Well, i figured damn it... i'll just take my time and repaint the rims right this time!. here's a quick picture post. I'll probably try to make a how to once this is done, I know there's already one, but that one has the picture taken off... since this is suppose to be correct way and also the longest way to repaint a rim after doing much research.
Quick history: Skip this if you're busy
. So two summers ago, i bought a set of hyperblack Azul speed 5 rims from wheelsnext.com. It looks really nice, but then 3 or 4 months into it... it started flaking off in chunks... at first i thought it was the shop that did the wheel balancing but down the road more keeps flaking off. For those of you that don't know, hyperblack has two layers... black layer at the bottom and silver on the top to give it a somewhat lighter than gunmetal look. so i think it might be due to me using that wheel cleaner that i'm using which is i guess might be too strong. Anyway, i got tired to seeing large black patches so i "tried" to strip paint from one rim off to repaint it, but it took me forever! (I used the spray can aircraft paint remover)... so i ended up stripping a little and those that won't come off i just painted over it... (bad idea!)
So for the other three rims, i just sanded it down and repaint them... and down the road i started seeing paint flaking off again... and revealing the black coat of paint! I guess it's the original paint that's flaking off which is taking mine along with it. So i got really tired of it's rough looking paint and stuff... so this time i took the time to do it right.
So, it took me about half a day taking my time to finish each rim. So far i have two done, stripping the paint for the third. I took some pictures along the way so far... so i'll be updating this thread in a couple of days with more pictures.
So for those of you reading, I stripped the entire paint off the rim... including in the back, i wanted to do this slowly and right this time to prevent flaking. So far it looks good! On with the pictures.
Here's the tools, paint stripper ($20), 2 cans of clear ($12), 1 can of filler primer ($6), 2 cans of etching primer ($12), 1 can of base color (graphite) ($6), dremel with metal wiring brush (already have it), paint brush ($0.88), old credit card, hair dryer.
Here's the rim before that was painted once before myself... took me one day to paint all four, but then i only sanded it and paint started chipping, and one reason i'm switching to graphite from silver is so that the brake dust won't be as noticeable as on silver look at pictures below.
So, there goes the stripping paint process, i'll post more in the process pictures as i move on to the last rim. This is the most time consuming and messy part.
I forgot to take the painting process pictures, but i'll post on the next update. But on to the finish product. It has little glittery metal specks for the graphite color.
Primer only on the inside of the rim
To be updated....
Updated: 1/1/09
Alright, first of all Happy New Year Everyone! Ok, so i know this is long overdue, but here's the update. I got some more detail pictures of the paint.
Here's the rim when it's mostly stripped down. With paint stripper
Here's the inner side of the rim... those marks are caused by the wire brushes with the dremel to brush off the remaining stubborn paint that's still sticking.
Here's an example of remaining paint that doesn't come off with the stripper. You can see the black base coat still on... you could use your fingernail but if there's a lot then it's gonna hurt, so i use a wire brush with a dremel.
Here's one with the etching primer, both inside and out
After the etching primer, get some filler primer, this step is optional, but it will make the paint look smoother though, i highly recommend it if you want to do it right. After the filler primer, wet sand it down. I started sanding after an hour of drying, but there's a down side, i will explain later. I used 2000grit, and a spray bottle, but remember you want to sand off the rough spot a little bit, but don't sand it to the point where it's smooth as glass because you want to leave a little bit for the paint to grab on to, but you want it too look flat.
Ok, here's the downside that i said. Look closely and you'll see a dent there? It's from my bottle... becareful when sending it if you only let it dry for an hour, the paint might be a little soft and any hard item that come in contact is gonna leave a indention on your primer which is not gonna come off besides redoing the whole thing.
After the first coat of base coat paint. I know you're suppose to go light coats but since the wheel paint is less likely to flow, i added a little more.
Here's after the clear coat...
Here's the wheels on the car....
and finally a sneak peak of a custom fitted subwoofer box in progress:p (and yes, that is a stocking)
Sam-I-Am
