Painting Wheels

The paint is chipping off my steel wheels and they need to be repainted. How should I prep them and what paint should I use?
Liam

 

Prep is pretty much like any metal work. Cleaning, sanding, cleaning, drying.

Paint, same. Using outdoor grade obviously. Some self etching primer, then color.

Duplicolor, Plasti-coat, Rustoleum all are decent products.

 

Check out Duplicolor videos on YouTube

 

do you have a compressor, die grinder, and a drill wire brush? or just a corded drill and a wire brush? you could rip off the old stuff using one of these. an aluminum brush won't damage the wheel, just strip it.

then just hit it with some rim paint.

 

as mentioned, just do normal paint prep

as to paint choice, I recommend epoxy paint since it is a lot more durable and scratch resistant then regular paint as well. that's why its the main type used for garage floors where lasting durability under abuse is the main requirement

 

Used duplicolor wheel paint. 1 can primer, 1 can paint (i used black), and 1 can clear done all 4 of mine. Minimal chipping after 20k and quite a bit of abuse

 

I know this is an old thread but can this be used on the fender flares, front bumper assembly and grille/grille surround?

 

I ended up using "aircraft paint remover" stripped all the wheels down to bare metal, then used rustoleum self etching primer and duplicolor wheel paint.

most of the front bumper and chrome is plastic, you could use some bumper paint, plastidip, or rattle can rustoleum in your choice of color. I don't think any stripping for sanding would be necessary on those parts.

 

Rusto automotive primer will work if you feel like priming - not the filler, just the plain automotive is fine. I think we already covered your paint choices in another thread. I always wipe down everything with alcohol before painting it - isopropyl is cheap to buy at a grocery store or pharmacy.

Scotchbrite pads are great for this kind of stuff if it's got shmutz all over it - I didn't even use sandpaper the last couple times I painted wheels and you definitely don't want to use sandpaper on textured plastic panels that will show any little knick or flat spot unless you plan to retexture it.

 

Clean, Sand, Primer, Paint. Powdercoating rims is fairly inexpensive as well and you will get much better finish and durability.