Hello there I was looking at painting my wheels white or maybe gold. Besides Color Rite can someone recommend a good spray paint to use? Also the do's and dont's with painting them. I have searched but seems like everyone uses Color Rite. Im to broke right now to buy that stuff. Also I live in Rogers, AR and looking for some group rides. This will be my first group ride, just tired of riding by myself. Thanks for any input/advice.
Your present wheels are painted and cleared, so best to strip them first. Search in the archives for aircraft stripper. Clean meticuluously. When real smooth, a really good paint is the epoxy paint for appliances refinishing. Comes in a rattle can, follow label instructions. Clear coat. Let cure thoroughly. Once well dry, 2 coats of wax. Thats white, a few other colors available.
Yes, you can get other colors of urethane based paint in rattle cans at the auto parts store.
Good luck.
There has got to be some other VFR's in the Rogers area. And riders from Texas are always up there for the great roads.
I am in the process of having my wheels painted. There are actually two methods of refinishing the wheels.
As Larry stated, powder coating is one method. Some folks (including many on this website) feel that powder coating is brittle and can chunk off.
The other method (which I am using) is to paint over the existing paint on the wheels with a high end polyurethane paint applied by a professional painter. This method was recommended by GMTech on this site and also by a friend of mine who runs the body shop at a GM dealership. Let's face it, the paint that Honda puts on at the factory is pretty durable stuff. If it takes someone 3-4 hours with Aircraft Paint stripper to get the old stuff off, it's a pretty safe bet that it's durable and well bonded to the aluminum.
This is the particulars of what I am doing:
1. Remove the tires from the wheels.
1. Thoroughly clean the wheels with hot water and Dawn dish washing liquid.
2. Wipe the wheels down with "Final Wash" or a similar prior product you would use prior to painting.
3. Mask off the machined areas with masking tape.
4. Blast the wheels with walnut shells. You don't want to remove the paint, just give it some tooth for the new paint to attach to.
5. Remove the masking tape as it will catch minute particles of walnut shell dust.
6. Clean the wheels again with "Final Wash".
7. Remask the machined areas of the wheel.
8. Take them to your painter and he will do a quick final wipe with Final Wash and wipe them off with a tack rag.
9. Paint away!
I'm having mine done in a gold to match the gold wheels that came on the Subaru WRX's.
I will post pics of mine as soon as they are done. I was going to walnut shell blast today but it's pouring outside.
Use a good quality masking tape designed for cars. Not the blue stuff from Home Depot, get the Kawasaki green Scotch brand from an automotive paint supply shop.
[image: View Post]SEBSPEED, on 09 February 2010 - 01:32 PM, said:
Pete, paint and powdercoat are two distinctly different processes and finishes. You confuse the heck out of me when you mix the two!
Paint/repair threads can almost turn into oil/tire threads :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Good luck on painting your wheels, next time I'm anodize mine for something different.
I ran across this on Harbor Freight. Dont have a warm area to use paint stripper besides in the house and I dont think the wife will go for that. Just curious on opinions if this would remove factory paint from wheel. Thanks for any input.
Being the contrarian, I never plan to paint my wheels. They look a little banged up from tire changes etc. but I think it gives the bike character.
Besides, VFR wheels are the poorest quality, most heavy wheels imaginable next to Hog wheels. I would really like to feel the performance difference if BMW weight wheels were put on a VFR. Oh, well, if I could only change the world...... :rolleyes:
[image: View Post]vfrman02, on 09 February 2010 - 07:02 PM, said:
I ran across this on Harbor Freight. Dont have a warm area to use paint stripper besides in the house and I dont think the wife will go for that. Just curious on opinions if this would remove factory paint from wheel. Thanks for any input.
I think you'll be there forever trying to strip the wheel with soda. If you're applying paint, there's no need to strip the wheels to metal - just surgically clean the wheel and then scuff it. Once that's done, start with a self-etching primer and work your way up through basecoat and clearcoat.
Soda blasting is good for making concrete look new again.
I do my sand blasting/walnut shell blasting with a HF "total loss" system outdoors. If you do not have a top of the line blast cabinet, sand blasting/shell blasting indoors will make the biggest mess in the world.
[image: View Post]Pete McCrary, on 09 February 2010 - 11:28 PM, said:
Soda blasting is good for making concrete look new again.
I do my sand blasting/walnut shell blasting with a HF "total loss" system outdoors. If you do not have a top of the line blast cabinet, sand blasting/shell blasting indoors will make the biggest mess in the world.
My HF total loss system ran me about $20.
For the extra cost of a $5-10 PVC tarp, you can make that a semi-total loss system. :fing02:
Thanks for all the replies people. Thats why I come to VFRD to get the best info. Pete I will look into the total loss system. Thanks for the info and suggetstions. Ride safe.
Scott
End of thread · 12 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 23 Mar 2010