the surface( i noted you had a hose and bucket in pic1) but i'm talking metholated spirits or mineral terpentine,hard rub to make sure any residue is completely gone. secondly a fine grit sandpaper over the whole surface to be painted to smooth it out and get rid of any left over impurities and slight variations in the surface it may have picked up over the years for whatever reason. finally one more wipe with the solvents and leave for 10min so that all residie has evaporated. finally right before you spray wipe over with a soft cloth if dust has aleady begun to build up

 

SS,

Your crinkle is coming from one of two things

solvents coming out of the color coat because it hasn't flashed yet

or

your clear is incompatible with your base which is causing your base to lift

why aren't you using catalyst in your base as well?

btw I know what you mean about the boulderites, I am here too. I just got a letter from my HOA accusing me of running an auto restoration business.

-Justin

 

So I painted his wheels this last weekend - came out much better than the test run.
Things I did differently:
I let the base coat dry a lot longer before I went to paint the clear.
I did not add as much hardener to the clear
I upped the pressure letting it come out a bit finer/smoother

Thanks for your guy's suggestions

Justin - funny you mention the HOA
Half way through adding the black to one of the wheels I look up and there were 3 women with their arms crossed.
They were with the HOA and weren't happy with me at all.

Apparently painting kills "native owls"....

 

The wheels getting sanded:



Painting the wheels:



Letting them dry:





before the clear:



After clear (still wet):

 

Almost dry:



Final Thing:








Then when they were completely dry, we took 'em out for a spin and got pulled over for the tint being too dark....

 

not bad , good job

 

and what evidence do they have to back this up?

 

LOL! be like, b!tch shut up and show me ur hooters.

 

Haha, thanks. I almost feel comfortable painting people's things now