Painting alloys

[chris_harvey]

I am getting new tyres but can't afford new wheels st the same time so am gona spray me 16" lr alloys black . Anyone done this before ? Is it best to get them sand blasted or just sand down by hand a bit? Will spray cans do ???
Any input would be great ???

[nismo2004]

if there a bit shabby get them blasted, as it willget rid of any unwanted rubbish.
spray can will do the job well, you might want to spray some clear laqure once there painted as this will seal in the paint and make them easy to keep clean

[jay2578]

Don`t forget to prime `em first

[Disco Matt]

I did mine last year/early this year, one at a time as the other four were on the car (with a "spare spare" on the back door).

I removed the wheel, deflated the tyre, cleaned the wheel then rubbed it down with wet and dry. You can spend as long on this as you like - I settled for scraping off the loose paint and rubbing down the worst of it but didn't take the whole wheel back to bare metal, there weren't too many scrapes so I didn't need filler. Next, I masked the tyre and valve with gaffa tape and newspaper then sprayed the wheel with primer. A quick rub down 24hrs later, then on with the main (body) colour. Another 24hrs then I masked the wheel centres and sprayed the rim with alloy wheel silver, before removing the masking and giving it a few coats of lacquer. At the same time I painted the centre caps to match.

Slightly more complex than what you're planning as I wanted the same paint scheme as the top spec Discos, but I don't think they turned out bad:



Yes, I know I painted over the balance weights. I couldn't really take them off, and I'll just tidy the rough spots up after the next tyre change.

[disco 1 tdi]

I brush painted my steel mods about a year ago with black hammerite! cheap as chips and has lasted well, even off road.

[Range Rover Blues]

The alloy needs priming with an etch primer but you may find the surface is pitted.  even sand balsting cannot totally get rid of this but a blasted surface will last 5 years or so.

If you paint metallics with a laquer then don't leave too long a gap between them or you need to break the surface with 1500 wet & dry.  Otherwise the laquer will peel in a year or two.  I laquer the same day.  Primer of course should always be rubbed down.

Halfords can match paint cans, one can will do 5 wheels and then some.

[barmiebrumie]

I am getting new tyres but can't afford new wheels st the same time so am gona spray me 16" lr alloys black . Anyone done this before ? Is it best to get them sand blasted or just sand down by hand a bit? Will spray cans do ???
Any input would be great ???

Hi Chris,

Where are you located ?, I do alloy refurbs as a part time thing pm me your number & I'll talk you through it  ;)


John