So I'm doing the whole traditional thing in my build. Doing it all myself. Instead of powder-coating my new steelies as I have done in the past I painted them. Two coats of primer and two coats DuPont Chromax. Are two good top coats enough for wheels? I know wheels take a pounding and want them to last. They're satin finish but I could still hit them with a satin clearcoat. Opinions?
just put on enough color to get it looking uniform, then maybe an extra coat for good measures. more paints not always better
Too much paint/clear will only chip larger when getting the hubcaps off or applying wheel weights. The lugnuts take their toll on wheels too. Enough paint to cover then stop. Also use a primer that isn`t so different from wheel color to show up bigtime when the chips happen. Primers can be tinted.
Satin paint for wheels...hmmm. I don't satin paint wheels, inner fender wells, firewalls, or underpinnings. Pet peeve was when a customer would bring a 'nicely detailed' car in, but engine or ****** had an oil leak: O.K., fix the problem, clean up the oil stains. (the 'shiny' places on the satin paint!) Road tar, oil, etc. on wheels is terrible to remove. Satin black on wheels is a dirt magnet, and looks like Robocop. Paint with a sheen cleans up easy, and resists stains. Looks sharp, detailed. A satin clear overcoat would seal it, but I don't think it ever looks 'finished'. If I drove something with satin paint, I'd wear kevlar.
I painted a trailer recently with Ch***is Saver. The ramp was painted with Rustoleum. I accidently dripped some liquid electrical tape on both. It didn't hurt the Ch***is Saver one bit but ate the Rustoleum.
that's funny. I'm satin painting the body as well, so I don't want the wheels to shiny. I know the drips and splatters are hell on satin finishes, but its the look I want. In 20 years they'll call it patina.
I did a coat of Rustoleum primer and a coat to cover of Rustoleum Black (not flat though) on the stock steelies in my Impala about a year ago and they're holding up just fine. She's my daily too! Just make sure to take your time and clean them up real good before you paint.
X2...yes, just enough to cover as more makes thicker chips. I will use the same color or close, primer tip next time i do some, thanks.
My 55 was "satin" (two tone primer) for 14 years, I finally painted it. I would have painted it sooner but I'm naturally lazy. It felt good to sand all those years of patina right off the car. Seriously, I'd paint the wheels glossy. And seriously, I'd use a spray can. I've done it many times over the years.
No patina is when you put a good paint job on it then neglect it for 20 years. I probably wouldn't paint my wheels satin unless I was building a trailer queen. But in answer to your question you only need enough paint on your wheels to color them. Once that's done its overkill and thick paint is not necessarily your best option. Now if you were doing the body in gloss with laquer I would say you need a few more coats and wet sand every third then buff the hell out of it but you are not doing the body in laquer so that is an entirely different story.
Just painted some trailer wheels with POR products. Man am I impressed!!!! Sandblasted the wheels, 1-2 coats of por15 waited for them to dry up, (several days) then 2 coats of hardnose by por. From what I gathered, hardnose has the UV protectant added into it where the por15 don't, the por15 is the rust protective stuff. Once they were dry you can hit them with a 3lb. hammer and not knock the finish off. I am so impressed with this product I am considering coating the frame on my 36 pickup with it, por the entire frame (inside out/ top bottom) and hardnosing the visible exterior with Hardnose. You guys got any thoughts? Maybe I'm just overly impressed. A lot less expensive than powder coating, and by my opinion tougher! Fenderless
unless POR15 has changed, it wont adhere to a completely clean and rust free surface. you might have troubles down the road with those wheels
LOVE IT!! Here's a wheel painting demo I did with my son. He bought some spraycan wheel color for the wheels on his Camaro and I thought it was a good opportunity to help school him and p*** on the info. Wheel painting with videos. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=354215
i've run rusty wheels with whitewalls, and never had a rust streak on them... just gotta hit em with a soapy brush once an a while
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