Painting my own alloys

[benjj]

Hello all,

I want to try and refinish a set of alloys which are all the same but different colours

I've never done anything like this before but would quite enjoy picking up a new skill. Can anyone give any advice on the best products to use?

These are the wheels, 15'' Porsche Cookie Cutters:



I'm not going to do the two tone effect, I'm going to do the whole wheel in the same colour (gun metal grey).

As far as I can tell I'll need to:

1) Remove all weights and sand down
2) Mask off tyre
3) Prime (several times?)
4) Top coat (several times?)
5) Laquer (several coats?)

Is this about right? If so how many coats of each product and how long between coats?

The colour I want is this gunmetal colour that E39 M5's use:

[7even]

That looks more like a shadow chrome, which is quite a challenge in itself to get a uniform finish, perhaps a standard gunmetal finish may be a better idea to get you started.

[benjj]

Heh, yep, you're probably right. Frankly I'll just see what Motorworld has in rattle cans!

[yodel]

Frankly I'd get a price for getting them done professionally. The best wheel paint in a can is by wurth but it's not cheap. Hours of sanding, cost of all the bits to do it right. for me it's a no brainer unless it's something you really want to do. You're not really learning a new useful skill because without the right equipment it's not something you're likely to want to repeat on a regular basis. Good luck with how you decide to proceed.

[williredale]

I tried doing the rostyles from my MGB so steel rather than alloy but I'll share my experience anyway. I spent hours on the first wheel with various grades of wire wool and sandpaper. After a lot of elbow grease I sprayed it and it looked st. Well, not maybe not st but not to the standard I wanted or that I should have had after the effort I put in. I'd also spent a fair bit on paint. In the end I took them to a local blasting company which cleaned them and powder coated them for £40 a corner.
Wish I'd done that in the first place and spent the time on something more rewarding!

[benjj]

Thanks chaps. I may be a mong but I'm going to give it a go!

Have started sanding down the spare tonight with the sander. I'll update with pics as we go along!

[TX1]

Look forward to your results as this is something I have thought of doing for a while.

[williredale]

Despite what I've written in my previous post I keep looking at the alloys on my daily driver and thinking about what I could do with them...


Currently looking at plastidip! Good luch with yours and make sure you share the pictures.

[benjj]

I've got my black and decker sander, 10 triangular sanding pads, metal primer and a gung ho attitude

Only got to decide on colour now. Definitely some kind of dark grey I think.

[Wheelrepairit]

Www.alloypaints.com

The colour you want is BMW Ferric grey.

It's the colour on the alloy in your picture.

[benjj]

Wheelrepairit said:

Www.alloypaints.com

The colour you want is BMW Ferric grey.

It's the colour on the alloy in your picture.

Brill, thanks very much

[7even]

Dont forget your need etch primer on the bare metal, this can overlap onto the centre though so you dont get an "edge"

[7even]

Wheelrepairit said:

Www.alloypaints.com

The colour you want is BMW Ferric grey.

It's the colour on the alloy in your picture.

Great selection of colours there hot chocolate is a nice colour!

[Megaflow]

Don't!

Seriously, don't try it...

I bought a cheap set of S2000 wheels for the tyres (big mistake as they were the wrong size tyres) so to try and recoup some cash I decided to refurb them myself.

What a mistake. I spent more on sand papaer, etch primer and paint than the wheels cost and the end result was a mess. It is easy to get the flat surfaces to paint, but trying to get a flat enough finish in the corners (of which there are a lot on yours) is just impossible.

Get them properly blasted and powder coated.

[benjj]

I'm kind of commited now, going to go for it anyway!

[Megaflow]

If you are serious about having a go, then chuck somebody in the local blasting company £20 to take them back to alloy in his lunch and then start with a coat of etch primer.

[benjj]

Ok, let's do this.

Forgive phone pics in low light...

Starting off.



Sanded, masked and some primer on.



The kit.



Yours truly, aka Mr. Knobend.

[benjj]

Sacked off work early as I've got my paint

I decided that the shadow chrome stuff looked a bit technical for a first timer so I went with:



It is a kind of sparkly grey metallic, looks great on cars, fk knowswhat kind of finish I'll manage but I'm enjoying myself and that's all that counts!

First very thin coat on:



Off for a few smokes and a cup of tea while it dries. I reckon 4 thin coatsshould do it.

[benjj]

Well I have inished my first one. I did the spare first to get my eye in.

I'm really quite chuffed with the results. I'm sure an absolute stickler would pick up on a few little things but, in my eyes, it looks a million times better than it did. I also feel that I've picked up a new skill which is always good about the garage.

A couple of pics:





I think the colour lends itself quite well to a novice. Obviously the rattle can can only spray so finely and I was also doing it in a dusty garage. All in all I'm happy though.

I reckon I'll have spent £75 on doing all 4. Not bad at all seeing as though I won't need to remove tyres etc. I'll also be left with a sander afterwards to go in the tool kit.

The thing I found hardest was masking off the wheel accurately. As they say time spent on prep is never wasted so I'm a happy chappy.

Will carry on and do the 4 road wheels now, will post a pic when they're all done.

[williredale]

That looks good from the photo. Much better than my effort but from the first pictures I think your wheels were in better nick than mine to begin with which I now suspect was my downfall.