Painted Wheels

Im rebuilding my 87 and trying to stay within a budget...

but has anyone ever spray painted wheels then clearcoated them? i did this a while ago on a car i had and it looked halfway alright..? I know alot of people powder coat the wheels but im on a budget and want my VFR to look good.

Thanks mike.

I actually did this with a set of wheels for my Suburban. Got a set of plain aftermarket mags and scored them up with some 220 sandpaper so the surface had a little tooth. Cleaned them with acetone. I painted them with some appliance white paint (epoxy based). Did not clear coat them, but you could, especially with urethane paint. As with any paint job, prep is the key.

Do it!

Larry
VFRrider

Spray can painted my Hawk 647GT's rear wheel many years ago, after some mechanic (highschool kid) messed up the finish at the dealerships when they changed my tire. used almost 2 whole cans of the closest matching metalic grey color (Duplicolor car rattle can paint, I think it was) I could find on the rim in many coats that I let dry and "cooked" overnight on the wheel with hot halogen lamps. finished it off with many coats of semigloss clear spray can paint of the same brand. The finish stood up real well for the next seven years I had the bike. The key was is patience, clean work area and many thin coats. The rear wheel actually looked better than the front one, finish-wise when I sold the bike in late 1995.
P.S. No real need to remove the tire, as long as you do a good masking job. I used electrical tape and paper with great success. Electrical tape's flexibility and softness makes it work well in curves and tight places to get a good tight mask with no paint bleeds.
Forgot to add that I light sanded the original finish to help the new paint bond on to the original paint surface.

Beck
95 VFR