Hot Rods Have you ever painted 5 spoke wheels

These are some trashed old California Flowers; I think some guys call them Coke Bottle shaped spokes I bought uber cheap to use to hold air hose in my shop.

I grabbed what I already had on a shelf. Pretty sure it was cheap primer from OSH. Can’t say I really like the color. The light gray primer color on the second picture is what I like. I’ve got some OT Boyds Smoothies on my now-OT (I ***ume) avatar ‘55 and I’m going to try spraying the spoke with that peel-off **** to see if I like them with gray spokes instead of the too-blingy, too billet-y rims on it now.

 

To help with adhesions there is a product called the Bulldog which comes in an aerosol can which is used to spray shiny or flexible surfaces and is about the best product I know for adhesion promotion

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Gl*** beaded then primed and basecoat/clearcoat with spray bombs. The middle pic is before the satin clear.

 

^^^ Love the wheels, just not a white wall fan. On most anything except a custom. Very nice paint job though!

 

X 2 on the Bulldog.

 

Please allow me to explain myself it appears I came across as an uppity **** the reason I prefer basecoat- clearcoat is because it is 1980's technology whereas enamel, which is what's in most spray cans, is 1940s technology. Basecoat-clear coat is a polyurethane primarily and is therefore softer and more flexible than other paints and as the saying goes the tree that bends is the one that doesn't break this is why newer cars tend to have fewer rock chips than the older vehicles did. Some of these vehicles look show-quality and for that I would certainly use basecoat-clearcoat; I do use spray cans quite a bit and Krylon, Rust-Oleum and dupli-color are my favorite Brands they seem to cover better and give a better overall finish. As the saying goes there is a time and place for everything.

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Danny, I've had the same exp. I was unable to find an exact match for torque thrust d gray. I sanded and sprayed aerosol can paint on wheels since the late 60's. Nobody told me I couldn't so I did. Find the color you want and be done with it. It's not worth worrying about. Because you have new wheels, you shouldn't have to worry about all the chemicals that end on wheels that could cause problems.

 

One of the best reasons to use aerosol spray cans is it is a much thicker paint and therefore hides a lot of things if you use base coat clear coat on Wheels they have to be nearly perfect

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What ?

 

I primed mine.Then used I think Krylon Dove Shadow Gray. The reason I say I think is because that was about 30 years ago. Wheels still look decent. Matched the color to another old five spoke I had laying around.

 

While the actual finished thickness of the paint is roughly the same depending upon the painter base coat is extremely thin and hides very very little and the thickness and protection comes from the clear coat where is with enamel, which is what's in most spray cans, the color is in the entire product and therefore hides many more suface defects. Also my preference over bead blasting is soda blasting which uses baking soda and can therefore not cause the potential damage to the metal that bead blasting can in inexperienced hands.

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Used the same dark tarnished silver body color on the wheels of my custom 56. Primers were different so they appear a little darker but I think still complement the look I was going for.

 

Are those Fenton mags???? Just curious....

 

No, just an aftermarket wheel my friend got new at Carlisle several years ago. He sold them to me after he came across a nice set of Fenton's for his car.

 

Been repainting mag wheels since the 70’s.
Tape off the aluminum outer area and sandblast the center. Before painting a buddy would chuck them up in a big honking lathe and smooth the outer ring/rings. Tape this off and paint the spokes.
I have always used Krylon, mostly because it was cheap.

 

Best one I have seen so far... love the slight gold/green hues.

 

To a large degree all you really need to do is tape off the places you don't want paint on, Scuff the parts that you do want paint on with either a red Scotch-Brite pad or if you have issues buying just one of those, some 400 grit sandpaper will work; you can get that at Walmart or almost any auto parts store, wipe on-wipe off with some type of grease and wax remover, and spray away; light coats work better than heavy coats until the last coat and it needs to be nice and smooth so that you get a nice gloss, then sit back and admire your work and post what you've done

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Obviously those cards that you are no longer using can take the place of taping off though I would strongly suggest taking your neighbor's newspaper and covering the rest of the tire also

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A short addendum to my ranting you only need primer if there is bare metal or some type of body filler primer is because paint was not designed to go on bare metal primer was designed to go on bare metal and then paint to go on top of primer if the wheels have already been painted in there's no bare metal showing then you don't need any primer if there is bare metal showing it is best to use a little primer

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If I was painting some new mag wheels, I would use a spray can and put on a relatively thin layer of paint. Do too good of a job and there will be no turning back, if you ever change your mind.

 

Thanks. I looked long and hard before I settled on the color. Kind of a bronze hue I remember seeing on Torque Thrust's when I was a kid growing up in the 60's.

 

If I was going to do that I’d run them over to a powder coating guy and let him handle it. Pick out a nice cast grey color and your done.

Powder coating has gotten so cheap I’m not sure it’s worth the h***le to paint them.

 

H R P did ya get the message DUPLI-COLOR in a spray bomb & if'n ya use your paint gun look into Sherwin Williams industrial paints & they will mix to your color wants. Least they did for me in Or.

 

no matter what color you paint them it is refreshing to see one of these era Fords with old style mags fat tires and a nice rake. I am so sick of wide whites on everything.

 

I know this might sound dumb but here goes, I've got a nice set of Cragar SS wheels n my 36 Chevy and have been toying with the idea of painting the centers either satin black or a cast iron grey. Do any of you think it would be better to get the chrome centers (nice chrome) blasted or maybe just rough them up with Emory cloth/ sand paper(wet?) After looking at this thread I'm thinking this might be an interesting change. I WAS even thinking of using PLASTIC COAT as it is easily removable in case it looks like ****. Might be easier to get different wheels though maybe......Mitch.