Painted Rims and Calipers

[ilb3]

Finally it got warm enough outside, and I was sick and tired of my old beat up rims.

Before:


http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2195.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2196.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2198.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2197.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2200.jpg


After:


http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2278.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2274.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2276.jpg

[Y2KSVT]

Any close ups? What was your process? Did you sand down the lips? Prime the wheels first?

My wife's aftermarket wheels have the exact same issues that your wheels were having. I wouldn't mind seeing some close up shots of your wheels after you painted them.

Mark

[dreamps]

nice work. what was the process? is that g2 paint on the calipers?

[ilb3]

Alright I will try to get some of those up.

The one thing my friend and I messed up was we used an air gun to put on the rims. Which in turn took some of the paint off. And then we redid the front rims because they were not as glossy as the back ones. We kind of rushed it but from ruther than 3 feet away you cannot tell. I may consider touching them up soon but the weather has been AWFUL.

Process:
1. Jack up car
2. Remove rims
3. Sand rims with the following grades of sandpaper: 80 followed by 180 followed by 600. I tried using the 1200 after but it was not making any difference.
4. Washed and dried off rims to remove extra dust / dirt etc.
5. Used 1 coat of Duplicolor sandable primer from autozone (The [color] primer you buy ends up making quite a difference in your final look of the wheel, which I did not realize beforehand. )
6. Waited for it to dry, sanded any "bumps" with 600 and 1200.
7. Washed and primed one more time.
8. Two coats of Duplicolor Flat Black paint

---

Calipers:
1. Sanded down with 80 / 180
2. Washed off the dust and dried off calipers
3. Taped up the rotors and wheel wells since I did not take the calipers off (painter / masking tape and newspapers)
4. Used 2 coats of red Duplicolor paint
5. Wait to dry and then remove the tape / newspapers and put rims back on


In all honesty it was a lot of work, my friend and I worked with an air gun and it took us a cumulative 10 hours to finish the calipers + rims on 2 cars. My 6 and his 04 RSX.

It also depends on whether or not you can get your hands on some ramps / lifts or whether you do each wheel one at a time. We did 2 wheels / 2 calipers at a time.

This was my first time doing this, I just have to say do this on a weekend, leave yourself a LOT of time when you do not have to go anywhere. We ended up rushing a LOT / working to the point that we could not see what we were doing outside. I would also probably clearcoat the rims / calipers although this time around I did not and have not seen any chips or cracks or fading in the week or so since I've done this. However, although time consuming if I can do it anyone can. Definately a lot less complicated and much more cost effective than the alternatives (sand blasting / powder coating / getting new rims)



Close ups:

Ignore the dust on them it can easily be wiped away, but the rims actually turned out really well because of how incredibly long I took to really sand them all the way down. You can notice where the air gun took off the paint, strongly recommend using a torque wrench / breaker bar when you put them back on. Does not bother me though. Also, some bumps are evident but there was no way I could sand enough to get that deep. Like I mentioned earlier, from further than 3 feet out you do not even notice it.

I also did not bother with the center caps / lugs because I am looking to get new ones anyway since I am missing some / the lugs are awful and rusted etc. No reason to bother painting them.

http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2279.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2280.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2282.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu314/ilb3/IMG_2283.jpg

[dreamps]

wow 10 hours in the past few days is pretty hard to get! its just been raining nonstop in NJ for weeks:(((

[ilb3]

I actually did it over a week ago, just finished the back calipers today though. The weather has not been cooperative at all

[kingofsorrow]

nice work. looks like they turned out great.